"Autism at-a-Glance" is designed for high school staff members supporting students on the autism spectrum, as well as family members of adolescents on the autism spectrum. This issue was designed to support high school staff and family members in understanding and improving the communication skills of adolescents on the autism spectrum.…

Background: Historically speech and language therapy services for children have been framed within a rehabilitative framework with explicit assumptions made about providing therapy to individuals. While this is clearly important in many cases, we argue that this model needs revisiting for a number of reasons. First, our understanding of the nature…

Background: Aphasiologists often research, assess and treat linguistic impairment and its consequences for daily life separately. Studies that link the language used by people with aphasia to routine communicative activities may expand the linguistic forms treated as relevant for successful communication by people with aphasia. Previous research…

Clinical Question: For people with aphasia following a stroke, is group therapy shown to be more effective on communication outcome measures reflecting impairment, activity, and/or participation than individual therapy or no therapy? Method: Review of treatment efficacy research for group intervention in aphasia Study Sources: Cochrane Database of…

Social communication impairment is one of the key diagnostic features of ASD, with communication deficits being the earliest symptom reported by most parents of children with ASD (Filipek et al., 1999; Landa & Garrett-Meyer, 2006). From differences in babble (Trevarthen & Daniel, 2005; Yirmiya, et al., 2006) and gesture inventories (Landa…

We investigate two aspects of the autism triad, communication and social difficulties, in relatives of specific language impairment (SLI) probands (with and without additional autistic symptomatology) as compared to relatives of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Down's syndrome (DS) probands. Findings involving 726 first degree relatives of 85…

Communication skills have been shown to have differing effects on levels of anxiety depending on whether or not a child has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or is typically developing. This article examined whether or not communication deficits differentially affect children with ASD compared to those without ASD. Ninety-nine children with…

This study investigated how synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) and face-to-face (F2F) oral interaction influence the way in which learners collaborate in language learning and how they solve their communicative problems. The findings suggest that output modality may affect how learners produce language, attend to linguistic forms,…

As a secondary mathematics teacher, I used practitioner action research to determine effective ways to intervene with students working in groups, with the goal of improving their communication. Utilising transcripts of group interactions and teacher interventions, field notes, and student feedback, I discovered ten different issues that prevent…

Efforts to understand the causes of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have been hampered by genetic complexity and heterogeneity among individuals. One strategy for reducing complexity is to target endophenotypes, simpler biologically based measures that may involve fewer genes and constitute a more homogenous sample. A genome-wide association…

The importance of parent-child interaction (PCI) for language development has been well established. This has led many speech and language therapy (SLT) interventions to focus on modifying PCI as a means to improving children's early language delay. However, the success of such programs is mixed. The current review compares PCI, observed in…

Turkey is increasingly becoming a regional hub for international students. The number of international students in Turkish universities has grown by almost 300% in the last decade. The current internationalization efforts of the Turkish government and universities have the potential to make Turkey an even more attractive destination for…

Background: Communication difficulties are common in cerebral palsy (CP) and are frequently associated with motor, intellectual and sensory impairments. Speech and language therapy research comprises single-case experimental design and small group studies, limiting evidence-based intervention and possibly exacerbating variation in practice. Aims:…

One of the domains most commonly affected by autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is communication (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Language deficits in children with ASD can be as severe as to warrant a label as nonverbal, or characterized by difficulties with the functions of communication. Additionally, deficits in language for children…

Individuals with complex communication needs (CCN) who rely on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to communicate in school and community activities often have paraeducators as communication partners. For individuals who use AAC, successful communication often depends upon their personal skills as well as the skills of their…