High-technology augmentative and alternative communication for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and complex communication needs: a meta-analysis

Abstract

The use of mobile technology is ubiquitous in modern society and is rapidly increasing in novel use. The use of mobile devices and software applications ("apps") as augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is rapidly expanding in the community, and this is also reflected in the research literature. This article reports the social-communication outcome results of a meta-analysis of single-case experimental research on the use of high-tech AAC, including mobile devices, by individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder. Following inclusion determination, and excluding studies with poor design quality, raw data from 24 publications were extracted and included 89 A-B phase contrasts. Tau-U nonparametric, non-overlap effect size was used to aggregate the results across all studies for an omnibus and moderator analyses. Kendall's S was calculated for confidence intervals, p-values, and standard error. The omnibus analysis indicated overall low to moderate positive effects on social-communication outcomes for high-tech AAC use by individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Tiwouh: An enriched technology-based solution for communication interventions

“…In a recent meta-analysis of these interventions towards individuals with ID, authors reported their efficacy to improve communication of this population [8]. Authors also argued that such good results can be observed in protected environments but also in mainstream environments, therefore suggesting that providing support in situ may promote generalization of learnings.…”

“…In the same vein, the lack of measures related to social validity (only 2 on 15 reviewed studies) questions both the feasibility and relevance of such interventions in real-life situations [9]. Moreover, literature mostly investigated the effects of these interventions on children with ID, and data addressing adults with ID are very communication interventions focus almost exclusively on developing basic requests skills, and urge to go beyond to develop other communication aspects [8][9]. In that sense, AAC tools often offer "basic" features only allowing selecting a pictogram and its vocalization [11][12].…”

“…Thus, any tool aiming to support their communication should address these different contexts, and the intervention should favor its usage through them. Moreover, benefits from deploying assistive technologies on natural settings have recently been reported [8].…”

“…First, based on adults mastering the tool usage, health professionals can develop new activities to address other domains of communication, such as expressing emotions or telling stories. Second, thanks to the sharing content feature, participants' families now consider getting the solution to use the personal communication boards developed in this intervention [8]. To go further, we will develop training supports to allow users to develop their knowledge about AAC interventions.…”

Caregivers’, teachers’, and assistants’ use and learning of partner strategies in communication using high-tech speech-generating devices with children with severe cerebral palsy

“…SGDs range from mid-tech battery-operated SGDs to high-tech computerized SGDs with synthetic or digitalized speech (Myrden, Schudlo, Weyand, Zeyl, & Chau, 2014). SGDs give individuals with severe communication impairments a voice and enable their participation in education, in faceto-face communication, and in communication over a distance (Caron & Light, 2016;Ganz et al, 2017;Holmqvist, Thunberg, & Peny Dahlstrand, 2017). SGDs can be directly accessed with selection aids such as pointing, trackballs, joysticks, and contacts, or by eye gaze technology.…”