Language Development of Individuals Who Require Aided Communication: Reflections on State of the Science and Future Research Directions

Abstract

Language acquisition theories differ in the importance they assign to production as a learning mechanism. This review summarizes some of the theoretical issues linked to this debate and considers their implications for children with severe speech and physical impairments. The unique aspects of the language-learning contexts of these children are explored. Drawing largely on papers published within the journal Augmentative and Alternative Communication, this review summarizes features of language development that have been described over the past 3 decades and considers how these findings might illuminate our understanding of language development across both spoken and aided modalities. Implications for assessment, intervention and for further research are suggested.

Design Opportunities for AAC and Children with Severe Speech and Physical Impairments

“…By gaining prominence and thus value through its form and function, technology took precedence over communication becoming the central object of attention. This echoes previous AAC literature claiming that the function and form of these systems should be critically considered within the complex and dynamic communication environments in which they are used [37]. The obstruction created by the physical and technical presence of AAC, alongside the earlier insight that AAC is not always the right mode in the moment, prompts us to consider the importance of dynamically regulating its status within interaction through its form or spatial arrangement.…”

Language learning, recasts, and interaction involving AAC: background and potential for intervention

“…Background and Potential for Intervention Despite being able to communicate more functionally through the support of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) tools and strategies, many children who use AAC still experience persistent difficulties in their acquisition of language, in particular in relation to their expressive vocabulary and production of grammatically complete utterances (Binger & Light, 2008;Smith 2015). A range of factors related to individual differences, including differences in communicative environments and AAC systems, interact to account for limited language use.…”

What We Write about When We Write About AAC: The Past 30 Years of Research and Future Directions

“…Williams, 2004), as well as clinicians, educators, and researchers (Anderson, Balandin, & Clendon, 2011;Broberg, Ferm, & Thunberg, 2012;Calculator, 2013;Fried-Oken, Beukelman, & Hux, 2012;Hunt-Berg, 2005;. The papers published in the September and December issues of the AAC journal as a special 30th anniversary series provide clear evidence of the substantial gains in the field over the past 30 years in a wide range of areas, including (a) early intervention (Romski, Sevcik, Barton-Hulsey, & Whitmore, 2015), (b) AAC intervention for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (Ganz, 2015), (c) the language development of individuals who require aided communication (Smith, 2015), (d) the use of visual scene displays for people with aphasia (Beukelman, Hux, Dietz, McKelvey, & Weissling, 2015), (e) microswitch technology for children with profound and multiple disabilities (Roche, Sigafoos, Lancioni, O'Reilly, & Green, 2015), (f) communication partner instruction (Kent-Walsh, Murza, Malani, & Binger, 2015 [this issue]), and (g) speech output technologies for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (Schlosser & Koul, 2015 [this issue]). Although the use of AAC strategies enjoys a long rich history (Beukelman & Mirenda, 2013;Zangari, Lloyd, & Vicker, 1994), organized research to investigate strategies to support the use of AAC, and publications to document this work, are a much more recent endeavor (Beukelman, 1997;Mirenda, 1998).…”