Autism Therapy: augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)

definition of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC): AAC is a broad term for forms of communication that supplement or enhance speech. Examples of AAC include electronic devices, picture boards, and sign language.

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Peer-Mediated Teaching and Augmentative and Alternative Communication for Preschool-Aged Children with Autism
Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, by Trembath, D., Balandin S., Togher L., and Stancliffe RJ, published in 2009, summarized Nov 24, 2009

Preschool children with autism may learn social communication skills from typically developing peers in an inclusive classroom.

Children at school may be able to teach their classmates with autism many things Children can use naturalistic teaching for social, communication, or academic skills. In this study, 6 typically developing children were taught how to use naturalistic teaching to help 3 classmates with autism learn to communicate; all the children were 3-5 years old. All 3 children with autism showed improvements in communication behaviors in the classroom and in the lunch room. Over time, only 1 of the 3 children continued to use the skills. The authors think that children as young as 3 years old can help teach their peers in inclusive classrooms.


When “Simon Says” Doesn’t Work: Alternatives to Imitation for Facilitating Early Speech Development
American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, by DeThorne, LS, Johnson CJ, Walder L., and Mahurin_Smith J., published in 2009, summarized Jul 20, 2009

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and other methods may help children with autism learn to speak.

Some children with autism do not imitate the sounds of others. For these children, several speech therapy methods may help them learn to speak. AAC is often the first strategy to help them learn enough communication to be able to have some social interactions. There are five other methods that may also help these children: 1) avoid pressuring children to speak, and use puppets and play as encouragement instead; 2) imitate the child and they may start imitating others; 3) use exaggerated sounds and speak slowly; 4) use visual feedback and touch to help teach skills; and 5) add exercises for mouth movements that are specific to speech.


Comparison of Fixed and Gradual Array when Teaching Sound-Letter Correspondence to Two Children with Autism who Use AAC
Augmentative and Alternative Communication, by Johnston, SS, Buchanan S., and Davenport L., published in 2009, summarized Jul 10, 2009

Children with autism may learn early reading skills faster when they learn to recognize one letter in comparison with others.

There are different methods for teaching reading skills to children with autism. This study compared two methods of teaching letter recognition (an early reading skill). In gradual array, a single letter was shown and the pronunciation was given with it. Then later other letters were shown that were not linked with that sound. In fixed array, the letter of interest is shown with other unrelated letters all at the same time. For example, the teacher showed "T" with other letters, and taught that "T" is associated with the "tuh" sound, but the other letters were not "tuh". The authors found that the fixed array method was a faster way of teaching letter-and-sound pairings for the two children in this study. The authors said that children who can read may be able to use a wider variety of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) tools.


A Back Door Approach to Autism and AAC
Augmentative and Alternative Communication, by Mirenda, P., published in 2008, summarized Jun 15, 2009

Therapies for motor (movement) skills, language, and reading development may help children with autism learn to communicate.

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) therapies tend to focus on very basic communication skills. There is growing evidence that additional therapies may help improve the effectiveness of AAC. The author believes that motor , language , and reading are important skills in communication. The author suggests that therapists and parents to add these additional interventions to AAC therapies to help children with autism learn to communicate.


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Camp Communicate Provides Children with Disabilities Summer Fun and Therapy

Jun 16, 2009

Camp Communicate in North Texas is designed so that children with autism and other disabilities that may result in communication difficulties can have a typical summer camp experience. Counselors are speech-language and audiology students who assist the kids with activities ranging from fishing to stringing beads to play therapy. The focus is on improving communication between children and counselors and peers who also attend the camp. The children are challenged to practice verbal skills and use non-verbal communication devices (AAC) if necessary. "The camp has given Amir, who was once nonverbal, a chance to use proper language at the proper time and work on his listening skills, said his mother, Cynthia Rahimi."

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Computer Programmer Turned Speech Pathologist Uses Computerized Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)

Mar 17, 2009

Gail Robin Zelko turned her love of computer programming into a passion for speech pathology when she successfully combined the two in her dissertation on computerized augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices. Dr. Zelko has found that the level of autism may not matter whether or not a child can benefit from AAC. She worked with one youngster who could not speak or write. It turned out, however, that the young woman could type and once presented with a sophisticated AAC device could communicate. "The girl not only had language and could type a sentence but was able to talk about an abstract event to take place it the future. We didn't think she had any concrete language, let alone abstract thought and communication."

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Speech Pathologists Help Students with Oral Motor Skills

Feb 10, 2009

Speech pathologists in Douglas County Oregon, say that speech pathology and speech therapy is much more than just articulation. As they work with children with autism and other developmental delays, the speech pathologists stress communication as the most important goal. Interventions include oral motor exercises, sign language, augmentative tools (AAC), and picture symbols (PECS). One of the therapists summed up the district-wide speech program: "All these kids just want to fit in....And that's what we do. We give them the words, the language, the skills to do that."

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HP's Touchsmart Computer Changes the Lives of Kids with Autism

Jan 15, 2009

Hewlett Packard's (HP)'s Touchsmart computer helps children with autism and other developmental disabilities communicate - the kids at the Hope Technology School in Palo Alto, CA call it the "Lightwriter." The computer is able to reproduce the sounds of the words or sentences typed by the children. This type of communication is called Augmentative Assistive Communications or AAC. Children who have never before had a "voice" have one now: "I love it, because I can talk to my friends," said one youngster.

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Please comment on this autism topic.

Misconceptions

Dec 19, 2006 by Anonymous

Speech Therapy: An example of a misconception related to speech therapy would be that some people (parents ask this often) think/question rather communication that involves signing, PECS or AAC has a negative impact on learning to speak.  Actually, other communication means actually are correlated with improvements in speech and do not negatively effect speech development.  


Misconceptions

Dec 15, 2006 by Anonymous

I had never been to this web-site and found it very user-friendly, thorough and informative.  I thought that a good addition to this site would be a 'misconceptions' section.  A misconceptions section could include misconceptions regarding different therapy options, causes of autism or perceived 'cures' of autism, just to mention a few.  I am a speech pathologist and spent some time looking through the speech therapy section in particular.  Under 'Is it harmful?', there was a sentence stating that no research has found speech therapy to be harmful. An example of a misconception related to speech therapy would be that some people (parents ask this often) think/question rather communication that involves signing, PECS or AAC has a negative impact on learning to speak.  The misconceptions section could clarify that other communication means actually are correlated with improvements in speech and do not negatively effect speech development.  


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    • Synonyms for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) include: AAC, alternative and augmentative communication, augmentative alternative communication, augmentative and acquired communication, augmentative and alternative communication, augmentative assistive communications device
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