Introduction of an augmentative and alternative modality: Effects on the quality and quantity of communication interactions of children with severe phonological disorders

When children with severe phonological disorders engage in communication interactions, the severity of their phonological disorders interferes with the successful transmission of their communication message. The severity of the phonological disorders greatly compromises the children\u27s ability to successfully engage in communication interactions. Sixteen children from 3 years, 5 months to 7 years, 5 months of age met the initial selection criteria of having a severe phonological disorder and/or suspected DAS, in addition to showing limited gains during intervention. Further standardized and descriptive assessments were conducted associated with phonological proficiency, intelligibility, and cognition. The study investigated what effect the introduction of AAC communication boards, had on the quality and quantity of the children\u27s communication interactions. The design of the study was an ABA design consisting of three phases. Pre-treatment condition (no context-specific communication boards available); Treatment condition (context-specific communication boards available during the activities); and Post-treatment condition (no context-specific communication boards available). Children engaged in age appropriate play activities with the investigator. All phases of the study were videotaped for a total of 25 minutes, and later analyzed. Videotape time codes allowed the investigator to analyze the childrens\u27 communicative behaviors for the level and type of comprehensible behaviors across different modalities, contingent communication behaviors, communication acts, communication breakdown repairs, Mean Length of Utterance (MLU), and Type-Token Ratio (TTR). Results showed that the introduction of AAC had positive effects on the quality and quantity of communication interactions of children with severe phonological disorders. The introduction of AAC allowed the children to be more comprehensible, and successful in their communication repairs. Children with the most severe speech disorders used AAC more frequently. The investigator hopes that the empirical data from this study provides the rationale for SLPs to introduce AAC as a means of supporting the speech, communication interaction and language needs, rather than only addressing the issue of improving phonological proficiency