Date of Award

Spring 5-11-2018

Document Type

Thesis (699 registration)

Degree Name

Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology

Department

Graduate Studies

Committee Chair

Kris Vossler

Keywords

Autism, Augmentative and Alternative Communication, AAC, Implementation

Abstract

Communication impairment is a defining characteristic of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (American Psychiatric Association, 2013); therefore, the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) has become an essential part of language intervention for children with autism that experience significant difficulties with communication (Flores et al., 2012). Assessing children’s preferences for AAC options may be important with respect to AAC abandonment, which is a problem in the AAC field (Johnson, Inglebret, Jones, & Ray, 2006). This single-subject study identified factors related to successful implementation, acquisition, and usage of an AAC system. The clinician collected baseline data on the client’s spontaneous production of functional and meaningful communicative attempts and subsequent sessions were used to document changes following the implementation of the participant’s particular reinforcers and miscellaneous factors. When implementing factors, the number of overall successful communicative attempts increased.

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