Embedding Peer-Implemented Aided AAC Modeling within a Peer Network Intervention for Students with Complex Communication Needs.

摘要

Communication is a fundamental right for all people (Brady et al., 2016; United Nations, 2008). Everyone needs opportunities, encouragement, and support to develop communication that empowers them to participate in society, express their needs and ideas, and build relationships with others. However, many students with severe disabilities experience considerable difficulties developing strong communication skills. Students for whom verbal speech is insufficient to meet daily communication needs are described as having complex communication needs. The characteristics of these students are diverse, as are the conditions impeding their development of functional verbal speech. Despite their varied characteristics, students with complex communication needs share the challenge of developing effective and efficient communication.;For several decades, researchers have written about what constitutes communicative competence for individuals with complex communication needs who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC; e.g., Dunst & Lowe, 1986; Light, 1989; Light & McNaughton, 2014), emphasizing two main aspects of communicative competence. First communicative competence addresses the need for students to develop functional communication---to be able to interact with natural partners, in natural environments, and in ways viewed as socially important to both students themselves and their communication partners (Light & McNaughton). The Communication Bill of Rights by the National Joint Committee for the Communication Needs of People with Severe Disabilities (NJC) emphasizes functional communication by addressing the importance of teaching students a range of communicative functions, including interacting and building relationships with peers without disabilities (Brady et al., 2016). Although positive interactions with peers are critically important, they may be quite limited for students with complex communication needs. Chung, Carter, and Sisco (2012) observed 16 elementary and middle school students who used AAC in general education classrooms. Students rarely interacted with peers and communicated almost exclusively with their paraprofessionals or special educators. There is an enduring need to identify ways to support meaningful, positive interactions among students with complex communication needs and their peers at school.;Second, communicative competence addresses the importance of the adequacy of students' communication, which involves having the skills and judgment needed to participate fully within various environments and interactions (Light & McNaughton, 2014). The ability to use symbols when communicating---such as spoken words, graphic symbols, or signs---is one component of the adequacy of students' communication (Browder, Flowers, & Wakeman, 2008). Students who communicate intentionally but rely on pre-symbolic communication (e.g., pointing, vocalizing, eye gaze) are limited to being able to communicate about referents present with them at the time. However, when students build skills to communicate symbolically, they can express ideas and feelings about the future, the past, and things not present in their current setting. Although all students with severe disabilities may not acquire the understanding and use of symbols (Browder et al.), an important goal is to help students develop more advanced communication skills within their zone of proximal development (Alper & McGregor, 2015; Vygotsky, 1978). For many students, an appropriate goal is to help them improve their use of symbolic communication.;To support students in building adequate, functional communication, educators need ways to both improve students' abilities to communicate effectively while also promoting their participation in enjoyable interactions with others, such as their peers. Embedding peer-implemented aided AAC modeling within a peer network intervention may be an effective way to address both of these considerations.