The Speech Generating Device (SGD) Mentoring Program: Supporting the Development of People Learning to Use an SGD

摘要

Mentoring in speech generating device (SGD) use by adults who use an SGD proficiently offers the potential to improve the device usage of people learning an SGD. The aim of the present study was to examine the impact of SGD mentoring on the mentees' SGD usage. Three mentors, aged 23, 31, and 54 years, and 3 mentees, aged 13, 14, and 32 years, participated. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline across participants design was used to assess the outcomes. Mentee conversation samples were analyzed for the number of total words, the number of different words, and the number of bound morphemes produced in mentoring sessions. Improvements were made in these measures across the mentees following commencement of mentoring sessions with a trained SGD mentor. These results provide preliminary evidence of SGD mentoring success.