The Efficacy of Augmentative and Alternative Communication: (1 Augmentative and Alternative Communications Perspectives)

This book provides readers with essential tools for appraising evidence and outlining steps for planning and implementing better efficacy research. It aims to help researchers and practitioners develop the necessary skills for moving the augmentative and alternative communication field toward evidence-based practice. The Efficacy of Augmentative and Alternative Communication: Toward Evidence-Based Practice is a crucial addition to anyone's bookshelf who is involved in the AAC enterprise, including speech-language pathologists, special educators, physical therapists, occupational therapists, students in professional programs, individuals using AAC, their families, and applied researchers. It provides solutions to avoid common pitfalls of prominent research designs for evaluating efficacy and discusses how to formulate research questions and deal with issues of participant selection. It suggests how to plan and evaluate the integrity and social validity of interventions.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Efficacy and Outcomes Measurement in Augmentative and Alternative Communication Validity: The Foundation of Evaluating the Efficacy of Interventions Formulating Research Questions On the Subject of Selection in AAC Single-Subject Experimental Designs Group Designs Longitudinal Designs Determining the Treatment Integrity of AAC Interventions Determining the Social Validity of AAC Interventions Synthesizing Efficacy Research in AAC Toward Evidence-Based Practice in AAC Presymbolic Communication Intervention Selecting Graphic Symbols for an Initial Request Lexicon Effects of AAC on Natural Speech Development Application of Current Literacy Theory, Efficacy Research, and Clinical Practice to AAC Users Efficacy of AAC Intervention in Individuals with Chronic Severe Aphasia Roles of Speech Output in AAC Evidence-Based Strategies for Promoting Generalization and Maintenance Comparative Efficacy Studies Using Single-Subject Experimental Designs Epilogue

About the Author :
Ralf W. Schlosser holds a Ph.D. in Special Education with an emphasis in augmentative and alternative communication from Purdue University. He is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology at Northeastern University in Boston. He is also a Distinguished Switzer Fellow of the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) and a Fellow of the American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR). In 2001, Dr. Schlosser received the Editor Award for the Most Significant Research Article published in Augmentative and Alternative Communication for the paper entitled "Promoting generalization and maintenance in augmentative and alternative communication: A meta-analysis of 20 years of effectiveness research." This paper was recognized as a review of high methodological quality by the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness. Lyle L. Lloyd is a Fellow of the American Association on Mental Retardation, Fellow of ASHA, Honors of the Council for Exceptional Children Division for Children with Communication Disorders, and he was selected as the first distinguished alumni in the area of Communication Disorders and Sciences at Eastern Illinois University. He is Coordinator of the Steering Committee of ASHA Special Interest Division 12, AAC. As recognition of his significant contributions to the AAC field, Lloyd is the only person to receive both the President's Award 91988) and the Distinguished Service Award (1994) of ISAAC, both awards presented at Biennial Conferences. He has made more than 100 published contributions to the field, including authoring or co-authoring seven seminal books on AAC.

Review :
"In summary, this book meets its aims. It provides a discussion of many issues affecting the validity of current research on AAC interventions and suggests methods to strengthen future research. It presents a useful framework for implementing EBP in the AAC field and contains reviews of current evidence in topic areas. It will be a useful starting point for the clinicians implementing an EBP approach... It will be a welcome addition to researchers personal libraries and to libraries of institutions providing AAC services and to higher education establishments that train practitioners." -INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION DISORDERS "I love the book. It is the best resource available today for people who care about the scientific basis for what we do in AAC. Schlosser has made a landmark contribution to the field. I use it as a supplement in my courses, and as guidance in my research and writing. He has provided us with an excellent resource and has set the bar for other efforts in the area of evidence-based practice." -Hank Bersani Jr., Ph.D., Chair, Division of Special Education, Western Oregon University, Monmouth, Oregon "Schlosser and his contributors have been successful at delineating both the well-established and the less established areas of the field of Augmentative and Alternative Communication, and have been able to demonstrate the need for research in the field. This work sets the measure for future research. This short review of the 600-page book was only able to address most aspects briefly. Some chapters would have merited their own individual review, which is unfortunately not possible here. In the years to come, this book will surely become one of the most commonly cited works in AAC literature and will become a reference work for many practitioners and researchers." HEILPADAGOGISCHEN FORSCHUNG