Communication Interventions for Individuals with Severe Disabilities: Exploring Research Challenges & Opportunities

What does the latest research tell us about communication interventions for people with severe disabilities? Find out in this authoritative research volume, which investigates the effectiveness of today's communication interventions, synthesizes evidence from current studies, and identifies urgent research directions for the future. Shaped by a conference of The National Joint Committee on the Communication Needs of Persons with Severe Disabilities (NJC), this interdisciplinary book includes contributions from more than 30 top scholars from diverse fields, including psychology, special education, and speech language pathology. Each chapter gives readers a brief summary of research studies on a key intervention topic, insights on research design and measurement challenges, thoughts on future advances, and real-world clinical and educational recommendations. Essential for the reference libraries of educators and professionals, this book offers powerful insights about today's communication interventions-and sets a clear agenda for tomorrow's groundbreaking research Topics Included: prelinguistic communication intervention for young children with intellectual disabilities challenging behavior and communicative alternatives interventions for children who are deafblind augmented language interventions for children with severe disabilities parents as partners in communication intervention the role of cultural, ethnic, and linguistic differences targeted and phenotypic communication interventions for children with Down syndrome or ASD issues related to research study design, including sample size, the effectiveness of randomized controlled trials, and integration of single-case and group designs assessment and measurement of communication and language skills in individuals with severe intellectual disabilities and more The NJC conference was funded by the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders .

About the Author :
Rose A. Sevcik, Ph.D., Distinguished University Professor, Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, USA is Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Chair of the Developmental Psychology Doctoral Program. She is the founding co-director of the university's Area of Focus: Research on Challenges to Acquiring Language and Literacy and a member of the Center for Research on Atypical Development and Learning (CRADL). She has made significant contributions to the field of developmental and learning disabilities and language and reading intervention research through more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, chapters, and books and numerous presentations at national and international conferences. She has been an investigator on 12 federally funded projects (NIH, IES) with a long history of working with schools. Dr. Sevcik is a Fellow of the American Speech Language Hearing Association and the International Society of Augmentative and Alternative Communication. She also is a Fellow of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and past President of its Communication Disorders Division. A member of the National Joint Committee on the Communication Needs of Persons with Severe Disabilities, she is also on the Board of Directors for the United States Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication. MaryAnn Romski, Ph.D., Regents Professor of Communication, Psychology, and Communication Disorders, and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, Georgia State University, USA and the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is the Director of the Center for Research on Atypical Development and Learning (CRADL) and a founding member of the Area of Focus on Research on Challenges to Acquiring Language & Literacy (RCALL). Dr. Romski is a certified speech-language pathologist with more than 30 years of clinical experience, a Fellow of American Speech Language and Hearing Association (ASHA), the American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), and the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC). Her continuously funded research program focuses on the communication development of children with developmental disorders who encounter difficulty speaking, particularly the development and evaluation of computerized communication interventions. Dr. Romski has published 3 books, more than 100 articles and chapters, and has given numerous national and international presentations. She is extending her research in South Africa and China. She serves as Associate Editor for Infants and Young Children and is the past chair of the National Joint Committee (NJC) on the Communication Needs of Individuals with Severe Disabilities and remains AAIDD's representative.

Review :
This book provides thorough overview of the research evidence on interventions for individuals who experience significant communication challenges. Equally as important is that it points the way forward and provides a roadmap for the next decade of research in this important area. Bravo to the National Joint Committee for this exciting and timely synthesis! --Pat Mirenda, Ph.D., BCBA-D"