Enhancing Initial Communication and Responsiveness of Learners with Multiple Disabilities

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to review pertinent issues addressed in the literature relating to communication of learners who have multiple disabilities, identify progress made in communication research and practice, and propose strategies for partners' interactions with individuals who do not use symbols for communication. This article is particularly directed toward learners who communicate in a preintentional or emerging intentional manner using nonsymbolic expressions. The enhancement of partner skills and the engineering of contexts for enhanced communication are emphasized. Interventions most conducive to establishing an initial communication repertoire and facilitating alert, responsive behavior are presented using the Tri-Focus Framework, which encompasses learner, partner, and environmental context. Discussion of the Tri-Focus Framework synthesizes findings from a diverse extant literature base and suggests a unique, holistic perspective from which one might view intervention for those learners who have multiple disabilities. The framework may offer practitioners new insight into the communicative abilities of learners who have multiple disabilities and do not use symbols for communication.