Introduction to the Special Issue: Teaching AAC Use to Individuals with Developmental and Physical Disabilities

Abstract

Individuals with developmental and physical disabilities also often have severe communication impairment or complex communication needs (Beukelman and Mirenda 2013). The term severe communication impairment refers to situations where the person’s speech is so limited or unintelligible that it is unable to meet his or her everyday communication needs. Lack of sufficient, intelligible speech is prevalent among individuals with developmental and physical disabilities. McQueen et al. (1987), for example, found that approximately 65 % of children with significant intellectual disability had limited or no intelligible speech. Among children with autism spectrum disorder, Tager-Flusberg and Kasari (2013) noted that about 30 % are likely to Bremain with little expressive spoken language ability by the time they reach school age.^ (p. 468). The high prevalence of severe communication impairment among individuals with developmental and physical disabilities makes communication intervention a major habilitation priority for this population. AAC intervention requires identifying suitable non-speech communication modalities, as well as teaching the person to use non-speech modes for effective communication. To this end, AAC research is often focused on developing new and more effective intervention approaches. This special issue of the Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities was commissioned to attract papers that focused on developing new and more effective intervention approaches for individuals with developmental and physical disabilities and severe communication impairment. The goal of this special issue is to provide a forum for researchers using a broad range of AAC systems and intervention approaches to share the results of their recent efforts, be they empirical or conceptual. A secondary J Dev Phys Disabil (2016) 28:1–4 DOI 10.1007/s10882-015-9469-6