Maximizing community inclusion through mainstream communication services for adults with severe disabilities

Abstract

Government policies in developed countries have emphasized the importance of community inclusion to improve the health and wellbeing of citizens. In order to achieve this, a reorientation of human services to include all people with disabilities has commenced with specialist disability services providing only limited supports. One vulnerable group of adult citizens are those with severe cognitive impairments. These citizens live either with their family or in small group homes supported by paid staff. Many of these people have little or no functional speech and are at an increased risk of social exclusion. This paper presents a discussion of the relevant literature underpinning the provision of mainstream speech-language pathology services to adults with severe cognitive disabilities. In particular we focus on practice considerations that might assist speech-language pathologists in providing effective and efficient services that support people with severe intellectual disability to live meaningful lives in the community. Five main considerations are discussed: (1) applying a holistic model to communication practice; (2) understanding terminology and the process of assessment; (3) considering the role of communication partners; (4) training communication partners; and (5) using communication supports to assist community inclusion.

Keywords:

• Adults
• Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
• complex communication needs