Message retrieval for survivors of traumatic brain injury

Abstract

Survivors of traumatic brain injury often lose their ability to use natural speech to communicate and then rely on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices. Survivors may also have concomitant cognitive communication disorders that negatively impact memory and organization skills. AAC devices need to incorporate a word retrieval organization strategy that is fast and effective. The current study compared the conditions of topic, place, and alphabet for message recognition. The participants were asked a delayed recall question to elicit a communicative response. Results showed that alphabet is significantly more accurate than place and significantly faster than place and topic. However, participants chose to retrieve words using all three strategies.

Keywords:

• Head injury
• Augmentative and alternative communication
• Message organization
• Word retrieval

Notes

1 Dynavox system software is by Dynavox Systems Inc., 2100 Wharton St., Suite 400, Pittsburg, PA 15203, 1-888-697-7332, http://www.dynavoxsys.com