Reading Instruction for Children who use AAC: Considerations in the Pursuit of Generalizable Results

Abstract

Our purpose was to review evidence-based literacy instruction for children with severe speech impairment (SSI) who communicate with AAC. This review focuses on three issues important to researchers in this area: participant heterogeneity, assessment and instruction tasks, and research design. We found eight articles that reported attempts to teach phonological awareness and individual-word reading to a total of 26 children with SSI who used AAC. We evaluated these studies based on reporting of participant characteristics, assessment and instruction modifications, and the strength of research designs. We conclude by highlighting the need for standard assessments that can be used across studies, discussing strategies for facilitating meta-analyses, and suggesting the creation of an online database for researchers to share results on literacy instruction for this population.

Keywords::

• Reading instruction
• Phonological awareness
• Augmentative and alternative communication
• Single-subject design
• Assessment

Note

1. Unity^® is a registered trademark of Prentke Romich Inc.

Acknowledgment

R. Michael Barker, Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies, University of Kansas, United States; Kathryn J. Saunders, Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies at Parsons, University of Kansas, United States; Nancy C. Brady, Department of Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences and Disorders, University of Kansas, United States. This review was written with the support of NIH grants T32 HD057844, P30 HD002528, P01 HD018955, R01 DC007684, and R01 HD048528, awarded to the University of Kansas.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.