Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies, University of Kansas.
Augment Altern Commun. 2013 Dec;29(4):334-46. doi: 10.3109/07434618.2013.848933.
Little is known about how AAC use in preschool may impact language development for children with complex communication needs (e.g., children with autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and other developmental disabilities). We developed two surveys (a) to describe children's use of AAC in preschool classrooms, as well as the use of prompts and question asking, and augmented input by their communication partners; and (b) to describe teachers' experience, training, and perceived support in providing AAC. We then examined the relationship between children's experience of AAC, including the use of prompts, question asking, and augmented input by their partners, and the growth of receptive and expressive language for 71 children with developmental disabilities over a two-year period. The use of AAC by peers to provide augmented input was associated with stronger language growth; the use of prompting and question asking by teachers was associated with weaker language growth. Teachers reported that they received little training regarding ways to support a child's use of AAC. Results suggest the need for further research on promoting AAC use at the preschool level, including research to promote peer interactions for AAC users.
关于在学前阶段使用辅助沟通设备（AAC）如何影响有复杂沟通需求的儿童（例如自闭症、脑瘫、唐氏综合征和其他发育障碍儿童）的语言发展，我们知之甚少。我们开发了两份调查问卷，（a）描述了儿童在学前教室里使用 AAC 的情况，以及提示和提问的使用情况，以及他们的沟通伙伴提供的辅助输入情况；（b）描述了教师在提供 AAC 方面的经验、培训和感知支持情况。然后，我们考察了 71 名发育障碍儿童在两年期间 AAC 体验（包括提示、提问和同伴提供的辅助输入的使用）与接受性和表达性语言增长之间的关系。同伴使用 AAC 提供辅助输入与更强的语言增长相关；教师使用提示和提问与较弱的语言增长相关。教师报告称，他们几乎没有接受过关于支持儿童使用 AAC 的方法的培训。研究结果表明，需要进一步研究在学前阶段促进 AAC 的使用，包括促进 AAC 用户的同伴互动的研究。
