Social communication between intellectually disabled, severe middle school students who use augmentative and alternative communication and their typically developing peers

Abstract

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices are often used as a mode of communication for people who cannot use spoken language to meet all of their communication needs. Current research is limited regarding social communication among Intellectually Disabled, Severe (IDS) students who communicate with AAC and their typically developing peers. The purpose of this study was to determine whether social communication occurs among middle school students enrolled in an IDS classroom and typically developing peers, and whether a treatment program improved social interaction. Five middle school students participated in this study; two IDS students who use AAC and three typically developing peers. Each peer participated in a training program regarding idiosyncratic gestures and appropriate interaction with AAC users. Each Intellectually Disabled, Severe student received added social vocabulary/messages on their individual AAC devices and training in their use. Results revealed that peer training along with available social vocabulary/messages increased social communication among peers in a middle school IDS classroom.