TEACHER AS RESEARCHER: A CASE STUDY ON MULTIMODAL COMMUNICATION INTERVENTION IN THE SPECIAL EDUCATION CLASSROOM

Abstract

Functional communication has always been a challenge for individuals with severe intellectual disabilities and speech and language impairments, yet it is one of the most important aspects of our daily life as humans. It is what we use to convey our most basic wants and needs, transfer information, and interact socially with one another. Communication systems increase student independence which in turn decreases the amount of behavioral problems, mainly tantrums and self-injurious behaviors, which are usually present when students do not have an effective mode of communication (Sigafoos, Arthur-Kelly, &Butterfield, 2006). In the past few decades, great strides have been made in improving the communication opportunities for individuals with communication barriers and their communication partners. There has been an increase in popularity of both high tech and low-tech augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices, which give these individuals an effective mode of communication. These can be anything from a picture card exchange to request an item, to a high tech digitized speech device with dynamic screen displays. This is a case study about the implementation of a multi-modal communication system and it's effect on an individual learner's expressive speech. The study is designed as action research done by a teacher in a special education classroom. Data is collected during communication activities, which are embedded into academic instruction and during the creation of contrived situations that facilitate the development of the learner's communicative skills. This paper presents Action Research as a viable and practical research methodology by chronicling one special educator's experience in implementing an action research study.