Purpose: This investigation aimed to apply the dosage framework proposed by Warren, Fey, and Yoder (2007) to variations of milieu language teaching intervention strategies to explore how each of the dosage parameters (i.e., dose, dose form, dose frequency, total duration, and cumulative intervention intensity) was reported in the located…

Purpose: Vocal, gestural, and graphic communication modes were implemented concurrently with a toddler with Angelman syndrome to identify the most efficiently learned communication mode to emphasize in an initial augmentative communication system. Method: Symbols representing preferred objects were introduced in vocal, gestural, and graphic…

Purpose: Research comparing the intelligibility of human and synthesized speech among both young children and adults has indicated that synthesized speech results in a degrading of intelligibility. The purpose of this study was to compare speech intelligibility of high-probability sentences produced using DECtalk[R] "Perfect Paul" and live speech…

Two boys, ages 7 and 9, with severe developmental disabilities were taught to use requests conditionally (when desired items were proximally distant) to obtain desired snack items. Results suggest that the conditioned discriminations were established quickly and both learners generalized their conditional discriminations to other contexts.…

A 13-year-old communicatively and intellectually delayed male was taught to use discriminatively each of two previously acquired augmentative systems that consisted of signing and direct select letter encoding. Procedures used resulted in the use of signs with signers and direct select encoding with nonsigners. (Author)

Results of two experiments involving four severely handicapped preschoolers suggested that Ss could be taught rudimentary communication skills prior to the attainment of J. Piaget's sensorimotor stage 5. It was further suggested that establishment of initial labeling in an elicited training format will not necessarily generalize to either…

Use of logographic symbol systems with severely communication-disordered children led to a comparison of the relative ease of learning logographs from the Bliss and Rebus symbol systems with 32 normal preschoolers. Results indicated that Rebus symbols were recalled with significantly greater accuracy than Bliss symbols. (Author/DB)

This article discusses assessment strategies for accurately pinpointing the social and communicative functions of challenging behavior and presents an array of proactive interventions to decrease escape-motivated challenging behavior and to decrease access-motivated challenging behavior. Factors influencing the selection of one intervention…