Measuring Responsive Style in Parents who use AAC with their Children: Development and Evaluation of a new Instrument

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate an instrument - the Responsive Augmentative and Alternative Communication Style (RAACS) scale Version 2 - to assess the communicative style of parents as they interact with their children using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). This scale was used to analyze play interactions between 43 parents and 28 children with different diagnoses (including Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, and intellectual disability), aged between 12 and 60 months. Parent-child interactions were observed both before and after parent participation in ComAlong, a training course on using responsive communication and AAC to support interaction with children. Based on an analysis of the results, Version 3 of the RAACS scale was developed and is recommended for future use. Analyses of Version 3 showed acceptable inter- and intra-coder reliability, and excellent internal consistency.

Language Development of Individuals Who Require Aided Communication: Reflections on State of the Science and Future Research Directions

“…There now exists a substantial body of evidence that speaking partners can learn to alter their interaction style (e.g., Binger, Kent-Walsh, Ewing, & Taylor, 2010;Broberg, Ferm, & Thunberg, 2012;KentWalsh et al, 2010;Kent-Walsh & McNaughton, 2005) and that when they do, conversational imbalance can be reduced and children using aided communication can increase the frequency and complexity of their expressive communication (Binger, Berens, Kent-Walsh, & Taylor, 2008;Binger et al, 2011;Drager et al, 2006). These findings have been replicated across a diverse range of children and adults with a range of disabilities in both descriptive (Harris et al, 1996;Pennington, Thomson, James, Martin, & McNally, 2009) and experimental studies (Drager et al, 2006;Nigam, Schlosser, & Lloyd, 2006).…”

Teaching Active Listening Skills to Pre-Service Speech-Language Pathologists: A First Step in Supporting Collaboration With Parents of Young Children Who Require AAC

“…The development of collaborative relationships with families is critical for successful outcomes (Bailey, 1987;Broberg et al, 2012;Brown & Woods, 2011;Trivette et al, 1996;Woods et al, 2011). However, at present we have a limited understanding of the best instructional approach for the effective and efficient teaching of professional skills in university-based pre-service programs.…”

“…support interaction (Broberg, Ferm, & Thunberg, 2012;Mirenda, 2014). Involving parents from the beginning and ensuring their full participation in all aspects of the intervention are key to successful outcomes (Parette, Brotherson, & Huer, 2000;Soto, Müller, Hunt, & Goetz, 2001;Starble, Hutchins, Favro, Prelock, & Bitner, 2005;Woods, Wilcox, Friedman, & Murch, 2011).…”

Communication intervention in Rett syndrome: a survey of speech language pathologists in Swedish health services

“…paucity of suitable standard instruments, although there are instruments of potential clinical value, such as IPCA [57], RAACS [77] and CCCP [78]. Further studies on the aforementioned instruments used in clinical contexts would be warranted.…”