Twenty Years of Communication Intervention Research With Individuals Who Have Severe Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Abstract

This literature review was conducted to evaluate the current state of evidence supporting communication interventions for individuals with severe disabilities. Authors reviewed 116 articles published between 1987 and 2007 in refereed journals meeting three criteria: (a) described a communication intervention, (b) involved one or more participants with severe disabilities, and (c) addressed one or more areas of communication performance. Many researchers failed to report treatment fidelity or to assess basic aspects of intervention effects including generalization, maintenance, and social validity. The evidence reviewed indicates that 96% of the studies reported positive changes in some aspects of communication. These findings support the provision of 1 We would like to thank both Youngzie Lee, University of Virginia, and R. Michael Barker, Georgia State University, for their help with the analyses. We also thank the National Center on Evidence-Based Practice in Communication Disorders of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association for their assistance in conducting the systematic literature search.Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Martha E. Snell, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia, P. O. Box 400273, Charlottesville, VA, 22904-4273., Snell@virginia.edu. NIH Public AccessAuthor Manuscript Am J Intellect Dev Disabil. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 February 8. Published in final edited form as: Am J Intellect Dev Disabil. 2010 September ; 115(5): 364-380. doi:10.1352/1944. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript communication intervention to persons with severe disabilities. Gaps in the research were reported with recommendations for future research. Keywords communication; mental retardation; severe disabilities; intellectual and developmental disabilities; autism; multiple disabilities; literature review; intervention The ability to communicate effectively with others is essential for good quality of life. Individuals who have severe disabilities include those with severe to profound intellectual disability, autism, deaf-blindness, and multiple-disabilities. For these individuals, the ability to communicate can be substantially compromised. The question of whether and how this ability to communicate can be improved through intervention was the focus of a national consensus conference convened by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs, (OSEP) and its Technical Assistance Development System (TADS) in 1985 (OSEP/TADS, 1985). In addition to producing a number of consensus statements, these 1985 conferees called for the formation of "an interagency task force" to disseminate guidelines for the "development and enhancement of functional communication abilities" in individuals with severe disabilities.This recommendation resulted in the establishment of a "National Joint Committee for the Communicative Needs of Persons with Severe Disabilities" (NJC) in 1986. The present review was con...

Communicative Competence for Individuals who require Augmentative and Alternative Communication: A New Definition for a New Era of Communication?

“…The greater range of ages and disabilities served has necessitated a greater range of AAC interventions, including those designed (a) to build communicative competence for the fi rst time with those who have developmental disabilities through instruction in linguistic, operational, social, and strategic skills (e.g., Snell et al, 2010); (b) to re-build communicative competence with those who have acquired disabilities or temporary conditions, capitalizing on existing linguistic and social strengths and teaching operational and strategic skills to bypass limitations in these domains to maximize communication performance (e.g., Costello et al, 2010;Light & Gulens, 2000;Petroi et al, 2014;Simmons-Mackie, King, & Beukelman, 2013); to sustain communicative competence for as long as possible with those who have degenerative neurogenic disabilities through implementation of AAC supports (e.g., Fried-Oken et al, 2012).…”

Designing AAC Research and Intervention to Improve Outcomes for Individuals with Complex Communication Needs

“…Of the intervention studies published in Augmentative and Alternative Communication over the past 10 years, only 42% focused on interventions within the natural environments of the individuals with complex communication needs and these studies typically addressed a narrow range of situations. In their review of 20 years of communication intervention research with individuals with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities, Snell et al (2010) reported that, in approximately 40% of the studies, intervention was delivered in decontextualized settings, removed from the natural environment; and in more than 50% of the studies, the intervention was delivered by a researcher, not a natural communication partner. To paraphrase Bronfenbrenner (1979), too often research and intervention focuses on the communication of individuals with complex communication needs when they are interacting with strange partners (e.g., clinicians or researchers) in strange situations (e.g., isolated clinic rooms or research labs) for brief periods of time.…”

“…Too often, however, interventions focus on teaching requests for favorite foods or activities to the neglect of teaching skills to promote social interaction and information exchange. For example, in their review of 20 years of communication intervention studies with individuals with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities, Snell et al (2010) reported that more than half of the studies targeted the communicative function of behavior regulation (e.g., requesting, rejecting). Similarly, of the intervention studies published in Augmentative and Alternative Communication over the past 10 years, approximately half targeted simple requests for objects or activities.…”

Teachers' attitudes to signing for children with severe learning disabilities in Indonesia

“…This key word approach is typified by the Makaton Vocabulary (The Makaton Charity 2012), which the most popular language and communication system for children with learning disabilities in the United Kingdom and has become used in over 40 countries worldwide. This type of signing is learned relatively easily and has been found to improve communication skills and support the language development of children with severe learning difficulties, including those with no spoken language (Dunst and Hamby 2011;Snell et al 2010). For some children these signs are only a small part of their communication in particular situations, for others it is a step along the way to communication through spoken words alone and for others it becomes their primary means of communication (Vandereet et al 2011).…”