Transcript of A Case Study By Daniel Gonzalez Assistive technology is using aided tools to improve the lifestyles...
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- A Case Study By Daniel Gonzalez
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- Assistive technology is using aided tools to improve the
lifestyles and skills of individuals. This term includes
eyeglasses, hearing aids, close-caption television, wheelchairs,
adapted computers, Braille elevator buttons, and AAC devices.
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- The Beginning of AAC Devices The use of alternative methods of
communication can be traced back to ancient times when individuals
who were deaf or could not speak developed a manual language.
Manual languages were also used by Native Americans to communicate
with members of other tribes. The beginning of AAC devices is
considered to be the 1950s. Many of the first AAC devices were
developed by professionals with disabilities who struggled to
communicate with others.
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- The Beginning of AAC Devices As the years progressed into 1960
and 1970, the public and the government became more aware of
individuals with disabilities. During the late 1960s students with
disabilities began receiving educational services. Many of the
children had hearing and cognitive impairments. In order to
compensate for the hearing impairments, professionals taught these
students sign language to communicate. This raised the questions
about the ability of cognitively impaired students to learn and use
sign language. Based on this, research was done to teach children
with mental retardation and autism to communicate with a structured
program using symbols and sign language.
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- The Beginning of AAC Devices In 1963, the first piece of
technology specifically designed for communication by individuals
with severe physical disabilities was introduced. It was called
POSSUM and was developed by Maling and Clarkson. POSSUM combined a
typewriter with a switch controlled scanning device. It was
available until the late 1970s, but it was the beginning of the
development of other AAC devices. Most of the early devices relied
on spelling and were only functional for nonspeaking, literate
individuals. They were also heavy, and impractical for real world
uses.
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- AAC Devices Become More Mainstream by the 1970s As AAC became
more mainstream, it came under attack from professionals claiming
that students would take the easy option of AAC, instead of pushing
themselves to learn speech. After research was done, it was found
that the use of AAC did not affect the individuals motivation to
speak. It actually encouraged them to use more speech to supplement
the devices. Unfortunately, AAC still came under scrutiny and was
only implemented after all forms of speech therapy had failed with
an individual.
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- Further Development of AAC Devices The use of AAC grew further
with the introduction of picture symbols for individuals who could
not use the alphabet. The first graphic symbol system was called
Blissymbols, created by Charles Bliss. The original system included
1,400 black and white symbols with written symbols. This system is
still used and updated with new symbols yearly
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- Further Development of AAC Devices By the 1980s AAC became an
area of professional specialization and the American-Speech-
Language-Hearing Association recognized it as an area of practice
and suggested that SLPs have specific competencies to provide
services related to AAC. In 1978, Purdue University was one of the
first universities to offer a course on AAC.
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- AAC Devices Today Today, millions of individuals with
communication disorders are using AAC devices. Research is being
done in the areas of vocabulary selection, AAC and social
interactions, AAC and literacy, using AAC to decrease behavior
problems, and using AAC with multiple populations. With the
development of technology, there are numerous AAC devices that can
be used and adapted for individuals. Recent legislation, such as
IDEA, has also helped with the wide spread services related to
AAC.
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- References Information taken from MyAAC. Org