Off-campus UNL users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your NU ID and password. When you are done browsing please remember to return to this page and log out.
Non-UNL users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
A comparison of unimodal and multimodal augmentative communication language intervention techniques for children with intellectual disabilities
Abstract
Augmentative communication systems that utilize a combination of unaided and aided modalities provide augmented communicators potential advantages that are not available in single modality systems. One potential advantage is that individuals are provided the opportunity to utilize the modality or combination of modalities that is most suited to their style of language learning. For children with intellectual disabilities, the augmentative modality of choice has traditionally been manual sign language. However, success in using this approach has been limited to teaching single word vocabularies, with few reports in the literature of the development of multiword combinations. The aim of the present study was to teach two word combinations to two subjects (one with a mild and the other with a moderate level of intellectual disability) who had extensive single word repertoires in sign. The study compared the effectiveness of two augmentative communication techniques: (a) unimodal, which was manual sign language alone; and (b) multimodal, which was manual sign language plus the use of an electronic communication aid. The results indicated that treatment, overall, was effective in teaching two word combinations and that one subject learned faster than the other. However, the subjects showed differences in the comparative effectiveness of the two augmentative communication techniques. For one subject, both treatments were equally effective, but his subject showed a preference for using the aided over the unaided modality for all responses. For the other subject, the multimodal technique was found to be more effective than the unimodal technique, but this subject showed preferences for the two modalities that varied across experimental contexts. The results suggest that the two subjects adopted different language learning styles, and that these styles are similar to those that have been identified in children who are nondisabled.
Subject Area
Speech therapy|Special education
Recommended Citation
Iacono, Teresa Anne, "A comparison of unimodal and multimodal augmentative communication language intervention techniques for children with intellectual disabilities" (1990). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9034275.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9034275