JCPSLP Vol 14 No 2 2012

42 / 56

96 JCPSLP Volume 14, Number 2 2012 Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology
aids. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools,
34, 203–216.
Mirenda, P., & Iacono, T. (Eds.) (2009). Autism spectrum
disorders and AAC. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes
Publishing.
Sigafoos, J., Green, V. A., Payne, D., Son, S. H., O’Reilly,
M., & Lancioni, G. E. (2009). A comparison of picture
exchange and speech generating devices: Acquisition,
preference, and effects on social interaction. Augmentative
and Alternative Communication, 25, 99–109.
Sigafoos, J., O’Reilly, M. F., Schlosser, R. W., & Lancioni,
G. E. (2007). Communication intervention. In P. Sturmey
& A. Fitzer (Eds.), Autism spectrum disorders: Applied
behavior analysis, evidence, and practice (pp. 151–185).
Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
Acknowledgements
This project is supported by a grant from the Marsden Fund
of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
Jeff Sigafoos is a professor in the School of Educational
Psychology at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He
teaches in the area of special educational needs and undertakes
research on augmentative and alternative communication for
individuals with developmental disabilities. Dr Dean Sutherland
is a senior lecturer in the Health Sciences Centre and College of
Education at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New
Zealand. His teaching and research interests include autism
spectrum disorder, deaf education, and the use of augmentative
and alternative communication by children and adults with
significant communication difficulties. Larah van der Meer,
Debora Kagohara, and Donna Achmadi are doctoral students
at Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand.
Correspondence to:
Dean Sutherland, PhD
Health Sciences Centre
University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800,
Christchurch 8140, New Zealand
email:
phone: +64 (0)3 3642987
Figure 2. Mean percentage of opportunities each communication
method was selected (n = 17)
communication method. This finding suggests that
preference may influence how quickly children learn
to communicate. We are undertaking further analyses
to confirm any such relation between preference and
speed of learning.
It is important to note that these key findings are so
far limited to the teaching of communicative requesting,
which is generally considered a more basic communication
skill. A second study to commence later in 2012 will
extend the present comparisons to more socially oriented
communication skills.
In summary, these early data suggest that children with
autism can learn to use a variety of AAC systems and that
they are likely to indicate a preference for one mode of
communication. However, it is not known how stable these
preferences are over time or how these preferences may
support the development of more complex communication.
References
Mirenda, P. (2003). Toward functional augmentative and
alternative communication for students with autism: Manual
signs, graphic symbols, and voice output communication
49%
11%
20% 20%
SGD Sign PECS No Pref
%
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0