Purpose: Speech-language pathologists often use praise during intervention to encourage children and manage behaviors. Praise is often believed to promote improved performance. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that praise leads to improved performance, especially during language intervention provided during therapy sessions. Given the widespread use of praise, it is important for speech-language pathologists to understand the forms and functions of praise, as well as the potential impacts of praise on language learning outcomes. The purpose of this tutorial is to encourage speech-language pathologists to reflect upon and critique their own use of praise in language learning interventions. Method: The forms and functions of praise are reviewed, followed by a discussion of the role of praise in language interventions. Alternatives to praise are discussed. Conclusion: This tutorial provides a comprehensive review of the forms and functions of praise and offers speech-language pathologists alternatives that are more likely to improve language learning outcomes.

BACKGROUND:During the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created guidance documents that were too complex to be read and understood by the majority of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who often read at or below a third-grade reading level. This study explored the extent to which these adults could read and understand CDC documents simplified using Minimised Text Complexity Guidelines.METHOD:This study involved 20 participants, 18-48 years of age. Participants read texts and responded to multiple-choice items and open-ended questions to gather information about how they interacted with and understood the texts.RESULTS:The results provide initial evidence that the Minimised Text Complexity Guidelines resulted in texts that participants could read and understand.CONCLUSION:Implications for increasing the accessibility of public health information so that it can be read and understood by adults with extremely low literacy skills are discussed.

CDKL5 deficiency disorder (CDD) is a genetically caused developmental epileptic encephalopathy that causes severe communication impairments. Communication of individuals with CDD is not well understood in the literature and currently available measures are not well validated in this population. Accurate and sensitive measurement of the communication of individuals with CDD is important for understanding this condition, clinical practice, and upcoming interventional trials. The aim of this descriptive qualitative study was to understand how individuals with CDD communicate, as observed by caregivers. Participants were identified through the International CDKL5 Disorder Database and invited to take part if their child had a pathogenic variant of the CDKL5 gene and they had previously completed the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Checklist (CSBS-DP ITC). The sample comprised caregivers of 23 individuals with CDD, whose ages ranged from 2 to 30 years (median 13 years), 15 were female, and most did not use words. Semistructured interviews were conducted via videoconference and analyzed using a conventional content analysis. Three overarching categories were identified: mode, purpose and meaning, and reciprocal exchanges. These categories described the purposes and mechanism of how some individuals with CDD communicate, including underpinning influential factors. Novel categories included expressing a range of emotions, and reciprocal exchanges (two-way interactions that varied in complexity). Caregivers observed many communication modes for multiple purposes. Understanding how individuals with CDD communicate improves understanding of the condition and will guide research to develop accurate measurement for clinical practice and upcoming medication trials.

PURPOSE:This scoping review aims to characterize the body of literature addressing literacy interventions involving young children (ages 2-8 years) who use or would benefit from aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). METHOD:A systematic search was conducted in six databases. The search yielded 33 intervention studies. Participant characteristics (i.e., age, gender, communication profile) were charted along with intervention characteristics (i.e., focus, outcome variables, settings, interventionists, aided AAC materials). RESULTS:Findings provide insight into intervention and sampling trends. Specifically, studies predominantly investigated shared reading interventions to support expressive communication with children who were already symbolic communicators. There was a noticeable lack of studies involving children with multiple disabilities including intellectual disabilities. CONCLUSIONS:The review highlights the necessity for more inclusive research that represents the diverse communication and disability profiles of young children who use or would benefit from aided AAC. Future studies should aim to include participants with varying abilities and access methods. Additionally, the emphasis on emergent literacy, particularly shared reading, should be expanded to include comprehensive emergent literacy skills such as generative writing, phonological awareness, and language comprehension. This broader focus will better support the literacy development of young children who use or would benefit from aided AAC.

Literacy instruction has an important role in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) because spelling and writing support precise communication. Unfortunately, few students with extensive support needs and complex communication needs (ESN/CCN) develop literacy skills at or above the first grade reading-level. Given that learning to read and write begins with extensive emergent literacy learning opportunities, limited skills may result from insufficient opportunity to learn (OTL) emergent literacy skills. This study examined the instruction provided in early U.S. childhood classrooms to students with ESN/CCN to understand OTL during this critical period. This study used a concurrent embedded mixed methods design integrating a survey of teachers of students with ESN/CCN ( n = 26) with a qualitative multiple case study ( n = 2). Results suggest the time teachers are devoting to instruction is not translating into increased OTL for individual students. Solutions that may increase learning opportunities and implications for future research are discussed.

Most research about augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) has focused on improving use of and access to speech generating devices (SGDs). However, many adults with significant physical and developmental disabilities express a preference for unaided, embodied forms of communication. This study used conversation analysis (CA) techniques to analyze the forms and functions of embodied communication that occurred during interactions between a young man who used unaided, embodied communication and an SGD to communicate with a familiar communication partner. Close analysis revealed that embodied resources were required for both unaided and aided forms of communication. Furthermore, both participants used their bodies to establish interactional spaces with different focal points during interaction, which placed different demands on the aided speaker. Unfortunately, when the SGD was the focal point, problematic demands were placed on the aided speaker, which in turn resulted in increased embodied effort on his part. The forms and functions of the body, differences in the participants' interactions when communication did and did not involve the SGD, and implications for research and practice are all reported and discussed.

Special education teachers are often encouraged to use praise in their instructional interactions with their students with significant support needs (SSN). It is assumed that reinforcing behavior facilitates learning and academic achievement for these students. Despite a myriad of interventions aimed at increasing special education teachers’ use of praise, little is known about how praise functions in this context. This is concerning, given the growing body of literature suggesting that praise negatively impacts academic achievement for students without SSN. This study uses constant comparative methods to examine the form, function, and use of praise in supporting learning and instruction in two special educations classrooms that exclusively serve students with SSN. Findings indicate that praise, as an extension of instruction that prioritizes compliance over learning, did little to engage students in thinking or learning. The results hold implications for the instructional approaches teachers use with their students with SSN.

The purpose of this large-scale descriptive study was to investigate the impact of an implementation model designed to provide U.S. classroom teachers with the knowledge, skills, and resources required to provide aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) instruction to their students with extensive support needs and complex communication needs. We followed 49 students with extensive support needs and limited symbolic communication across 2 years in the classrooms of 53 teachers who engaged in ongoing coaching and professional development. At pretest, the students demonstrated an average of 15 of the 80 (19%) expressive skills on the Communication Matrix. Multilevel longitudinal modeling was used to analyze changes in scores over time. The findings suggest there was a statistically significant relationship between time and Communication Matrix scores, with the ends of each academic year associated with statistically significant growth at rates of 3.01% and 12.38%, respectively. Implications for practice and future directions are discussed.

Classroom teachers receive myriad advice about how best to manage students’ attention, interest, and behavior. Praise is often highlighted as a specific tool that teachers should use to reinforce both behavior and learning. Since praise statements are positive evaluations of students’ performance or behavior, they are thought to be an encouraging, motivating, and affirming tool for reinforcement. So strong is this belief in praise that many interventions have been created to increase the rate of praise teachers offer in both general and special education classrooms. These interventions, when evaluated narrowly, appear to be successful because increased rates of teacher praise result in increased student compliance. However, when evaluated more broadly, research shows that praise statements have long-lasting, often negative impacts on students that may inadvertently negatively impact academic achievement. Therefore, despite the seemingly positive benefits of praise, its role in learning and development remains unsettled.

Background: Providing emergent literacy intervention and assessing outcomes for children with low-incidence, complex disabilities with concomitant physical, cognitive, sensory, and communication impairments presents a significant challenge to researchers, educators, clinicians, and families alike. Aims: This study aimed to leverage advancements in commercially available eyetracking technologies to measure visual attention to print before and after a parentmediated print referencing intervention with a child with a severe, low incidence, congenital disability. Print referencing means drawing attention to the print on the page while reading. Methods and procedures: The single case study investigated a mother-daughter dyad who completed the protocol using eye-gaze technology, digital children?s books, and a computer configured with software for observing and recording interactions that were shipped to the family?s home and set up by the mother with remote support from a researcher. Outcomes and results: Results demonstrate that the eye-tracker successfully captured the participant?s eye-gaze. Furthermore, mean-level shifts in frequency of fixations demonstrates changes in visual attention to print after the parent introduced the print referencing strategy during reading. Conclusions and implications: Commercially available eye-trackers and digital libraries were successfully used by the parent-child dyad to record visual attention. Furthermore, remote support from a trained researcher was sufficient to support the parent through set-up, calibration, intervention, and implementation.