Family Member Experiences With Augmentative And Alternative Communication Systems Used By Nonspeaking Autistic Individuals

<p>Nonspeaking autistic individuals who have no way to communicate cannot share their thoughts, dreams, or desires. The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry was to explore the experiences of family members of nonspeaking autistic individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems. This study documented family members’ experiences of identifying, learning, and implementing two types of AAC: Rapid Prompting Method and Spelling to Communicate. Through one-on-one interviews, five participants shared their lived experiences. Three themes emerged from the data. The first theme was an increase in well-being for the entire family. All five participants described transformations and improvements in life not only for their speller, but for the entire family. There was an increase in well-being both physically and emotionally for spellers and their families. The second theme was a remarkable improvement from the past. All five families shared changes to communication and, for their nonspeaking autistic family member, shared a dramatic shift in the social aspect of their family member. They also shared major improvements in self-injurious behaviors. The third theme was that learning and implementing AAC was laborious but beneficial for the communication partner. They all described the commitment it took and that it was worth every minute. Each participant talked about sharing the benefits and changes with other families. All of the participants encouraged families who might be considering spelling as AAC.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education

Author dc:creator

• Wotton, Christina M.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Andrea Disque
• Chad Walls

• autism
• nonspeaking
• augmentative and alternative communication
• narrative inquiry
• Disability and Equity in Education
• Education

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dune.une.edu/edu_diss/12

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dune.une.edu:edu_diss-1013