At Penn State, Janice Light's research program is helping to build a world where everyone can communicate. "Communication is the essence of human life," said Light. "Yet 4 million people in the U.S.
For millions of people with conditions that make speech difficult or nearly impossible, it’s challenging to get an education, perform a job, or build the personal relationships that enrich our lives. That’s why Janice Light has spent more than 30 years building a program at Penn State that helps people with conditions like autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, and Down syndrome learn to communicate despite troubles with speech.
Penn State doctoral candidate Jessica Gormley, who is studying communication sciences and disorders, recently received the Emerging Researcher Award from the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC). Gormley received the award during the 18th Biennial Conference of ISAAC held from July 21 to July 26 in Gold Coast, Australia.
Children and adults who use tools to help them communicate due to autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy or other developmental disabilities may have more success when family members, teachers and others around them model how to use the tools, according to a Penn State meta-analysis.
The Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Augmentative and Alternative Communication at Penn State will host a national conference on the State of the Science in AAC on July 13 in Arlington, Virginia.
Researchers in the College of Health and Human Development find hand choice can strain the mind when using Augmentative and Alternative Communication.
A group of Penn State researchers have received a $1.25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to address a shortage of faculty who can conduct research and train speech-language pathologists to provide interventions to improve outcomes for the more than four million Americans who have such complex disabilities that they cannot meet their communication needs through their own speech.
Penn State recently hosted the Doctoral Student Research Think Tank in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) in order to support the research community that strives to improve outcomes for people with complex disabilities and their families.
Two Penn State graduate students, with the assistance of two faculty members, have developed a tutorial for speech-language pathologists designed to better include parents and other family members in communication interventions for children whose speech does not adequately meet their communication needs due to autism or other disorders.
The Voz Box is the result of Project Vive, founded by Mary Elizabeth McCulloch, a 2016 graduate of the Penn State College of Engineering and Schreyer Honors College. The company, inspired by her time as an exchange student in Ecuador where she volunteered at an orphanage for children and adults with disabilities, works to give a voice to the voiceless.
Jennifer Thistle, as a doctoral student at Penn State, and Krista Wilkinson, professor of communication sciences and disorders at Penn State, studied the ways speech-language pathologists (SLPs) design visual displays for children whose speech does not adequately meet their communication needs.
A research-based literacy program teaches children with little or no speech to read, write, and relate to others.
Penn State’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD), in collaboration with a variety of other health care organizations and research centers, is leading research, training and dissemination of information to improve outcomes for those who rely on alternative communication.
Two Web sites launched by members of the Penn State faculty aim to support the development of language and communication skills in children with autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and other disabilities. The focus of each site is on children with complex communication challenges who would benefit from augmentative and alternative communication, which is the term for the various tools and approaches used to enhance communication.
