Search

Copyright of Journal of Human Mediated Interactions / Revue des Interactions Humaines Médiatisées (RIHM) is the property of Europia Productions and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

One of the important assumptions of leadership in the process of upbringing and education is the readiness of the leader to take responsibility for improving the teaching process’s quality and continuously participate in activities directly related to the improvement of educational outcomes. In other words, for a teacher to be a good leader, it is necessary to contribute to the overall development, support, and increase of students’ skills through commitment. In this paper, we wanted to examine whether primary school teachers are familiar with assistive technology used to achieve and facilitate verbal communication of children with difficulties in verbal expression, i.e., whether teachers use devices for augmentative and alternative communication in regular classes. The research was conducted in the territory of southern Serbia on a sample of 176 teachers working in elementary schools. An instrument designed for the purposes of this research was used to collect data, which consists of 7 statements. A Likert-type scale was used as an instrument for data collection, with five alternatives. The results show that almost half of the teachers state negatively when it comes to familiarity with assistive technology. Pedagogical implications derived based on the obtained results refer to the empowerment of teachers to acquire the necessary knowledge through professional development in the field mentioned above to adequately provide full support to students with complex communication needs to increase their verbal skills.