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Purpose: The goal of this study was to investigate the initial feasibility of the Communication Matrix Professional Development Program (CMPDP), an online program created to help educational professionals teaching students with complex communication needs. Method: A one-group pretest-posttest design was employed with 102 educational professionals and their students with complex communication needs. Students (M[subscript age] = 12.5 years, SD = 4.8 years) had severe expressive communication impairments characterized by an expressive vocabulary of < 10 words. The online CMPDP included webinars, coursework, and engagement with an online community of practice. We examined the students' expressive communication skills measured by the Communication Matrix Assessment and Individualized Education Program (IEP) goal quality measured by the Design to Learn IEP Goal Development Guide before and after their teachers and speech-language pathologists participated in the intervention. Results: Students showed small but significant increases on the Communication Matrix Assessment. The average increase in scores was 10.6, z = 5.37, 95% confidence interval (CI; [6.65, 14.54]), Glass's delta = 0.37. The mean gain in scores for IEP quality was not significant (0.82, z = 2.43, 95% CI [0.14, 1.49], Glass's delta = 0.28). Conclusions: Results demonstrate the initial feasibility of the CMPDP for educational professionals and their students with complex communication needs. Findings must be interpreted cautiously as the study design has methodological limitations including lack of a control condition and a potential for correlated measurement error and demand characteristics.

Individuals with a comorbid diagnosis of Down syndrome (DS) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been found to exhibit greater deficits in expressive communication than individuals with DS only. We hypothesized that individuals with a comorbid diagnosis (n = 430) would have significantly lower Communication Matrix scores and specifically social communication scores than individuals with DS alone (n = 4,352). In a sample of 4,782 individuals with DS, scores for individuals with a comorbid diagnosis were on average 18.01 points and 7.26 points lower for total score and social score respectively as compared to individuals with DS. Comorbid diagnosis accounted for 10.5% of the variance in communication scores. Between-group differences in referential gestures and symbolic communication behaviors were also observed.

The Individualized Education Program (IEP) is a legal document developed for each student with a disability. The IEP outlines the student's learning needs and associated educational goals, as well as the program placement and services required to support the attainment of these goals in the least restrictive environment. Most IEPs include all legally required elements; however, there is a gulf between meeting legal requirements and writing a high-quality IEP that results in educational benefit for the individual student. We collected a large number of IEP documents focused on interventions for children with complex communication needs (CCN) who may use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). These documents suggested the need for a tool to describe the subtle and specific qualities that characterize high-quality IEPs for children with CCN. We describe a 28-item IEP quality guide created to serve as a clinical resource for educators and therapists who develop educational goals.

Many children born with severe and multiple disabilities have complex communication needs and may use no speech or only minimal speech to communicate. Meaningful assessment of their expressive skills to identify communication strengths along a developmental trajectory is an essential first step toward appropriate intervention. This article describes the foundations, structure, properties, and use of the "Communication Matrix," an assessment instrument developed specifically to address the challenges of describing the expressive communication skills of children with severe and multiple disabilities. The widely used online version of this assessment tool collects data in an associated database. Sample data on children with specific disabilities generated by this database are presented to illustrate the clinical and research potential of this free assessment service. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

This article describes an environmental inventory, "Analyzing the Communication Environment," which allows the evaluator to analyze the extent to which specific activities encourage functional communication for particular students with severe communication impairments. The inventory may be used to compare different activities across the student's day or to track improvement of specific communicative activities. (Author/JDD)

Analysis of filmed interactions between five mothers and their blind infants made at regular intervals over six months revealed that, although the frequency of the infants' vocalizations was within normal limits, the vocalizations did not follow normal patterns of responsiveness, and the mothers' responses were weak and inconsistent. (CL)

Communication interactions were elicited from 15 nonverbal youths (10-18 years old) with severe/profound mental retardation. All subjects were capable of intentionally communicating with an adult through nonverbal means, however, they varied widely in the frequency and type of communicative interactions in which they engaged. Findings suggested the need for careful assessment of expressive communication. (Author/CL)

Suggestions for narrowing the discrepancy between the knowledge base of early communication development and the implementation of effective communication interventions for severely handicapped infants and young children are offered including strategies for facilitating emerging language development, increasing positive interactions with infants, and improving preservice and inservice professional training. (Author/DB)

The Individualized Education Program (IEP) is a legal document developed for each student with a disability. The IEP outlines the student’s learning needs and associated educational goals, as well as the program placement and services required to support the attainment of these goals in the least restrictive environment. Most IEPs include all legally required elements; however, there is a gulf between meeting legal requirements and writing a high-quality IEP that results in educational benefit for the individual student. We collected a large number of IEP documents focused on interventions for children with complex communication needs (CCN) who may use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). These documents suggested the need for a tool to describe the subtle and specific qualities that characterize high-quality IEPs for children with CCN. We describe a 28-item IEP quality guide created to serve as a clinical resource for educators and therapists who develop educational goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine the social networks of families with a child at risk of placement into substitute care. Descriptive data regarding the size and function of the networks of this high-risk client population are reported. The relationship between network and clinical variables are examined. Results indicated that both families who remained intact and families rated by therapists as low in case-difficulty engaged in a greater amount of community interaction than did high case-difficulty families or families who disbanded. The importance of assessing family networks in working from an ecological perspective is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]