Using AVAZ to Enhance Communicative Abilities of a Child with Cerebral Palsy
Communication difficulties associated with cerebral palsy can be multifactorial, arising from motor, intellectual and / or sensory impairments. Affected children can experience mild to severe difficulties in expression. Those with little or no functional speech frequently rely on non-speech communication systems to augment or replace natural speech. These systems include speech generating devices (SGDs). AVAZ is a portable speech synthesizer which can be controlled by the gross motor movements of a child with cerebral palsy.
Purpose: This case study describes the outcomes of a pilot investigation that utilised AVAZ as a means of enhancing functional communication in a young girl with cerebral palsy.
Method: A 7-year-old girl with cerebral palsy and complex communication needs was trained for 10 sessions to develop requesting ability by pointing to the desired pictures on the AVAZ.
Results: After the training sessions, the child showed improvement in social interaction and functional communication.
Conclusions and Implication: The collaborative efforts of an interdisciplinary team, comprising a speech pathologist, a physiotherapist, parents of the child and a social worker, made it possible to enhance the child’s confidence and functional communication using AVAZ.
Hence it is important to pursue client-oriented, innovative and collaborative intervention approaches among team members.
Keywords
Authors
How to Cite
Download Citation
License
Copyright © 2014 The Author(s)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License By-NC-ND 4.0 that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access ).
Similar Articles
- Sunil Deepak, Mario Biggeri, Vincenzo Mauro, Jayanth Kumar, Giampiero Griffo, Impact of Community-based Rehabilitation on Persons with Different Disabilities
- Peter Evans, Shaheen Shah, Adam Huebner, Selvaraj Sivasubramaniam, Chhoeurn Vuthy, Kao Sambath, Lucy Haurisa, Yim Borun, A Population-based Study on the Prevalence of Impairment and Disability Among Young Cambodian Children , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 25 No. 2 (2014): Summer 2014
- Sebestina Anita Dsouza, An Integrated Multimodal Intervention of Remedial and Adaptive Approaches in Secondary Dystonia of Hand: A Case Report , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 24 No. 2 (2013): Summer
- Pim Kuipers, Huib Cornielje, Alternative Responses to the Human Resource Challenge for CBR , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 23 No. 4 (2012): Winter
- Jerome Dany Praveen Raj, Sebestina Anita Dsouza, Amith Sitaram, Shashikiran Umakanth, Effectiveness of Caregiver Education for Prevention of Shoulder Pain in Acute Stroke Survivors: A Randomised Controlled Trial , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 32 No. 1 (2021): Spring
- Pavithra Rajan, Community-based Physiotherapy in Western India: Some Findings from Surveys , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 23 No. 4 (2012): Winter
- Arisha Qayyum, Seema Zainulabdin Lasi, Ghazala Rafique, Perceptions of Primary Caregivers of Children with Disabilities in two Communities from Sindh and Balochistan, Pakistan , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 24 No. 1 (2013): Spring
- Soraia Micaela Silva, Fredi Alexander Diaz-Quijano, Camila Ferreira da Cruz, Paula da Cruz Peniche, João Carlos Ferrari Corrêa, Christina Danielli Coelho de Morais Faria, Does Residing in Environments of Different Metropolises in a Developing Country exert an Impact on Disability after Stroke? , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 32 No. 2 (2021): Summer
- Natalie Smith, The Face of Disability in Nigeria: A Disability Survey in Kogi and Niger States , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 22 No. 1 (2011): Spring
- Consuelo Gonzalez-Suarez, Karen Grimmer, Isaias Alipio, Elda Grace Anota-Canencia, Maria Luisa Santos-Carpio, Janine Margarita Dizon, Lauren Liao, Jan Tyrone Cabrera, Romil Martinez, Eulalia Beredo, Carolina Valdecanas, Vania Yu, Stroke Rehabilitation in the Philippines: An Audit Study , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 26 No. 3 (2015): Autumn 2015
You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.
Most read articles by the same author(s)
- Anju George, Jeena Mary Joy, Sita Sreekumar, Academic Outcomes and Coping Mechanisms of Children using Cochlear Implants in Mainstream Schools in Kerala, India , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 31 No. 4 (2020): Winter
- Sita Sreekumar, Suja K Kunnath, Vineetha Sara Philip, Predictors in the Selection of an AAC system: An Evidence-based Report on Overcoming Challenges , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 29 No. 1 (2018): Spring 2018