Influence of assisted communication on language skills

Children with severe congenital health impairments often have limited communicative development and are hardly able to express themselves verbally. If verbal language does not develop during speech therapy, communication aids must be provided to enable them to actively participate in their social environment. This paper deals with the influence of supportive forms of communication on certain linguistic functions. Definitions of terms in the first part are followed in the second part by a presentation of different communication and language models, a description of the typical development of pre-linguistic and linguistic communication, and the special characteristics of severely impaired children. The third part deals with supported communication and behavioural measures for caregivers to promote communication. The empirical part discusses the qualitative research method and the interpretation of the collected data. The fourth chapter summarises the results from the empirical study and answers and interprets the research question.