Acceptance of Augmentative and Alternative Communication Technology by Persons With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
By Ball, Laura J.; Beukelman, David R.; Pattee, Gary L.; Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 113-122Publication Date: June 2004
Study conducted to review the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technology by 50 people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis over the course of 4 years. The participants completed AAC assessments when they reached a 90 percent or lower intelligibility of speech rate, or a 100 words-per-minute or lower speaking rate on the Sentence Intelligibility Test. Categories of AAC acceptance were established for the purpose of data analysis. Immediate acceptance, delayed acceptance, rejection, and discontinuance of AAC were characterized for the participants. Ninety-six percent of the participants in the study accepted AAC technology either immediately or after some delay. Only four percent rejected AAC technology, and none of the participants ceased use of their devices. Among the participants who accepted AAC, 31 selected the Freedom 2000 Toughbook from Words Plus, Incorporated; 7 selected the Handheld Portable IMPACT from Enkidu Research; 5 selected the DynaMyte 3100 from DynaVox Systems; 3 selected the Palmtop Portable IMPACT from Enkidu Research; and 2 selected the DynaVox 3100 from DynaVox Systems. Implications for further research are discussed.
Assistive Products Discussed: DYNAVOX 3100
DYNAMYTE 3100
PALMTOP PORTABLE IMPACT
HANDHELD PORTABLE IMPACT
FREEDOM TOUGHBOOK
Published by: International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC) (Website:http://www.isaac-online.org)
Link to text: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a713950249~db=all~order=page
This publication is included in the library of the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC), accession number J48050
