Congratulations to Hedda Meadan-Kaplansky, professor, Special Education, on receiving a $2 million Institute of Education Sciences grant.
The study will be conducted with Dr. Sarah Douglas, PI, at Michigan State University. Education at Illinois' IT Partners will also be involved in this project. They will assist in developing the digital learning platform.
From the abstract:
This project aims to develop and test the Family Telepractice AAC Modeling Intervention (FamTAM). Family members are critical communication partners for children who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Evidence suggests that children who use AAC experience the best outcomes when family members are well-trained and highly engaged in AAC use. However, families are rarely provided with the training necessary to support AAC. The FamTAM intervention will address this need and include online professional development for school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to train and coach family members to keep a target child’s use of AAC.
Expected outcomes of this intervention include increased knowledge, self-efficacy, and use of strategies and coaching practices by school-based SLPs; improved understanding and use of AAC strategies and quality of life among families; and increased independent communication and service of aided AAC by children with disabilities. The project will use focus groups, interviews, observations, and single-case experimental designs to iteratively develop FamTAM and test the promise of the intervention for improving SLP, family, and child outcomes.
