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Biomedical subjects

Erna Alant

Publications and source records attributed to Erna Alant.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Issues in AAC research: how much do we really understand?

PURPOSE: The purpose of this introductory paper is to provide some overview of and background to the issues that were raised at the Augmentative and Alternative Research Seminar in conjunction with the First Regional AAC conference on 23 February 2004. A group of 45 AAC researchers and professionals convened for one day to discuss some basic research issues in AAC. This paper highlights themes and perspectives that emerged from the research seminar discussions. METHOD: Literature reviews and discussion are used to provide a historical perspective on some of the issues raised. Two focus areas were identified for the purpose of this introductory paper; firstly, terminological issues that arose and secondly common themes that emerged during the paper presentations, discussions and/or written papers. Terminological issues include a brief description of the field of AAC for the benefit of those readers who might not be familiar with the field, whereafter the discussion focuses on the use of the term "complex communication needs" as referring to individuals who use AAC, the differentiation between symbols, signs, symbols sets and systems as well as the terms verbal and nonverbal, pre-linguistic and non-symbolic. The common themes throughout the papers include a discussion on the importance of context in communication, the chicken and egg question (i.e., comprehension and production), issues on multimodality, descriptive strategies for understanding interaction, and the use of typical interaction as a framework for understanding AAC interaction. CONCLUSIONS: In reviewing some of the issues in the field it is apparent that the issues we face now and those faced in AAC during earlier years are similar, however the need for a stronger database is apparent as the approach towards evidence-based practice becomes more prominent. The move to understand the nature of complex relationships in interaction is highlighted, for example, the multiple associations between environment, comprehension as well as the use of multi-modal communication. Whilst it became evident that most of these issues need further research in relation to typical interactions, applications to the field of AAC are most challenging.

Communication Devices for People with Disabilities↗
PubMed2006

The challenge of cross-cultural assessment--The Test of Ability To Explain for Zulu-speaking Children.

UNLABELLED: A culturally appropriate test, The Test of Ability To Explain for Zulu-speaking Children (TATE-ZC), was developed to measure verbal problem solving skills of rural, Zulu-speaking, primary school children. Principles of 'non-biased' assessment, as well as emic (culture specific) and etic (universal) aspects of intelligence formed the theoretical backdrop. In addition, specific principles relating to test translation; test content; culturally appropriate stimulus material; scoring procedures and test administration were applied. Five categories of abstract thinking skills formed the basis of the TATE-ZC. These were: (a) Explaining Inferences, (b) Determining Cause, (c) Negative Why Questions, (d) Determining Solutions and (e) Avoiding Problem. The process of test development underwent three pilot studies. Results indicate that the TATE-ZC is a reliable and valid test for the target population. A critical analysis of the efficacy of creating a test of verbal reasoning for children from the developing world concludes the article. LEARNING OUTCOMES: As a result of this activity (1) the participant will have a clearer understanding of the principles that need to be followed when developing culturally appropriate test material; (2) the participant will understand the process of developing culturally appropriate test material for non-mainstream cultures; (3) the participant will be able to apply the process and principles to other cross-cultural testing situations.

Child↗
PubMed2005

A comparison of two strategies of sight word instruction in children with mental disability.

The aim of this research study was to compare two strategies of sight word instruction in children attending a school for learners with moderate to severe mental disability, namely modified orthography (MO) and modified orthography where an association was made between the modification and the traditional orthography (MO/TO) together with a control group (TO). Thirty-three participants were matched according to their gender, receptive language skills and alphabet knowledge and assigned to the three groups, after which they were taught 10 sight words by using one of the above-mentioned strategies for 2 weeks. Word identification scores were obtained prior to teaching, on a daily basis during teaching, and after 3 weeks of withdrawal to determine the retention of identified words. Results show that individuals with moderate to severe mental disability are able to learn sight words through any of the three strategies implemented. Although there was no statistically significant difference between the three groups on a 5% level, significance on a 10% level was recorded for the MO/TO and TO groups. The order of effectiveness as measured by group averages on word identification was: MO/TO, TO and MO. The clinical implication of these results is that by using MO/TO as teaching strategy for sight words, individuals with limited literacy skills would be able to derive meaning from the written word while forming an association between the modification and the orthography. This could provide early reading success and enhance word identification.

Child↗
PubMed2003

The coping responses of the adolescent siblings of children with severe disabilities.

PURPOSE: There is a paucity of literature conducted on adolescents' perceptions of their siblings with severe disabilities. The period of adolescence is characterized by personal and emotional conflicts resulting from teenagers' search towards self-identity and autonomy and exploration of the boundaries of parental support. The study attempts to describe the coping responses of these adolescent siblings in their adjustment to the family stressor of having a sibling with a disability; and the adolescents' available coping resources. METHOD: This study is qualitative in nature and open-ended, structured interviews were conducted with 19 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15 years who had a sibling with severe disabilities. The interviews were then analysed according to categories using an editing analysis style. RESULTS: The results indicated that the subjects reported limited family interaction and were often reticent in expressing their feelings about their sibling with a disability. In addition, they expressed guilt feelings regarding their siblings with disabilities. Furthermore, siblings of children with severe disabilities received limited information and guidance regarding their sibling's disability. CONCLUSION: The need for professional support to facilitate adolescents' coping with the disability and its consequences as well as the establishment of strong support networks for these adolescents became evident.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

The iconicity of picture communication symbols for rural Zulu children.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the iconicity of selected Picture Communication Symbols (PCS) for rural Zulu ten-year-olds. Participants were presented with copies of a commercially available communication overlay without glosses. They were required to match a symbol with each of 36 spoken Zulu labels. With both strict and lenient scoring criteria applied, 2.8% and 11.1% (respectively) of the symbols on the communication overlay emerged as iconic for participants. It was further established that the position of symbols on the overlay, the total frequency of selection of symbols, and gender did not influence results. An analysis of errors revealed that for some symbols many of the participants agreed on a single specific label, be it the target label or a non-target label; while for other symbols there were either many possible labels, or none. The term distinctiveness was coined to describe how well defined or specific were the evoked meanings triggered by a symbol in the viewers' minds. Results suggest that participants did not make maximum use of the information provided by arrows in the symbols. This finding could be ascribed to the opaqueness of arrows and participants' lack of previous experience with these conventional cues in pictures, as well as the traditional oral nature of the Zulu culture.

Child↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Associations with Minspeak icons.

UNLABELLED: Although the Minspeak approach is used on communication devices worldwide, little research has been conducted on its applicability within specific cultural contexts. The impact that users' familiarity of symbols and associations can have on learnability necessitates more systematic research. This study was an investigation into the associations which young South African adults from a tertiary education institution make with selected Minspeak icons, used in Unity software. Associations with the 12 core icons of the UniChat program were elicited from 480 able-bodied tertiary education students, using a cueing questionnaire. Each participant completed one questionnaire on one icon, so that 40 response questionnaires were obtained per icon. The responses from the questionnaires were pruned and computerised. Two analyses were done from these data: Firstly, the percentage of common associations per icon was calculated, and secondly, the elicited associations were compared to the current Unity vocabulary on a word and conceptual level. The results indicate that some of the icons and their encoded vocabulary items might be used successfully in the South African context, while others need to be adapted to be locally relevant. The results emphasize that iconic encoding systems based on commercially available graphic representational systems cannot merely be imported to South Africa due to the multicultural and multilingual nature of the context. LEARNING OUTCOMES: As a result of this activity (1) the participant will be able to understand different types of associational responses based on icons used in Minspeak; (2) the participant will be able to understand the cultural relevance of some aspects of the Unity application programme; and (3) the participant will be able to identify different strategies that can be used to describe the cultural relevance o of the Unity application programme.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Comparison of the learnability and retention between Blissymbols and CyberGlyphs.

BACKGROUND: There are a variety of graphic symbol sets/systems (GSSs) currently used in the field of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Various characteristics of these graphic symbol systems affect learnability and should be considered in order to make a meaningful match between the user of AAC and the system. Although a variety of studies on learnability of graphic systems have been conducted in the past, all studies conducted included participants from Western countries. AIMS: To compare two symbol systems, namely Blissymbolics and CyberGlyphs in terms of learnability. To identify the overall performance between Blissymbolics and CyberGlyphs in terms of the percentage of symbols correctly identified at the various stages. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: A quasi-experimental crossover design between groups was carried out on two homogeneous groups of typically developing, Northern Sotho-speaking children. Data were obtained by teaching 80 different referents (40 from each symbol system) to 50 Northern Sotho speaking regular students from South Africa, ranging from grade 4 to 6. The participants were tested on symbol recognition at four different stages: after initial training, after a revision period, after a 7-day withdrawal period and after 30 days of withdrawal. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: The overall results indicated that the ease of learning and memory retention of the CyberGlyphs were higher than that of Blissymbols, irrespective of the group or the sequence of exposure. Possible reasons for the differences are discussed. CyberGlyphs seem to be more accessible as the symbols in general seem to be more detailed and also are meant to be hand drawn rather than computer or stencil produced. Within this context, CyberGlyphs could be easier to access visually than Blissymbolics, especially for children who do not have extensive experience in dealing with geometric shapes, particularly for the children who do not come from rich literacy backgrounds or who do not have rich visual perceptual experiences to draw from. CONCLUSIONS: Even though initial learning might be faster for CyberGlyphs than for Blissymbolics in certain populations, there may be other factors to consider when making a choice between the two graphic symbol systems. Within the clinical setting CyberGlyphs can provide the individual who uses AAC with a more user-friendly system as an entrance to the use of other graphic symbol systems. This may be especially important in contexts where issues surrounding poverty and lack of early exposure to literacy exist.

Child↗