AAC in the Time of COVID-19

citing new areas of research, and may turn out to be one of the positive impacts of this challenging time.

dividual therapists/interventionists in all. 49 of the 56 parents (87.5%) reported that they had in fact seen an increase in their child’s spoken language and/or use of their AAC device (see im- age 3: Language Explosion During COVID School Closure). All 16 of the therapists/interventions (100%) reported that they had seen increases in spoken language/AAC use or had been giv- en reports of the same by the clients/families they are working with. Combined, 90% of the parents and therapists/interven- tionists that responded to this Facebook post indicated a pos- itive change in their children, clients, or students. Of the 49 parents who reported an increase in language, 26 simply answered in the affirmative (yes!, 100%!, raised hand emoji, etc.). 23 parents provided further information or thoughts about why they thought they were seeing this language “explo- sion”. Several parents noted that they were modeling and using the device more frequently at home than prior to school being shut down. One parent described this as “doing speech therapy every day for a few hours”. Several parents (8) directly reported an increase in the use of spoken language with two noticing an uptick in echoed speech. Several other parents mentioned a de- crease in pressure/stress on their child to use the device or an increase in play/social interaction with siblings/family members. Two parents reported having removed their children from a tra- ditional school setting prior to the pandemic and seeing an in- crease in language then. Two other parents reported an increase in language along with a decrease in challenging behaviors (e.g., hitting/biting). The responses to this Facebook post raised some interesting questions for us. We know that there is research that points to seeing gains in language development when a speaker is en- gaged with someone with whom they have a relationship, and we speculate that the science behind why we are seeing this increase in communication skills may be rooted in the social connection children have for their parents and siblings (Bernier, Dawson, Webb, & Murias, 2007). We also know there is research that posits that many of the individuals we are supporting to learn language using AAC may demonstrate deficits or impair- ments in their Mirror Neuron Systems (Dapretto et. al, 2006, Theoret 2005); the increase in parent modeling and use of the AAC device at home could be helpful for individuals who re- quire multiple models to learn a skill. An additional possibility is that teletherapy sessions act as a form of video modeling, a well -studied evidence-based practice for intervention. In addition to the benefit of providing coaching for in-person communica- tion partners, Charlop, Le, & Freeman (2000) found that gener- alization of tasks occurred only for the tasks that were taught through video modeling. While certainly even the most robust analysis of a Facebook post provides us with anecdotal information, it is fascinating to consider what may be driving the increase in language we are seeing reported while AAC users are at home for extended pe- riods with their parents and/or siblings. This points toward ex-

WHAT’S NEXT? While the future remains a bit uncertain for all of us, we be- lieve it’s fair to say that teletherapy for AAC is here to stay. Even as we move back into in-person therapy sessions, we now have new tools to use and based on our own experiences and feed- back from other clinicians and interventionists, we find that telepractice offers a unique window into AAC use and as Grand- lund et. al. (2008) remind us “the primary context for evaluating the effects of the AAC intervention is the family”. If you are interested in learning more about the LAMP ap- proach, please visit the Center for AAC & Autism at aacandau- tism.com Amy & Josie look forward to presenting Long Distance LAMP: Applying the Principles via teletherapy at this year’s virtual Clos- ing The Gap conference and we look forward to seeing you at our live Q&A session on Wednesday, November, 11th at 11am CST. REFERENCES: Charlop, Marjorie & Le, Loc & Freeman, Kurt. (2001). A Com- parison of Video Modeling with In Vivo Modeling for Teaching Children with Autism. Journal of autism and developmental dis- orders. 30. 537-52. 10.1023/A:1005635326276. Granlund, Mats & Bjorck-Akesson, Eva & Wilder, Jenny & Ylvén, Regina. (2008). AAC Interventions for Children in a Family Envi- ronment: Implementing Evidence in Practice. Augmentative and alternative communication (Baltimore, Md. : 1985). 24. 207-19. 10.1080/08990220802387935. Dapretto, M., Davies, M. S., Pfeifer, J. H., Scott, A. A., Sigman, M., Bookheimer, S. Y., & Iacoboni, M. (2006). Understanding emotions in others: mirror neuron dysfunction in children with autism spectrum disorders. Nature neuroscience, 9(1), 28–30. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1611 Théoret, H & Halligan, E & Kobayashi, M & Fregni, Felipe & Tager-Flusberg, Helen & Pascual-Leone, Alvaro. (2005). Impaired motor facilitation during action observation in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Current biology : CB. 15. R84-5. 10.1016/j.cub.2005.01.022.

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