Stephen von Tetzchner, Ph.D. is professor of developmental psychology at the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway. I have been a visiting researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand, at Pretoria University, South Africa and University of Louisiana, USA. He has worked both academically and clinically with children with a range of disabilities, including children with intellectual disability, autism and Asperger syndrome. His research includes issues related to normal and atypical development in general, and communication and language development in particular, including the development of children who fail to acquire spoken language in the normal manner and may need intervention with a non-vocal form of language. He has published textbooks on developmental psychology, language development, augmentative and alternative communication, rehabilitation, challenging behaviour and Asperger syndrome.

Presentation Title

Augmentative and alternative communication intervention for children and adults with autism

Abstract: Many children with autism have limited spoken language and need to develop alternative means of communication, especially those who also have intellectual impairments. During three decades of intervention, manual and graphic communication systems have proved important for promoting the development of communication, language and social functioning and reducing behavior problems in this group, but the approaches have differed considerable. Some children may totally lack the ability to speak or their speech may be so unintelligible that it has little functional value in communication. The alternative communication has in many cases enhanced the comprehension and use of spoken language, but also functioned as a supplement to, or a functional substitute for, the spoken language. The presentation discusses different strategies used in intervention with augmentative and alternative communication for people with autism, show some examples and relate the intervention startegies to present knowledge about communication and language development. The workshop will present intervention strategies and practical examples based on a developmental communication approach. Information about this approach may be found in: Stephen von Tetzchner & Harald Martinsen Introduction to augmentative and alternative communication, Second edition. London: Wiley, 2000.