Faculty of Humanities
School of Professional Social Sciences
Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC)
Selected Highlights from Research Findings
The radical reforms in the education system in South Africa over the past few years have aimed to redress past inequalities and to move from a system of segregation to one of inclusion. The success of including learners with disabilities and other barriers to learning in mainstream classrooms depends heavily on teachers’ perceptions about this process.
The Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC) surveyed 119 Grade 1–3 mainstream teachers to determine their perceptions about the inclusions of learners who have little or no functional speech (LNFS) versus learners with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Teachers were randomly assigned to two groups. A crossover design was used: Group 1 first read case study A, followed by case study B, and Group 2 did the reverse. Teachers were then asked to complete a questionnaire tapping their perceptions about the inclusion of these learners.
Preliminary analysis of results indicate that teachers overall seem to have a slightly more positive perception about the inclusion of a learner with ADHD, although learners with LNFS were not perceived more negatively per se. Teachers are probably more familiar with learners with ADHD, who are often already accommodated in mainstream schools. This might have prompted an overall more positive attitude.
Contact person: Prof J Bornman.
Crime against people with developmental and other disabilities is similar in scope to that of women, children and the elderly. Individuals with disabilities who have little or no functional speech are particularly vulnerable when it comes to crime, abuse and neglect. One contributing factor might be that, due to their communication disability, they are seen as being unable to tell about their victimisation, or that they might appear to be unreliable witnesses.
Alternative ways of communication, such as communication boards or speech generating devices are often used to help people with little or no functional speech (LNFS) to communicate. Persons unable to spell need to rely on preprogrammed vocabulary to express themselves. In order for such persons to report a crime or abuse, the appropriate vocabulary needs to be available for them to do so. The current study thus aimed to identify the appropriate words that need to be incorporated into an augmentative and alternative communication system. To date, three focus groups have been held with professionals working with people with disabilities – each group coming from a different language background (English, Afrikaans and Northern Sotho). Fifty words that were thought to be crucial for reporting crime or abuse were identified by each group.
Contact person: Prof J Bornman.
Family-centered practice in early childhood intervention calls for culturally appropriate and sensitive intervention methods. Understanding the everyday experiences and events (also known as activity settings) that families engage in can help practitioners and interventionists to formulate intervention goals that are congruent with rather than disruptive of family practices and functioning.
There is a lack of research aimed at understanding the family contexts of young South African children of low-income urban families. A two-phase research project was undertaken under the auspices of the Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC) to identify the activity settings that children aged three to five years from lower socio-economic urban settings typically engage in. The first phase entailed the development and piloting of an extensive questionnaire, which was then used to gather data in a setting in the greater Johannesburg area. The second phase entailed a replication in a setting in the greater Tshwane area.
The study employed a descriptive design using face-to-face structured interviews. Some 112 caregivers were interviewed, using a structured interview schedule previously developed in consultation with the caregivers from Soweto, using focus groups.
The results indicated similarities and differences between the two contexts regarding the types of activities that children participate in, the frequency of participation, the partners involved, as well as the purpose of the activities.
Contact person: Prof CJE Uys.
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