Exploring the context of strengths – a new approach to strength-based assessment

Since the 1990s many strength-based assessments (for example, inventories, checklists, interview schedules) have been developed for use with children and young people, but these have offered a limited appraisal of the contexts in which strengths are present. In this study a new form of contextualised strength-based assessment was used within the routine practice of an educational psychologist. A multiple case study explored how this approach worked with eight children and young people referred to a local authority educational psychology team, ranging in age from 6.9 to 19.2 years. Qualitative data were analysed holistically using a story-board method. In all cases, participants identified situations or contexts which they associated with the presence of specific strengths. In some cases they highlighted aspects of a situation which might be hypothesised to have pedagogical value. There is discussion of the tensions that can arise in using this approach in schools when a more negative view of a pupil has already emerged. Nevertheless, the introduction of fresh information, about the type of contexts which suited specific children and young people, was helpful in providing ideas and recommendations which may have otherwise been missed

Enabling the Participation of People with Parkinson's and Their Caregivers in Co-Inquiry around Collectivist Health Technologies

While user participation is central to HCI, co-inquiry takes this further by having participants direct and control research from conceptualisation to completion. We describe a co-inquiry, conducted over 16 months with a Parkinson's support group. We explored how the participation of members might be enabled across multiple stages of a research project, from the generation of research questions to the development of a prototype. Participants directed the research into developing alternative modes of information provision, resulting in ‘Parkinson’s Radio’ — a collectivist health information service produced and edited by members of the support group. We reflect on how we supported participation at different stages of the project and the successes and challenges faced by the team. We contribute insights into the design of collectivist health technologies for this group, and discuss opportunities and tensions for conducting co-inquiry in HCI research

Using a situative perspective to gain a deeper understanding of how children’s strengths are related to social context

Over the last twenty-five years, there has been an increase in the availability of published checklists and schedules which allow practitioners to identify the strengths of children and young people, including those with special educational needs. While helpful, these assessments are unable to tell us about the nature of contextual factors which support the expression of particular strengths. In this study, we took a situative perspective to explore how specific classroom practices facilitated strengths. A multiple case study design was used to analyse practices nominated by three children/young people with special educational needs. Qualitative analysis revealed how aspects of practice afforded the opportunity for each child to participate in ways which they equated with their strengths. This style of strength-based assessment led to a more sustained examination of supportive practice features than would have been achieved through interview alone

AAC users and nursing staff’s thoughts and perceptions of current AAC training with content considerations for future training interventions

As life expectancy increases, more adults are living with conditions affecting their communication, and many of these will reside within care settings such as hospitals or long-term care, cared for by nurses and health care assistants (HCAs). The current workload and role of a nurse or HCA is complex and busy, and when caring for a patient who is also an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) user, they need additional skills and knowledge to be an effective communication partner. Nursing staff also need to undertake the various tasks that an AAC facilitator has to assume, such as high-tech AAC system maintenance - updating software, battery charging, cleaning as well as liaising with companies or therapists for help (Beukelman et al., 2008). Research has identified difficult and distressing experiences of AAC users within hospitals, and nurses have reported feeling frustrated when caring for AAC users due to a lack of knowledge about AAC e.g. Hemsley et al. (2011). Many barriers to implementing AAC, particularly in hospital settings have been identified, including a lack of staff knowledge and skills (Gormley and Light, 2019). The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on communication function has escalated the need for communication aids and subsequently a nurse’s need for awareness of alternative and supportive communication tools and strategies (Altschuler, 2021). Training nursing staff in inpatient settings is complicated by a need to train a large number of healthcare workers on overlapping shift work patterns, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Globally, nurses and AAC users are diverse culturally and linguistically, and training needs to ensure these factors are considered. In terms of opportunities to support nursing staff, recent research by Barnard et al. (2021) found that most interactions between speech and language therapists (SLTs) and nurses were punctuated by interruptions to the conversations in which SLTs seized moments in between nursing tasks to explain communication needs and strategies. Compounding these factors, we have a limited research-evidence-base for how we train our nursing colleagues. To meet the demands of the healthcare setting, clinicians and researchers are challenged with the task of developing and evaluating innovative, flexible communication supports and communication partner training (Altschuler et al., 2021). This article explores current research and practice in this area and describes a research study exploring nurses’ and AAC users’ views about current and future training

Conversation Patterns between Children with Severe Speech Impairment and their Conversation Partners in Dyadic and Multi-person Interactions

Active engagement in interactions is crucial for the development of identity, social competence, and cognitive abilities. For children with severe speech impairment (SSI) who have little or no intelligible speech, active participation in conversations is challenging and can be critical for their social inclusion and participation. The present study investigated the conversational patterns emerging from interactions between children with SSI who use aided communication and typically speaking conversation partners (CPs) and explored whether active participation was different in interactions with different numbers of partners (dyadic versus multi-person interactions). An unusually large multilingual dataset was used (N= 85 conversations). This allowed us to systematically investigate discourse analysis measures indicating participation: the distribution of conversational control (initiations versus responses versus recodes) and summoning power (obliges versus comments). The findings suggest that (i) conversations were characterized by asymmetrical conversational patterns with CPs assuming most of the conversational control and (ii) multi-person interactions were noticeably more symmetric compared to dyadic, as children's active participation in multi-person interactions was significantly increased. Clinical implications and best practice recommendations are discussed.Peer reviewe

African American Male College Students' Transitioning Experiences at PWCUs and their Coping Strategies

Qualitative methodology was used to explore the transitioning experiences of African American males at a large public university in the Midwest. Researchers facilitated a focus group in which seven African American male students described their transitioning experiences and coping strategies attending a predominantly White college and university (PWCU). An interpretative phenomenological approach (IPA) guided by grounded theory was used to analyze the data. Results are discussed with recommendations for researchers and university practitioners

Constructing narratives to describe video events using aided communication

Narratives are a pervasive form of discourse and a rich source for exploring a range of language and cognitive skills. The limited research base to date suggests that narratives generated using aided communication may be structurally simple, and that features of cohesion and reference may be lacking. This study reports on the analysis of narratives generated in interactions involving aided communication in response to short, silent, video vignettes depicting events with unintended or unexpected consequences. Two measures were applied to the data: the Narrative Scoring Scheme and the Narrative Analysis Profile. A total of 15 participants who used aided communication interacted with three different communication partners (peers, parents, professionals) relaying narratives about three video events. Their narratives were evaluated with reference to narratives of 15 peers with typical development in response to the same short videos and to the narratives that were interpreted by their communication partners. Overall, the narratives generated using aided communication were shorter and less complete than those of the speaking peers, but they incorporated many similar elements. Topic maintenance and inclusion of scene-setting elements were consistent strengths. Communication partners offered rich interpretations of aided narratives. Relative to the aided narratives, these interpreted narratives were typically structurally more complete and cohesive and many incorporated more elaborated semantic content. The data reinforce the robust value of narratives in interaction and their potential for showcasing language and communication achievements in aided communication.Peer reviewe

Decision-making in communication aid recommendations in the UK : cultural and contextual influencers

High-tech communication aids are one form of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) intervention offered to children following an assessment process to identify the most appropriate system based on their needs. Professional recommendations are likely to include consideration of child characteristics and communication aid attributes. Recommendations may be influenced by contextual factors related to the cultural work practices and service context of professionals involved, as well as by contextual factors from the child’s life including their family environment and wider settings. The aim of this study was to explore the influence of cultural and contextual factors on the real-time decision-making processes of specialized AAC professionals in the UK. A total of six teams were recruited to the study. Each team carried out an assessment appointment related to a communication aid recommendation for a child and family. Following the appointment, each team participated in a focus group examining their decision-making processes during the preceding assessment. Inductive coding was used to analyse the transcribed data, and three organizing themes emerged relating to the global theme of Cultural and Contextual Influencers on communication aid decision-making. An explanatory model was developed to illustrate the funnelling effect that contextual factors may have on decision-making, which can substantially alter the nature and timing of a communication aid recommendation. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed

Professionals’ decision-making in recommending communication aids in the UK : competing considerations

Existing research suggests the provision of communication aids for children with complex communication needs can have significant positive impacts on health and quality-of-life. The process of clinical decision-making related to the recommendation of high-tech communication aids is not well documented or evaluated, and research evidence related to the provision of these aids remains limited. This study aimed to understand the factors that specialized AAC professionals in the UK consider when recommending high-tech communication aids. Purposive sampling was used to recruit teams to six focus groups, each of which centred on a team’s recent recommendation process (i.e. a discussion following a real-time assessment session, where the team attempted to arrive at an agreed recommendation for a specific child). Thematic network analysis was used to interpret data from the focus group discussions. Participants identified a wide range of child characteristics, access features, and communication aid attributes in weighing up decisions for individual children. Findings suggest that specialized AAC professionals in the UK prioritize access features over language considerations in their communication aid recommendations. An explanatory model was developed to illustrate the interaction effect that several competing considerations may have on decision-making. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed