Visual-graphic symbol acquisition in school age children with developmental and language delays.
Rose A Sevcik, Andrea Barton-Hulsey, MaryAnn Romski and 1 others
PMID 30514122WHAT IT FOUND
Children with developmental and language delays learned both picture-like and abstract symbols after repeated computer exposure.
Picture-like symbols helped comprehension overall, but not production, and gave no advantage for words the children did not yet understand.
Key findings
01All participants learned some symbol meanings, and five learned all six Blissymbols and six lexigrams in comprehension and production.
02Participants learned more Blissymbols than lexigrams in comprehension, but not in production.
03For vocabulary not understood before the symbol experience, there was no significant difference in comprehension or production between Blissymbols and lexigrams.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study included 13 children with varied ages, diagnoses, educational placements, adaptive behavior, and comprehension skills. The children were not already using AAC devices, so the study does not show how these symbol-referent links would transfer to functional communication on a device. The vocabulary was limited to nouns, so the findings may not apply to verbs or social words. The generalization game was hard for several children because of limited receptive language, and some needed modified procedures. The study did not test whether a larger number of sessions, a different dosage, or another instructional strategy would improve learning. The study did not compare different instructional methods or dosage levels.
Declared interests
The supplied metadata lists N.I.H. extramural research support. The article text does not report author conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that picture-like symbols are always easier to learn. Children learned more picture-like symbols in comprehension overall, but there was no difference for words they did not understand before the experience, and production showed no difference.