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Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC)
The current director of CAAC is Prof Shakila Dada
Prof Shakila Dada is the director at the Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication, University of Pretoria, and has a PhD in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Her work explores the use of AAC systems to facilitate language learning and participation in society for persons with complex communication needs. Her research has also investigated the perspectives of communication partners such as family members, teachers, and health care professionals regarding AAC interventions as well as the practices and policies related to AAC systems and the availability and acceptability of those systems to persons with complex communication needs. Much of her research is co-authored with postgraduate students. With her research, she seeks to systemically describe, understand and address the communication and participation patterns of persons with complex communication needs. Her particular focus is on how graphic symbol-based augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems can be used to facilitate language learning for persons with complex communication needs so as to facilitate their participation in society.
The Centre for Augmentative & Alternative Communication is committed to making a difference in the communication and life-skills of people with severe disabilities, and in particular those complex communication needs, by:
- Multi-professional and community training
- Research in the fields of severe disabilities, early intervention and augmentative & alternative communication
- Influencing policy making impacting on the lives of people with severe disabilities.
For inquiries regarding this collection or items in the collection, please contact Gcobisa Xalabile
Tel.: +27 12 420 4793
Collections in this community
Recent Submissions
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(Academy of Science of South Africa, 2024-11)SIGNIFICANCE : South Africa has a serious shortage of healthcare professionals trained to provide early intervention services for young children with disabilities, especially in the public healthcare sector, accessed by ...
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(Taylor and Francis, 2024-08-07)Since effective and successful AAC service delivery relies on the knowledge and competence of professionals in the field of AAC, sufficient training in AAC will equip professionals to provide quality AAC service delivery. ...
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(Wiley, 2024)BACKGROUND : Over 8 million children with disabilities live in Africa and are candidates for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), yet formal training for team members, such as speech–language therapists and ...
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(Education Association of South Africa, 2024-08)Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) strategies benefit learners with complex communication needs (CCN) by allowing them to participate, interact and learn. AAC is realised in the South African Education policy; ...
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(American Speech Language Hearing Association, 2024-01)PURPOSE : People who stutter (PWS) are vulnerable to the development of various psychopathological symptoms, although prevalence data are mixed and less clarity exists about factors that potentially influence their ...
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(AOSIS, 2024-07)BACKGROUND: Individuals with communication disabilities encounter obstacles in attaining equal access to justice compared to others. Despite experiencing widespread violence and abuse, they come across as challenges in ...
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(American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2024-07)PURPOSE : Despite general agreement on the importance of person-centered care in speech-language pathology, guidelines for developing person-centered interventions for those with dementia are limited. This study aimed ...
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(American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2023-04)PURPOSE : Language sample analysis is widely regarded as the gold standard of language assessment. However, the uncertainty regarding the optimal length of sample and the limited availability of developmental language ...
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(Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, 2023-12-04)OBJECTIVE : The main aim of this study was to identify the multidimensional support needs of familiar caregivers and to identify the lessons they had learned throughout the caregiving process. BACKGROUND : Persons who ...
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(AME Publishing Company, 2024-04)BACKGROUND : Evidence-based mobile health (mHealth) interventions have been successful for an array of physical and mental health conditions. Children with developmental disorders (DD) often have secondary speech and ...
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(MDPI, 2023-11-13)Vulnerable youth and youth with disabilities are at great risk of not having their rights met. In addition, they face challenges with regard to empowerment and participation in their own lives. Youth development programmes ...
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(Springer, 2024)Globally, there is an increasing focus on interventions that are culturally relevant for children and families from diverse cultural, racial, and ethnic groups. We conducted a scoping review to evaluate what populations ...
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(Sage, 2024-09)In 2012, Eswatini ratified the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and in 2013 developed the national disability policy reform documents to implement the CRPD across different ...
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(Routledge, 2024)Despite the recognition of societal inclusion as a human right, persons with disabilities face many barriers preventing their participation in mainstream Christian denominations. A scoping review was conducted to map the ...
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(Frontiers Media, 2023-06-07)BACKGROUND : There is limited knowledge regarding the perceived participation of children with long-term health conditions in everyday activities. Children may have perceptions that differ from those of their primary ...
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(Taylor and Francis, 2023-11-12)Children with severe disabilities are often excluded from educational opportunities due to inter alia attitudinal barriers and a lack of teacher training. This scoping review paper assessed intervention studies focused ...
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(Korean Association of Speech-Language Pathologists, 2023-08)PURPOSE : Language Sample Analysis (LSA) is a prominent method in researching language development and is also used in clinical practice in the speech-language pathology (SLP) discipline. This scoping review aims to describe ...
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(Springer, 2024-03)PURPOSE OF REVIEW : Minimally-speaking autistic individuals can be effectively supported through evidence-based augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Instead, some families/clinicians rely on facilitator-dependent ...
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(Canadian Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists, 2023)Communication partner training is typically designed to equip communication partners of adults with acquired neurogenic communication disorders with the necessary skills to create communication opportunities. Communication ...
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(Wiley, 2023-03)One important evidence-based component of early communication interventions in high-income countries is teaching parents and other primary caregivers to provide communication opportunities in daily activities to ...