Augmentative Communication Strategies for Adults with Acute or Chronic Medical Conditions

Kathryn M. Yorkston, Ph.D., is Professor and Head of the Division of Speech Pathology in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington.

This is a guide to aid clinicians in medical settings who provide augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) interventions for adults with acquired communication disabilities. Covering a wide range of communication disabilities and disorders caused by injury and illness, the book offers up-to-date AAC intervention strategies and procedures in medical settings. A practical resource for clinicians, this book provides information that is understandable and useful to clinicians who do not specialize in AAC. Chapters discuss providing AAC services to people who have chronic and acute medical conditions that affect their communication as well as specific disorders and illnesses, including brainstem impairments, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, severe aphasia, primary progressive aphasia, dementia, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and how to build and maintain AAC teams. The book is mainly concerned with services for adult populations who use AAC.