Gestural augmentation in facilitating tense marker use: a pre-post comparison

Abstract

Gestures are a part of unaided Augmentative and Alternative communication (AAC). They are more socially acceptable and are augmented along with speech by both typically developing (TD) and individuals with intellectual disability (ID). Hence, an attempt was made to examine how these gestures can be implemented as an augmentative aid. More specifically, we examine how gestures improve the comprehension and expression of tense markers for a Kannada-speaking 10.7 year-old male diagnosed with Spoken Language Disorder secondary to Borderline Intellectual Functioning. A case study design was employed as the intention was to bring in improvement in the target behaviour and not the efficacy of the gestural augmentation. Gestural mode was introduced as an augmentation along with the auditory verbal mode using elementary therapeutic procedures to improve the comprehension and expression of the targeted six verbs. A total of 8 sessions were required to train the comprehension and expression of tense markers. Gestural mode was introduced after the first four sessions, since the child exhibited difficulty in the comprehension of tense markers when the speech language pathologist solely used the auditory verbal modality. The child’s responses were documented in terms of percentage of consistency for both comprehension and expression of tense markers. An improvement was observed in comprehension and expression of the tense markers within four sessions of introducing gestures as an augmentative mode. The average pre-therapy percentage for comprehension of past and future tense markers was 20 %, and the average post-therapy percentage for the same was 80%, whereas the expression showed an improvement from the average pre-therapy percentage of 0 % to an average post-therapy percentage of 80 % for future tense and for past tense. The average pretherapy percentage for comprehension and expression of present tense markers was 10% and 0 %, whereas the average post-therapy percentage for the same were 60% and 50 %, respectively. Thus this case study adds to the literature that augmenting verbal output with gestures will foster the comprehension and expression of language abilities. This study also reveals that AAC can be used for individuals who belong to expressive and/or supportive language groups, and thus works towards eliminating the misconception of AAC being reserved for individuals with severe disabilities.