Abstract of my disertation project

Petra Bendová

Palacky University in Olomouc

Department of Special Education

Alternative and augmentative communication
of children with cerebral palsy

Human communication is one of the most important vital needs. Communication, mainly verbal communication, plays very significant role in personal development and has an unreplaceable position in human education and socialization.

Unfortunately, we meet people, whose verbal communication ability is severely damaged in the consequence of a severe handicap. It is very important to realize that these people have the right to be active participants of communication too. For this purpose there are systems of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), which should minimize arising communication deficit
and create new supportive or compensatory communication channel, which offers those people opportunities to become equal communication partners.

I think that children/ persons with cerebral palsy are one big characteristic group we should pay special attention to.

As a result of a severe physical handicap these people have impaired communication abilities and often damaged mental and sensual functions. That makes the choice and usage of AAC systems difficult.

In the theoretical part of my dissertation project I would like to focus on problems of cerebral palsy as a multiple handicap, on the field of communication of people with this diagnosis and at the possibilities of usage of AAC systems including methodical and technical applications of individual forms and elements of AAC into practical life of children with cerebral palsy emphasizing the social aspects of their usage.

The aim of the empirical part of the dissertation is to map the usage of AAC systems of people with physical or multiple handicaps in the Czech Republic and to count the percentage of people with cerebral palsy. The research should be focused on concretization of usage of AAC among the children with cerebral palsy and on finding the level of support of development of their individual potential.

This dissertation project summarizes contemporary information from this field and introduces new possibilities of somatopedic-speech intervention of people with cerebral palsy. Moreover, Czech professionals and non professionals working with those people can use only foreign publications so far and therefore this project can be a new source of information for them.