Repeated Reading, Turn Taking, and Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)

This single participant multiple baseline research design measured the effects of repeatedly reading narrative books to children who used voice output augmentative communication devices to communicate. The study sought to determine if there was a difference observed in the number of turns taken when reading stories repeatedly. Three girls ranging in age from seven to nine listened to a different illustrated narrative book during each baseline session. During the intervention phase, a single illustrated book was read repeatedly to each child for six sessions followed by an additional intervention of a second illustrated book for six more sessions. Two of the three participants took more turns during the repeated reading when comparing mean scores. Upon visual inspection it appears the increases were generally in the first couple of repeated readings and then a slope return was displayed toward the baseline level over the six repeated readings. Implications for practice are shared.