PSYCHOLINGUISTIC INTERVENTIONS FOR ENHANCING SOCIAL INCLUSION OF NON-VERBAL STUDENTS THROUGH ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

Many students with complex communication needs (CCN) who do not speak are often encountered in the classroom who havelimited access to classroom discourse, peer interactions and decision making. Assistive technology and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) can be used to enable expression, but this is not enough to ensure a lasting social inclusion. The objective of this protocol is to describe a psycholinguistic AAC intervention for early childhood and early-primary, classroom embedded, inclusive setting in Pakistan for 12-weeks. Methods: About 80 children ages 4-8 years across 20 classrooms will be randomly assigned to an intervention or usual-support condition across classrooms matched on grade level, race/ethnicity, age, and gender. The intervention is based on a combination of individualized no-, low-, and high-technology AAC, aided language modelling, core and culturally relevant fringe vocabulary, focused stimulation, recasts and expansions, visual narratives and play, milieu strategies, peer-mediated routines, and teacher and parent coaching. Independently produced communication, spontaneous initiations and responses, reciprocal turns, classroom participation, peer interaction, belonging, partner responsiveness, fidelity, feasibility and acceptability will be explored at baseline, midpoint, post-intervention and follow-up. The condition-by-time effects will be estimated using multilevel mixed-effects models. Reflexive thematic analysis will be applied to interviews, focus group discussions, observations and child friendly evaluation activities and will be displayed together in the mixed-methods approach. Discussion: The study does not maintain that inclusion is an automatic outcome of device ownership, but a relational and environmental one. It emphasizes autonomy in communication, culturally responsive vocabulary, cost-effective technologies, and continuous support from partners. Potential contribution: The protocol can contribute to inclusive-education policy, AAC services, teacher training, local-language resource development, and classroom practice which can be scaled up in Pakistan.