Still having his say: David Yoder's legacy in AAC.

On February 2 2023, one of the guiding lights in the field of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) for more than four decades, David E. Yoder, passed away at the age of 90. A voracious reader and gifted storyteller, David was particularly fond of a quote from George Bernard Shaw's Back to Methuselah, "You see things; and you say 'Why?' but I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?'" That vision led him to take on multiple leadership roles and influence the field of AAC in multiple ways. He played a pivotal role in establishing both the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC) and the United States Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (USSAAC). Additionally, he chaired the panel for the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)'s inaugural Consensus Validation Conference on AAC, advocated for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association to recognize AAC within the profession's scope of practice, and served as the first editor for the Augmentative and Alternative Communication journal. In this tribute, we describe David's diverse and unique contributions to improving the lives of people with communication challenges with a focus on some of his central insights and actions.

Automatic word recognition: the validity of a universally accessible assessment task.

In the current study, the validity of a task designed to assess the automatic word recognition skills of persons with complex communication needs was investigated. A total of 78 students without communication impairments in kindergarten through second grade completed a standard automatic word recognition task requiring oral reading of words presented for less than 0.25 s. The same students completed an experimental word recognition task that did not require a spoken response. Results support the validity of the experimental task. For example, the mean performance scores on both tasks decreased in the expected direction, and there was a significant correlation between the standard and experimental tasks. Other results suggest that the same trait was being measured by both tasks. The data highlight directions for future research and development of the experimental task, while leaving us enthusiastic about the future of the experimental task as a valid means of assessing automatic word recognition for persons with complex communication needs.

Toward evidence-based literacy interventions for children with severe and multiple disabilities.

Children with severe and multiple disabilities constitute a heterogeneous population that typically experiences significant and lifelong difficulties in learning to read and write. These difficulties appear to be both intrinsic and environmental in nature. Children with severe and multiple disabilities struggle particularly with vocabulary acquisition and phonological awareness. Home, preschool, and school environments may limit literacy learning opportunities by making literacy a lower priority than the child's competing health, self-care, and therapeutic needs; by providing limited access to adapted print materials or tools; by providing limited access to communication supports; or by providing little time for literacy learning. Children with severe and multiple disabilities who have demonstrated literacy learning progress are often taught in technology-supported environments offering a wide range of word study, text-based reading and writing instruction, and opportunities for print exploration. Sufficient evidence exists for clinicians and educators to begin providing more successful literacy instruction to individual children and classrooms by comparing their children and intervention contexts with those reported in the limited body of research in this area.

What happens to reading between first and third grade? Implications for students who use AAC.

School-age students who use AAC need access to communication, reading, and writing tools that can support them to actively engage in literacy learning. They also require access to core literacy learning opportunities across grade levels that foster development of conventional literacy skills. The importance of the acquisition of conventional literacy skills for students who use AAC cannot be overemphasized. And yet, one of the critical challenges in supporting the literacy learning of students who use AAC has been a lack of knowledge about literacy curricula and supports to literacy learning for these students. Most students who use AAC do not become conventionally literate and few of those who do achieve literacy skills beyond the second grade level. This article will provide an overview of the most frequent reading instructional activities in first and third grade classrooms. To better understand the foundational experiences important to literacy learning, the results of a survey project that examined the reading activities of general education students and teachers during primary grade instruction are presented, and critical shifts in instruction that occurred between first and third grade are highlighted. The primary instructional focus of core reading activities is also examined, along with adaptations for students who use AAC.