Running Head: ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY INTERVENTION, EMERGENT LITERACY

SKILLS, & STUDENTS WITH SEVERE DISABILITIES

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Assistive Technology Intervention, Emergent Literacy Skills, & Students with Severe Disabilities
Elizabeth Collins
Franciscan University of Steubenville

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INTRODUCTION
The ability to express a thought, answer a question, respond to a peer, and carry on a
conversation are all important daily gifts that most of the general population take for granted.
According to an article titled Communication Disorders on Psychology Todays website, nearly 6
million children under the age of 18 have a speech or language disorder. This is one of the
reasons that David Niemeijer and Samuel Sennott created a form of Assistive Technology (any
item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially or off the shelf,
modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities
of a child with a disability) called Proloquo2go. Designed to run on Apple devices, this
application was created to give users such as those with communication limitations, an easy to
use, affordable, and portable way to communicate at home, in school or even at work. The use of
such technology has recently emerged in research specifically having to do with emergent
literacy skills (behaviors that form a foundation for the development of formal literacy skills
such as decoding, oral reading fluency, and reading comprehension) of students with severe
disabilities. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEIA)
defines this as, students having a condition requiring ongoing, extensive support in more than
one major life activity. Technology such as Proloquo2go on an iPad, may provide students with
severe disabilities access to content that aligns with what same-aged peers are receiving, as well
as help them improve development in skills such as letter awareness and looking to text for
resources, all to point them in the direction of understanding the purpose of reading.
Purpose

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In a study called, Generalization of Literacy Skills through Portable Technology for
Students with Severe Disabilities, Spooner, et al (2015), examined the effects of assistive
technology intervention on the generalization of emergent literacy skills of students with severe
disabilities. This is a topic of great importance as students need to develop the appropriate
baseline skills that will allow them to become literate so that they are able to competently
participate in a literate world around them. What then, are the effects of iPad based assistive
technology intervention on generalization of emergent literacy skills for students with severe
disabilities?
To answer the preceding question, the following study conducted is modeled after the one
described in, Generalization of Literacy Skills through Portable Technology for Students with
Severe Disabilities, Spooner, et al (2015) with some modifications to methodology used. Two to
four students of Pre-Kindergarten to Kindergarten age ranges will be selected with specific
criteria to participate in a total of six intervention sessions. The students will receive two sessions
as an introduction to the technology of the iPad software that will be used. An initial assessment
will then be given in which a short story will be read, followed by comprehension questions
before, during and after the reading asked by the educator conducting the assessment. The
students will then receive four additional sessions which will include activities of different
contexts such as, communicating needs and making requests during meal times. The study will
conclude with a final assessment similar to the one given at the beginning of the intervention.
The overall goal of this study is to observe the growth in the participants abilities to use the iPad
and Proloquo2go correctly, answer comprehension questions correctly with the device, and
communicate needs, requests, and thoughts independently.

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It is hypothesized that over the course of this study, the selected participants will increase
in three areas: ability to use the iPad appropriately, answer before, during, and after reading
questions correctly, and be able to use the iPad to successfully communicate needs as well as
make requests all with minimal prompting. It is also predicted that the students will be able to
recognize the iPad as a tool for their communication needs instead of just a reward, by the end of
this study.
Review of Literature
Spooner, et al (2014) conducted a fascinating, specific study on the use of the iPad2,
systematic instruction, and shared stories for elementary students with an Autism diagnosis. The
article detailed the purpose of the study to be, measuring the effects of systematic instruction
paired with an iPad2 to teach shared stories on task analysis and listening, comprehension skills.
The study included four young boys ranging in ages 8-12 with IQ levels of 49, 49, 61, & NA that
had a nonverbal, Autism diagnosis according to the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS). All
of the experimentative instruction took place in two self-contained classrooms in the same school
using iPad 2s and the books, Where the Wild Things Are, Rainbow Fish, Stellaluna & Officer
Buckle which were modified in several different ways to provide ease of use. The boys were
probed by the use of specifically designed instruction that included oral instructions, modeling,
specific verbal praise, and time delay strategies for correct response teaching. After the
completion of a series of baseline testing, the boys were given five sessions of interventions
instructed by their teachers and were assessed for improvement throughout the study. The
findings of this study were that all four of the boys showed a stable improvement in task analysis
performance with the number of steps performed independently having increased which
indicated that there was a functional relation between the variables used. Two of the students

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showed small improvements in performance of listening comprehension skills; overall there was
not a substantial amount of improvement here.
The authors provided sufficient explanation, definition, and background knowledge prior
to detailing the study itself which allowed for easier understanding of the material presented. The
specificity of the research was interesting, focusing on nonverbal, autistic, males, which
provokes thoughts as to how females would perform, or perhaps students with other disabilities.
The article was well written with honest statements about reliability, limitations, and implications
for future research that were intriguing. The downfall to this research would be that the
participants were so few in number, had varying IQ levels or no recorded score, some had
previous experience using the iPad2, and the instructional area was not consistent for all four of
the participants. A valuable addition for future research of this topic would be the possibility of
widening the spectrum of disabilities, increasing the amount of participants, selecting students
with no previous exposure to the iPad2 and that have IQ levels within the ranges of 45-52. The
use of the iPad2 in this study provides useful data to further research the technologies that can be
used for literacy improvement of students with varying significant disabilities.
The inability to generalize literacy skills is a common challenge for students with
moderate to severe disabilities. Spooner, et al (2015), discusses this exact issue in a study on the
uses of portable technology, such as an iPad2, and the enhancement of generalization of literacy
skills. This study built off of Spooner, et al (2014), focuses on the development of emergent
literacy skills, intervention on literacy comprehension, and intervention on generalization of
emergent literacy for students with severe disabilities. Five elementary-age students ranging
from ages 7-11, in grades 2-6, with IQ levels of 55 or below were selected to participate. They
had to have the physical ability to touch the picture symbols on the iPad2, and have limited

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verbal communication as well. All of the sessions were completed in a teaching office next to the
students self-contained classroom and at the same large desk that faced the wall away from
distracting windows. The interventionists used adapted versions of Charlottes Web and Because
of Winn Dixie along with the iPad2 over the course of baseline, intervention, and maintenance
phases. The students completed task analysis opportunities throughout the chapters and listening
comprehension questions midway and at the conclusion of chapters. The findings of this study
were that all five students showed a cumulative increase in ability in all areas tested, specially
noting that all students participating reached a mastery level in which they were able to correctly
match the pictures and corresponding definitions for all twelve vocabulary words given to them.
This study involved a broader selection of disability levels amongst the students, and
looked to provide a way to teach students with severe disabilities how to generalize skills and
apply them to new situations and materials (p. 65) that they encounter. This common problem
for students with varying disabilities is one that needs to be addressed and that is well done here.
The article itself was well written with ample definitions, explanations, and detailed descriptions
of the study, its background knowledge, and previous studies it was built off of. The results from
this study were excellent, leading the reader to believe that the strategies being used are working
and should be researched in more depth. There were small limitations to this study including the
small number of participants, for future research a large participant selection would be beneficial
for a more reliable data collection. This article discussed the topic of generalization of literacy
skills to multiple situations and varying materials through the use of technology, specifically the
iPad 2. The authors pointed out that the iPad is a widely accepted, mainstream piece of
technology that would be less stigmatizing to students with severe disabilities and
communication difficulties than previously used equipment. The challenges of utilizing this type

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of technology with such students were equally pointed out within the background knowledge,
providing necessary opposition information that needs to be researched in more detail. Overall,
this study provides a great insight into the opportunities at hand to make the general curriculum
content more accessible and effective for students with severe disabilities and communication
difficulties.
Methodology
For the following described study, two to four students of Pre-Kindergarten to
Kindergarten age ranges were selected under the following criteria:
1. Have the physical ability to touch the iPad
2. Have some form of severe disability
3. Have limited verbal communication skills, requiring the use of augmentative
communication.
The two participants selected were both students in a Pre-Kindergarten, ABA inclusion
classroom at Weirton Elementary school. Student J is five years old, diagnosed with Autism
Spectrum Disorder, as well as Oppositional Defiance Disorder, and has limited verbal
communication skills. He is currently in stage six of the Picture Exchange Communication
System (PECS) training. This consists of the student using small removable velcro images,
attached to a portable black binder to build sentence strips. He then removes the strip, hands it to
someone, and speaks the sentence to the best of his ability to make a request or ask for help. It
was just recently discovered that he has the ability to read limitedly and he is also able to match
uppercase and lowercase letters with images representing words that start with the corresponding
letters. Student J does not interact often with peers and is limited by his communication skills.

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Student L is four years old, is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and has a
speech developmental delay, for which he receives speech therapy services through the school
system. He currently is in stage five of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS).
This consists of the student using small removable velcro images, attached to a portable black
binder to request help with one image or build sentence strips. He then removes the strip, hand it
to some, and speak the sentence to the best of his ability. Student L enjoys interacting
with/responding to stories or activities on the smartboard in his classroom and understands basic
concept vocabulary. These participants were suggested by the cooperating teacher that I worked
with for this study as they fit the criteria and were in need of intervention to further their
communication skills in a form of assistive technology other than the PECS system.
In the first two sessions, the students received an introduction to the technology of the
iPad and Proloquo2go software that were used throughout the study. At the conclusion of the
second introduction session, a baseline assessment was given.
This assessment consisted of the student selecting a short story that I would read aloud,
followed by two Pre-Reading questions I asked, requiring the student to use Proloquo2go to
answer. I then read the book aloud to the student and asked several During Reading
comprehension questions that the student answered. Finally I asked Post-Reading questions of
the student requiring them to express opinions, feelings, and exhibit comprehension.
Over the next four sessions, the students received further instruction in using the
proloquo2go application through activities in a variety of contexts such as meal times, where
they will be communicating needs and making requests. The study concluded with a final
assessment similar to the one given at the beginning of the intervention. During each session I
recorded observation notes covering the questions of:

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1. What questions were asked by the educator?
2. What requests were made by the student?
a. Were they independent or did they require prompts?
i.

What type of prompting was used if necessary?

3. How did the student use the iPad and Proloquo2go?

a. Appropriately or incorrectly?
4. (If it was an assessment day) Did they answer all of the prepared questions?
a. Did they answer correctly or incorrectly?
b. Did they answer independently or require prompting?
i.

What type of prompting was used if it was necessary?

5. Did the student recognize that the iPad was being used as a tool during the session
or did they try to press the home button and access other applications they might
be accustomed to playing with for a reward?
Findings

The following are the observational records detailing the findings of each intervention
session for Student J concluding with a summary addressing the initial hypothesis made.
Student J Introduction Data 3/23/16
Session 1
This was the first time Student J and I worked with the iPad. He displayed a big smile
when he saw what the screen looked like on Proloquo2go. He was hesitant to reach forward to
touch the screen at first until I used a verbal prompt and a hand over hand, partial physical

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prompt to show him how he should touch the screen. He smiled the whole time we worked and
his attention span to the activity was around 10 minutes. I asked him the following questions:
1. Where is Red? Pink? Yellow? Green? Student J answered all correctly within 2-4
seconds of me asking him, and I did not have to prompt him again. With the yellow, he
reached for the gold button first and then corrected himself.
2. What did you eat for lunch? He selected pancakes which was the closest thing he could
find to the French toast that he did eat, so I considered this as a correct answer.
3. What did you drink at lunch? He selected the drink button initially so I gave him
verbally prompt with three options to choose from to which he selected orange. This
initial response was incorrect so I tried again to give him the three options and a verbal
prompt. He then selected the correct answer, milk.
4. Where is 6, 7, 3, 0? I asked him to find each of the numbers independently and he did.
When I asked him, can you find 9? to change my phrasing, he hesitated, looked away
and I repeated the question, allowed him to process. He then selected the correct answer.
5. Did you come to school today on a bus or in a car? He incorrectly selected bus and
giggled when I said, Youre silly. You came in a car. I then changed the car button to
look more like his mothers car and he selected it when asked again.
After these questions I attempted to move on to asking him to select a book for us to read to
begin the initial assessment. Due to the open-ended nature of what I had asked him to do, he
became distracted and I decided that we were going to be finished for the day. Student J
answered two of the five introductory questions correctly with a mixture of verbal and partial
physical prompting. He was able to use the iPad correctly exhibited by knowledge of how to

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scroll the screen down and attempt to press the home button. However he was not familiar with
the correct usage of Proloquo2go.
Student J Initial Assessment Data 3/29/16
Session 2
During session two I sat with student J while he ate to encourage him to make requests
using Proloquo2go. He made one partially successful request where he accidentally said orange
milk when requesting a drink and giggled quite a bit about it. Once lunch was completed, we
moved on to work on his initial assessment. I began the session by giving him two options of
books to read and I asked him the following Pre-Reading questions.
1. Which book would you like to read? He selected The Shape of Me and Other Stuff
2. Do you want to read this book? Yes or No? He quickly selected yes.
Once we began to read, I asked Student J these During Reading questions to assess basic level
comprehension.
3. What color is this page? Incorrectly selected orange.
4. How many drops of water are there? Student J was initially confused by this question
after counting the drops from one to five with me. I adjusted the question to have him
locate the answer he already gave me (5), which he did successfully.
The following four questions were not covered due to an unexpected restroom break for the
participant.
1. What color is this page?
2. Who was the story about?
3. Was this a good story or a bad story?
4. Did this story make you feel happy or sad?

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Student J did eventually identify that the iPad was being used as a communication tool,
not as a game or toy. He did not make any requests in this session and required prompting
throughout. Prompts used were, partial physical of hand over hand to help him point, as well as
verbal prompting to redirect his attention. The goal at the end of this training will be for Student
J to be able to answer all seven questions correctly with limited prompting.
Student J Data 3/30/16
Session 3
During lunch I sat between Student L and Student J while they ate and worked with each
of them. When they wanted to make a request, they were required to use the iPad. I inserted
some questions as we were working to see how quickly they would respond.
The following are the questions I asked Student J:
1. What are you eating? He correctly responded saying pizza and applesauce.
2. What do you need? Student J could not find the button that he was looking for and
became frustrated. Once frustrated he did not want to communicate with the iPad. The
aide and I deduced that he might want goldfish so I added a button for that.
3. Was the applesauce good or bad? He selected, good
4. Do you want more goldfish? He responded within 5 seconds saying, yes.
Below are the requests he made successfully.
1. Student J asked me for goldfish by saying, I want goldfish yes please.
2. He independently told us that he needed to go to the restroom by saying,
Bathroom. I need wiped.
This was a great session for Student J as he independently began to tell me what he needed as
well as ask for help. No partial physical prompting was required in this session.

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Student J Data 4/21/16
Session 4
In this session Student J was eating lunch when I arrived so we worked there. During this
session, the goal was three successful requests using the iPad as well as answering all questions,
both without prompting. The following are his results.
1. Did you like the icey? Yes or no? Student J selected yes after being verbally prompted
with the yes or no portion of the question.
2. Are you all done? He responded with yes.
3. Who is here today? He selected correctly out of the friends folder, Student J, Ms.
Becky, and Student A (a classmate).
Student Js successful, independent request results are as follows:
1. I want help please
2. I need bathroom help please
3. I need wiped (for his hands)
Student J wasnt very interested in using the iPad today because he was enthralled with the ice
treat he was eating. However, he successfully told me that he needed a wipe twice.
Student J Data 4/21/16
Session 5
During this session, I worked with Student J at the breakfast table. We have never worked
together during breakfast and it had been a while since Id been there which initially presented
some issues of remembering the purpose of the iPad in that setting. Student J was not interested
in trying to use the iPad to make requests, however he did successfully do it twice. The other
times he made requests to me he used the PECS system board which was in front of him when I

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arrived. He became impatient while sharing the iPad with Student L and used the PECS system
then instead. The following are the requests that he made.
1. I need help please (with the iPad)
2. I want orange juice please (PECS board)
3. I want apple juice please (PECS board)
4. I am all done (minimal verbal prompt to redirect his attention)
During this session we also worked on answering questions and making statements.
1. Do you want your headphones? Yes or No? Student J grabbed his ears then found the
yes button on the iPad.
2. Are you all done? He answered yes.
3. Made the statement I am hungry then proceeded to grab his poptart and continue
eating.
4. Made the statement I need drink then picked up his juice and drank from it.
Student J did well today picking back up where we left off, he was able to make multiple
requests, only requiring one minimal verbal prompt, as well as two statements with no
prompting.
Jacob Final Assessment Data 4/29/16
Session 6
For this session we worked in an empty, quiet classroom with no children, just one other
teacher. Below are the questions that I asked Student J before, during, and after reading the book
of his choice.
Before:
1. Which book do you want to read? Selected Mat Man on the Go.

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2. Do you want to read this book? Yes.
During
1. What color is this page? Yellow (one verbal prompt used to refocus.)
2. What does the taxi look like, the bus or the car? Answered Bus because of colors
(one focus prompt used.)
3. How many skateboarders are there? Answered 1, 2, 3 (no prompting.)
After:
1. Did you like this book? Answered yes (no prompting)
2. Did this story make you feel happy or sad? Happy
At the conclusion of Student Js intervention sessions, he had progressed in all areas
being observed and assessed. He has mastered entering information and then pressing the
sentence area to hear the response or request out loud. He can also successfully manipulate
folders and the home page without hesitation, as well as, clear past entries to start over, and uses
his pointer finger to touch the screen most of the time. He was able to correctly answer all seven
questions with minimal prompting, achieving the goal set for him at the end of the initial
assessment. Overall Student J is confident in his use of the iPad and Proloquo2go to
communicate. Given an increase of exposure to daily use of this tool, I have no doubt that he will
become fluent in communication using this device or an iPod in the future.
The following are the observational records detailing the findings of each intervention
session for Student L concluding with a summary addressing the initial hypothesis made.
Student L Introduction Data 3/22/16
Session 1

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As I had been warned could be the case, Student L was excited to work with the iPad as it
is used as a reward when he successfully uses the restroom or some other activity where his
behavior was award-worthy. I presented the iPad to Student L with the guided access turned on
(this locks the iPad in whatever app is open at the time it is turned on and certain buttons are off
limits to the student) and he smiled as he reached to touch it. Before I delivered instruction, he
touched the button with to written on it and repeated, to verbally. After allowing him a few
minutes to explore, I began with the following questions and recorded his responses below.
1. What did you eat for breakfast? Student L was confused because he could not find a
button to represent his breakfast. So we moved on to the next question.
2. What did you eat for lunch? He selected pizza correctly
3. Which is your favorite color? He found red out the color options once receiving a
gesture prompt of me pointing to which folder he could find his answer it.
4. Where is the square? Successfully identified the square
5. Where is your picture? He found his picture as well as everyone elses.
6. Is Mrs. Becky here? He successfully used the buttons in the friends folder to tell me
that Mrs. Becky was indeed present.
7. Touch the number (3, 4, 9, 8, and 10) He found all of the numbers within 2-4 seconds.
8. Where is the all done button? He found the corresponding button at the bottom of the
screen after 5 seconds and a reminder verbal prompt of what he was looking for.
Student L did not make any requests on his own during this session but was able to use the iPad
correctly as well as the Proloquo2go application once I modeled it for him.
Student L Initial Assessment Data 3/23/16
Session 2

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Once the students finished lunch, I invited Student L to join me at the neighboring table
to where the classroom library is. To begin, I asked Student L the questions below as an
introduction to the days activities with the iPad in order to remind him that it was not playtime
and that this is a tool for communication. Student L was initially upset because he attempted to
hit the home button so he could get out of Proloquo2go assumedly to play a game and was
unsuccessful. He became upset, cried and left his chair at the table. Once he sat in time out
(initiated and carried out by the cooperating teacher) he came back to the table to work with me
and was cooperative.
1. What did you eat for lunch? He selected pizza at first because he was trying to be silly
and then when I did not acknowledge that and asked him again, he selected the burger
that he did actually eat. (verbal prompt received to remind Student L where the eating and
drinking folder was on the screen)
I then began the assessment session by allowing Student L to choose a book from two options.
As Pre-Reading questions I asked Student L:
1. Which book would you like to read? He chose Comic Man
2. Do you want to read this book, yes or no? He located the yes and no options on the
iPad and selected yes.
As we read through Comic Man I asked him the following During Reading questions.
1. What color is comic mans cape? He selected red which was correct (Partial physical
prompt of touching Student Ls hand to remind him to use his hand to select the answer.)
2. What color are comic mans boots? Student L selected green correctly.
Once we had completed reading the story, I asked Student L to answer these Post-Reading
questions:

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1. Was this a good story or a bad story? Selected the good button
2. Did the story make you happy or sad? He answered happy after a little verbal
prompting through explanation of what I meant by happy and sad.
Student L answered all seven questions asked of him in this session correctly with a total of three
prompts to remind him where to find his answers. He did not make any requests in this session.
Student L Data 3/30/16
Session 3
In this session I sat between Student L and Student J during lunch to work with them.
When they wanted to ask for something they were required to use the iPad. I inserted some
questions as we were working to see how quickly they would respond.
The following are the questions I asked Student L:
1. What is this? He correctly told me that I was pointing to a lunchbox
2. Can you show me where the cookies are? He did not understand what I was asking
when I phrased it this way so I tried saying it differently below.
3. Is this a cookie? I pointed out three options to Student L and asked him to identify the
cookie. He told me yes for the button that represented cookies and no to the other
two that did not.
4. Is this a pretzel? I pointed out three options to Student L and asked him to identify the
pretzel. He told me yes for the button that represented a pretzel and no to the other
two that were not.
Student L was also able to successfully initiate a request for something he needed or wanted with
minimal prompting. These are recorded below:

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1. I asked Student L to tell me what he needed the first time he start reach and point at
objects to tell the Aide and I to do something. He told me, I want open.
2. The second time Student L began to squirm and try to get my attention, I handed
him the iPad and he selected, I need help.
Today was a great session where Student L showed enthusiasm for using the iPad for the
purposes of communication and expressing himself. He wasnt too keen on sharing the iPad with
Student J but overall he did well.
Student L Data 4/21/16
Session 4
In this session I worked alternating between Student L and Student J again but during
breakfast not lunch. Some time had passed since they had worked with the iPad and we had
never worked at breakfast before. Initially this presented some issues of remembering the
purpose of the iPad in this setting. Despite this, Student L was to work again so we started off
with some questions to remind him of the purpose of the intervention sessions.
1. What do you need? Student L responded by pressing the open please button.
2. What are you eating? He could not find the button for waffles because there wasnt one
available. Together we created a waffle button and an eggs button. Once we created
the button I asked him again and he excitedly pressed the eggs and waffles buttons.
3. Is the waffle good? He responded with a simple yes.
He was also required to make requests on his own when he needed something. Below are those
he used.
1. I need help please
2. Im all done

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3. Open please
He has accepted that the iPad can be used for more than just a reward of games and is beginning
to understand the value of this communication tool.
Student L Data 4/28/16
Session 5
This session was conducted during lunch. Student L was excited to work with the iPad
and immediately starting trying to request needs with it. He attempted to make a sentence to tell
me how much he likes one of his food items. Below are the requests that he made on his own.
1. I need help please
2. I am all done
3. I need open please
During this session we also worked on answering questions and making statements.
1. It tastes good! At first he said chicken nuggets good tastes it so with some direction I
taught him to correctly say the preceding, grammatically correct sentence. He was able to
repeat the actions of creating that sentence independently twice after instruction.
2. Are you all done? He answered yes.
3. Made the statement I hungry Then kept eating his chicken nuggets.
4. Made the statement drink water then picked up his water bottle from his lunchbox
and made the request I need open please. He then continued to drink from the water
bottle correctly without spilling it everywhere.
Student L Final Assessment Data 4/28/16
Session 6

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In this session I conducted Student Ls final Assessment. Below are the questions that I
asked before, during, and after reading the book that he chose.
Before:
1. Which book would you like to read? Mat Man on the Go
2. Do you want to read this book? Yes
During:
1. What color is this page? Answered correctly yellow.
2. What does the taxi look like, a bus or a car? Answered bus because of colors
3. What color is Mat Mans surfboard? Red, opened up the colors folder
(independently)
4. How many birds are there? Counted to 2 aloud, and then found 1 and 2
independently on the iPad.
After:
1. Was this a good story or a bad story? Found the good button.
2. Did this story make you feel happy or sad? Selected happy.
Other Observations:
Student L also found the button good and said story independently to tell me it was a good
story after the assessment concluded.
At the conclusion of intervention sessions for Student L, he was able to answer eight
questions correctly with a minimal two prompts overall to stay on track during the assessment.
He was comfortable using the iPad exhibited by displayed knowledge of button locations, how to
backspace his answer, and successfully manipulate between folders the home screen. Student L
has begun to attempt to form sentences using Proloquo2go meaning he is approaching the

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equivalent level of independent use that he has reached in the PECS system training. Given
continued increased exposure to this device, I believe Student L will continue to increase his
communication capabilities to become able to independently form complete, grammatically
correct sentences to express thoughts and make requests.
Recommendations
The next step for the participants would be continued exposure to the program and an
increase of required usage to at minimum, daily. In addition to this participants could possibly
transition to using iPods instead of iPads to increase mobility. Limitations to this study included
the small size of the participant sample due to my allotted free time to visit Weirton Elementary
to collect data. Illnesses of the participants that resulted in absences from school, and week-long
breaks where they received no exposure to the iPad for use with Proloquo2go because of school
holidays also greatly limited this study.
If this study was to be replicated or continued, it could potentially offer a wider spectrum
of participants with limited verbal communication skills, requiring the use of augmentative
communication. Some suggestions for future variables to consider are: having a larger sample of
participants that includes females, designating one quiet, secluded place to conduct the initial and
final assessments, as well as including a wider variety of activities that involve literacy skills
between the initial and final assessment. The ability to be in the classroom with the participants
every day for a designated amount of time would also provide quality insight into the growth of
the participants literacy skills on a more consistent level.
Further research into the effects of iPad based assistive technology intervention on
generalization of emergent literacy skills for students with severe disabilities is suggested. In
order to come to a complete understanding of the effects of such intervention, long term, and

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daily continuous instruction is necessary. It is necessary to train participants in use of the
application before beginning measurement of how the technology has any effect on the
generalization of emergent literacy skills for students with severe disabilities. The results that
have been described of this conducted study resulted in the implication that further, extended
training with the device would be necessary for the researcher to be able to seriously examine
effects on emergent literacy skills.
Conclusion
With a recent increase in the focus of teaching students to participate in a literate world,
the instruction of emergent literacy skills has been recognized as indefinitely important. This
study aimed to examine the relationship between the development of formal literacy skills and
the use of Proloquo2go assistive technology for students with severe disabilities. The growth
exhibited by both Student J and Student L was noteworthy in that they mastered use of the
technology and increased in the amount of comprehension questions answered correctly from the
first assessment to the final one. The students were able to generalize skills that they learned in
varying environments and apply them to the final comprehension assessment. This intervention
may well be an effective means for teaching the generalization of emergent literacy skills that
are necessary for an increase in academic performance and an understanding of the purpose of
reading and writing, once the student has mastered the tool.

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References
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Communication on the Go for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad version 3.0 [PDF].
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2. Bouck, E. C., Maeda, Y., & Flanagan, S. M. (2012). Assistive Technology and Students
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Curriculum Reform: Cases of Two Teachers. Research and Practice for Persons
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