ATTITUDES OF SEVERELY HEARING-IMPAIRED PERSONS TOWARD AUGMENTATIVE COMMUNICATION CHARACTERISTICS

Severely hearing-impaired individuals who sign are usually successful communicators when interacting with other people who know sign languag e; however, communication breakdowns often occur when they interact wi th persons who do not know how to sign. Little is known about the comm unication modes or repair strategies used by these persons when commun icating with nonsigning, hearing persons. This study investigated the communication modes used by 15 severely hearing-impaired persons when they communicate with nonsigning, hearing persons. In addition, their attitudes toward several augmentative and alternative communication fe atures were examined. Results indicated that, in the judgment of sever ely hearing-impaired persons who sign, many of the communication modes that they currently use to communicate with nonsigning, hearing perso ns are inconsistently successful. Their attitudes toward augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)features are reviewed in detail.