Page 198 - Handbook of Electronic Assistive Technology

186 HANDBOOK OF ELECTRONIC ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY

field. The largest of these is the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative
1
Communication (ISAAC ), which was formed in Michigan, USA, in 1983 and is now based
in Toronto, Canada. ISAAC has 15 member chapters in countries or regions around the
world. The UK chapter was founded three years later in 1986 under the name ISAAC (UK).
2
In 1991, the organisation changed its name to Communication Matters, which is the
name it retains today.
The importance of AAC has received international recognition, with communication
being recognised in both the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
the UK Human Rights Act. In 2013, the World Health Organisation (WHO) launched an
initiative entitled Global Cooperation on Assistive Technology. The first published out-
come from this initiative is the Priority Assistive Products List (APL) – a list of 50 assistive
products, selected on the basis of widespread need and impact on a person’s life and rec-
ommended as a priority for research, development and provision (WHO, 2016). The APL
includes several AAC systems and methods (i.e., communication books/boards/cards,
communication software and gesture to voice technology), as well as a number of com-
puter access solutions that are regularly used in AAC (i.e., keyboard and mouse emulation
software and screen readers).

Prevalence of Need

Because of the varied and changing groups requiring AAC, as well as advances in tech-
nology and design making systems more accessible, precise figures on the prevalence of
need are difficult to generate. A study commissioned by Communication Matters and
carried out by researchers at Sheffield University and Barnsley Hospital used an epide-
miological approach to produce prevalence estimates based on figures reported in the
literature and consultation with experts working within the field. This study estimated
that just over 0.5% of the total UK population (536 per 100,000) could benefit from some
type of AAC system, with approximately 0.05% being potential beneficiaries from pow-
ered communication technologies (Creer et al., 2016). The research also indicated that
nine conditions or diagnoses accounted for 97.5% of the need for AAC nationwide, with
two groups (Alzheimer’s/dementia and Parkinson’s disease) representing almost half of
the total need (Table 7-1).
While there is evidence that the use of AAC systems can have a positive impact for a
range of clinical conditions, studies comparing the efficacy of specific systems and tech-
niques within specific client groups are comparatively rare due to the variability in client
presentation within diagnostic groups. Researchers working with specific diagnostic cli-
ent groups frequently refer to the need for individualised AAC systems. Clarke et al. (2016)
describe the need for careful tailoring of assessments and systems to match the cognitive,
vision and motor skills of children with cerebral palsy. In summarising the evidence for

1 www.isaac-online.org.
2 www.communicationmatters.org.uk.