Literacy and Augmentative and Alternative Communication

In order to read, individuals with severe speech impairments must access a set of written symbols and decode them to abstract meaning just as anyone else must do. They must convert underlying messages into an alternative external symbol format in order to write. In order to become expert in both of these activities, they must learn at least a certain core of knowledge about how the symbols and messages relate to each other. Just as there are many ways to skin a chicken, there are many possible ways to achieve mastery of reading and writing. Although the essence of the task may remain the same for individuals with congenital speech impairments, they may process the task, or develop task mastery in ways that are quite different from speaking children who have no additional physical impairments.