Contributions of Occupational Therapy in the field of additional and/or alternative communication: an analysis of Occupational Therapy journals

• Main Authors: Mariana Gurian Manzini, Carolina Penteado de Assis, Claudia Maria Simões Martinez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal de São Carlos 2013-04-01
• Series: Cadernos de Terapia Ocupacional
• Subjects: Communication Methods; Occupational Therapy; Assistive Technology
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.4322%2Fcto.v21i1.731

As Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is a feature of Assistive Technology (AT)used by occupational therapists with people with severe disorders in oral and written communication, we tried to select papers on the subject in the country to verify the scientific production in the area of Occupational Therapy. The following sites were consulted to search for articles: the Journal of Occupational Therapy, Federal University of São Carlos; and the Journal of Occupational Therapy, University of Sao Paulo;Brazilian Journal of Special Education; The Journal of Special Education; and Journal of Human Growth and Development. We used ‘technology’ and ‘school enrollment’ as keywords and 16 articles were selected by specific criteria. We analyzed the data based on the quantitative procedures by means of the occurrence and quality with reference to content. The data reveal that the number of authors who have investigated the issue is still low, but the number of articles has grown in recent years. It was also observed that most information about AAC found in different articles was cited only in a superficial way, and few pieces were comprehensive in the matter described. It is considered that there is still a need to invest in studies that focus on the practice of AAC in Occupational Therapy.