Serving nonspeaking patients in acute care settings: Intervention outcomes

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Abstract
This is the second of two papers concerning a 2-year study of nonspeaking patients in acute care settings of University of Washington Hospitals. The first paper described the assessment protocols. This paper details the results of those assessments and our intervention with 50 patients between September 1982 and September 1984. The findings suggest that rapidly changing capabilities of these patients often necessitate a series of evaluations and a complicated intervention profile, comprised of a progression through multiple communication systems. The outcome of intervention with these patients was measured in terms of the percentage of communication needs which were met by the augmentative systems recommended. The types of intervention conducted included the following categories: oral approaches, fine motor approaches, limited switch approaches, oral and fine motor approaches, and oral approaches coupled with limited switch approaches. The average percentage of communication needs met in these categories ranged from approximately 10% to approximately 80%, with multiple system intervention generally meeting a greater percentage of communication needs than intervention with a single approach.

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