AAC interventions showed positive effects on all targeted behavioral outcomes, with greater effects for communication skills than other skill categories¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesis r? · q3
Currency · newest study 2012 · checked against its sources 2026-10-19 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

Reading the evidence codes

q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.

This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.

q3 i? AAC interventions had positive effects on all targeted behavioral outcomes. → Ganz 2012 q3 i? Effects were greater for communication skills than for other categories of skills. → Ganz 2012

Evidence¶

Ganz 2012¶

Ganz, J. B., Earles-Vollrath, T. L., Heath, A. K., Parker, R. I., Rispoli, M. J., & Duran, J. B. (2012). A Meta-Analysis of Single Case Research Studies on Aided Augmentative and Alternative Communication Systems with Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders. J Autism Dev Disord 42, 60–74. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-011-1212-2

q3 · i? · quant-synthesis · r?

Across the meta-analysis of 24 single-case studies, the article reports that "AAC interventions had positive effects on all of the targeted behavioral outcome," with effects "greater for communication skills than other categories of skills." No per-category effect sizes are printed in the available text.

"AAC interventions had positive effects on all of the targeted behavioral outcome; however, effects were greater for communication skills than other categories of skills."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

Communication Skills — outcome: instruction changes it
Autism Spectrum Disorder — population: instruction studied with autistic learners, not a comparison with non-autistic learners

Outcomes of students with disabilities improve when they receive specially designed instruction responsive to assessment data — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
Aided AAC interventions had large effects on targeted behavioral outcomes in individuals with ASD, per a meta-analysis of 24 single-case studies — related
PECS and speech-generating devices produced larger effects than other picture-based AAC systems, which nonetheless showed small effects — related
Aided AAC systems show advantages over manual signs for acquiring requests, and motor imitation and matching skills predict manual sign acquisition — related
Parent Implemented Intervention Improves Outcomes — related

Page metadata

Field	Value
`type`	`claim`
`id`	`aac-positive-all-outcomes-communication-skills-greater`
`title`	`AAC interventions showed positive effects on all targeted behavioral outcomes, with greater effects for communication skills than other skill categories`
`description`	`AAC interventions showed positive effects on all targeted behavioral outcomes, with greater effects for communication skills than other skill categories`
`status`	`review`
`evidence_strength`	`moderate`
`newest_evidence`	`2012`
`source_checked`	`2026-10-19`
`generated`	by `process:wiki-ingest` on `2026-10-14`
`trust`	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
`sources`	1 — `ganz-2012`

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