This book provides readers with essential tools for appraising evidence and outlining steps for planning and implementing better efficacy research. It aims to help researchers and practitioners develop the necessary skills for moving the augmentative and alternative communication field toward evidence-based practice. The Efficacy of Augmentative and Alternative Communication: Toward Evidence Based Practice is a crucial addition to anyone's bookshelf who is involved in the AAC enterprise, including speech-language pathologists, special educators, physical therapists, occupational therapists, students in professional programs, individuals using AAC, their families, and applied researchers. Features Include: * A framework for conceptualizing efficacy research and evidence-based practice (EBP) * Appraisal checklists that can be used to guide the reader's appraisal of evidence * Efficacy reviews and EBP process illustrations in pertinent content areas * Solutions to avoid common pitfalls of prominent research designs for evaluating efficacy, including single-subject experimental designs, and longitudinal designs * How to formulate research questions and deal with issues of participant selection * How to plan and evaluate the integrity of interventions * How to assess and evaluate the social validity of interventions * How to engage in and evaluate syntheses of efficacy research About the Author Ralf W. Schlosser holds a Ph.D. in Special Education with an emphasis in augmentative and alternative communication from Purdue University. He is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology at Northeastern University in Boston. He is also a Distinguished Switzer Fellow of the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) and a Fellow of the American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR). In 2001, Dr. Schlosser received the Editor Award for the Most Significant Research Article published in Augmentative and Alternative Communication for the paper entitled "Promoting generalization and maintenance in augmentative and alternative communication: A meta-analysis of 20 years of effectiveness research." This paper was recognized as a review of high methodological quality by the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness.