Refilwe Elizabeth Morwane

University of the Witwatersrand | wits · Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology

Purpose: The development of culturally and linguistically appropriate resources to support communication interventions for underserved communities is an urgent necessity. The purpose of the study was to obtain stakeholder feedback on vocabulary items from a Sepedi core vocabulary list developed as a resource for vocabulary selection for augmentati...

Barriers to and facilitators of employment of persons with complex communication needs Persons with complex communication needs (CCN) encounter barriers when attempting to participate in the labour market (Khayatzadeh-Mahani et al., 2019). Compared to individuals with a less severe disability, persons with CCN are more likely to lack educational q...

Specialised recruitment agents as facilitators to the employment of persons with complex communication needs Globally, persons with disabilities are facing exclusion from participation in the labour market. The rate of employment of persons with complex communication needs low despite the implementation of legislation and policy initiatives to prom...

Purpose This is the first of two papers summarizing studies reporting on the design of electronic graphic symbol-based augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems, to determine the state of the field. The aim of this paper was to provide an overview of the general characteristics of the studies and to describe the features of the syste...

Purpose: This is the second of two papers summarizing studies reporting on the design of electronic graphic symbol-based augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems. The aim of this paper was to describe the design approaches used and to determine to what extent the principles of human-centred design (HCD) were reflected in the design...

Background: Participation in society is the cornerstone to living a meaningful, connected, and healthy life. Persons with complex communication needs, however, often have restricted opportunities to participate in everyday contexts and situations. Reasons for this include societal attitudinal barriers, as well as limited knowledge and skills about...

Background: Participation in daily activities is expressed as a human right. Full participation of children with disabilities in daily activities creates optimal opportunities for learning and development. Previous studies have focused primarily on proxy ratings of participation of children with intellectual disabilities in daily activities. Howeve...

Background: Unemployment rates for persons with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are high. This is despite the call to action by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Sustainable Development Goals aimed at improving the economic well-being of the marginalised. To improve the employment...

Purpose: In order to provide equitable communication intervention and support services to clients from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, the development of language-specific resources for assessment and intervention is needed. The purpose of the study was to develop a core vocabulary list based on language samples from Sepedi-speaking c...

Objectives: This chapter is broadly based on examining the sexuality education programmes available in global literature for adolescents with severe disabilities, for whom, desires, the need for meaningful relationships and interest in their own and others’ bodies, are no different than their peers, and have been highlighted as a human right.

This presentation will report on a series of South African studies aimed at laying foundations for the design of augmentative and alternative communication systems that give access to non-English and multiple languages. DOI 10.3233/TAD-190011

Quality early home literacy experiences, specifically young children’s shared storybook reading experiences, have been identified as critical for establishing the foundations of reading and writing skills. Despite this, literature reports that children with complex communication needs (CCN) have limited exposure to literacy material. There is, howe...

Transition from inclusive education to inclusive employment proves evasive for people with disabilities, especially youth with complex communication needs (CCN). This chapter explores the plight of youth with CCN to be included in employment for their own well-being. The study that informed this chapter focused on a purposive sample of 8 youth rang...

Globally, persons with disabilities still face marginalization and exclusion from the labour market. Although the unemployment rates are generally high in South Africa (26.7%), statistics are even higher for persons with disabilities. This is despite policies and legislation aimed at promoting inclusion and participation of persons with disabilitie...

Student engagement is a prerequisite for successful learning. Due to the tremendous change in the use of information and communication technologies, the nature of this engagement has had to adapt to fit a hybrid approach of teaching and learning. In this qualitative study, three focus group discussions were conducted that aimed to investigate adult...

Background South African speech-language therapists have identified the need for culturally valid and sensitive assessment tools that can accommodate multiple languages and cover a reasonable age range. The Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) extend from birth to 68 months, contain five separate subscales including receptive language, expressive...

Purpose: The purpose of this study is (a) to examine the applicability of a culturally and linguistically adapted measure to assess the receptive and expressive language skills of children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) in South Africa and then (b) to explore the contributions of 2 additional language measures. Method: In Part 1, 100 c...

The study aimed to determine the perception of students enrolled for an honours degree programme regarding blended learning approach. Twenty adult learners participated in the study and data was collected through focused groups and interviews. Students reported the blended learning approach encouraged extensive engagement with the learning material...

Children who use AAC have been found to have difficulty acquiring literacy skills and those that do develop literacy skills often lag behind their peers. These deficits in literacy skills are often so severe that they are still evident in adulthood. The importance of literacy cannot be underestimated for people who use AAC. Literacy skills enable a...

Study aimed to explore a particular group of adult learners’ perspectives (both positive and negative) on their engagement in a postgraduate hybrid learning programme.

Aim: People with disabilities rarely enjoy equal opportunities in constructing their own careers and those who do, face challenges throughout their lives. Disability and employment continues to be an Achilles heel of not only in South Africa but also in many countries and economies despite existence of equity policies. People with severe disabiliti...