Communicating Choices in the Hospital
– AAC user: hospitalized children and adolescents with a wide variety of developmental and/or acquired disabilities
– Communication partner: inpatient health care providers
– Target skill: offering choices
Children
AAC & technology: What’s communication equity got to do with it? (Williams, 2024)
“Many, if not most, people who need AAC are still denied effective language-based AAC; assumed illiterate for life; and subjected to extreme isolation and violence. We must secure fundamental fairness and mitigate the multiple and compounding biases and discrimination that those who require AAC endure. We must envisage ways in which people who use AAC can be better heard and live in community with all others.”
This presentation was first made at the Future of AAC Research Summit on May 13, 2024.
Systemic social isolation of AAC users (Blasko, 2024)
Grant Blasko Grant Blasko is a young adult nonspeaking autistic student and part of the Summit’s Organizing Committee. He is a University of Washington DO-IT Scholar, an active member of TASH’s National Communication Access Workgroup,… Systemic social isolation of AAC users (Blasko, 2024)
Future of AAC Technologies: Priorities for inclusive research and implementation (Williams & Holyfield, 2024)
Kevin Williams and Christine Holyfield describe key principles in the development of new AAC technologies
This presentation was first made at the Future of AAC Research Summit on May 13, 2024.
The First Word in Accessibility is ACCESS (Regan, 2024)
by Patrick Regan Patrick Regan Patrick Regan has been an AAC user for more than 27 years. He experiences Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 2, and he received his first speech-generating device a few… The First Word in Accessibility is ACCESS (Regan, 2024)
Supporting individuals who need AAC in learning language & literacy (Holyfield et al, 2024)
Holyfield and colleagues present current research, and identify needed technical development, for supporting individuals who need AAC in learning language and literacy
Bridging Research to Practice with Visual Scene Displays (VSDs)
Creative uses of a visual scene display (VSD) approach to supporting communication
The iPad and mobile technology revolution: Benefits and challenges (McNaughton & Light, 2013)
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The iPad and other mobile technologies provide powerful new tools to potentially enhance communication for individuals with developmental disabilities, acquired neurogenic disorders, and degenerative neurological conditions. These mobile technologies offer a number of potential benefits, including: (a) increased awareness and social acceptance of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), (b) greater consumer empowerment in accessing AAC solutions, (c) increased adoption of AAC technologies, (d) greater functionality and interconnectivity, and (e) greater diffusion of AAC research and development. However, there remain a number of significant challenges that must be addressed if these benefits are to be fully realized…
Designing AAC research and intervention to improve outcomes…(Light & McNaughton, 2015)
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Light and McNaughton apply the framework proposed by the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) to illustrate the need to re-think AAC intervention to improve outcomes for individuals with complex communication needs, and to foster a new generation of intervention research that will provide a solid foundation for improved services. Specifically, the paper emphasizes the need to take a more holistic view of communication intervention and highlights the following key principles to guide AAC intervention and research: (a) build on the individual’s strengths and focus on the integration of skills to maximize communication, (b) focus on the individual’s participation in real-world contexts, (c) address psychosocial factors as well as skills, and (d) attend to extrinsic environmental factors as well as intrinsic factors related to the individual who requires AAC.
Communicative Competence…: A new definition for a new era of communication? (Light & McNaughton, 2014)
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In the 25 years since the definition of communicative competence for individuals who use AAC was originally proposed, there have been significant changes in the AAC field. In this paper, Light and McNaughton review the preliminary definition of communicative competence, consider the changes in the field, and then revisit the proposed definition to determine if it is still relevant and valid for this new era of communication.