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
Developmental disabilities
How to Interact with Someone on the Spectrum: Peer Training Developed by an Autistic College Student
– AAC user: this training shows how INSTRUCT can be used by people with disabilities, including those who benefit from AAC, to develop their own trainings for their communication partners
– Communication partner: this training was created by an autistic college student to teach his peers how to interact with him based on his lived experience
– Target skill: how to interact with someone on the spectrum (based on one autistic college student’s lived experience)
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)
Speech is Simpy Exhausting (corbin, 2024)
endever* corbin endever* corbin is a multiply disabled semispeaking autistic self-advocate. Their life has improved so markedly since getting access to AAC that they now spend a lot of their time on research, presentations, consulting,… Speech is Simpy Exhausting (corbin, 2024)
Crossing the communication chasm (Crisp-Cooper, 2024)
Melissa Crisp-Cooper Melissa Crisp-Cooper is a writer, adventure seeker, and advocate. She uses many forms of AAC. Melissa is the Associate Director of Participant Experience at The Arc San Francisco. Before joining The Arc,… Crossing the communication chasm (Crisp-Cooper, 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
How ableism impacts people who need and use AAC (Wong, 2024)
Alice Wong Alice Wong (she/her) was a disabled activist, writer, media maker, and consultant, and lived from 1974 to 2025. Alice was the founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project, an online community dedicated to… How ableism impacts people who need and use AAC (Wong, 2024)
Bridging Research to Practice with Visual Scene Displays (VSDs)
Creative uses of a visual scene display (VSD) approach to supporting communication
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.
“I go everywhere independently”: AAC supports for a VERY active life
Tracy Rackensperger describes the importance of AAC supports for her many employment, independent living, and recreational activities, and areas in which she would like to see improvements in AAC technology.
The folly of fortune telling
Rob Rummel-Hudson describe the dangers of limited expectations, and the importance of opportunities and equity, in achieving meaningful outcomes for his daughter, Schuyler.
Consistency as a support to effective communication: My experiences with AAC
Chris Klein describes how his regular use of a consistent access and vocabulary coding system has resulted in effective and efficient use of his AAC system.
30 years of AAC: Stories from the past, and ideas for the future!
Anthony Arnold describes his use of AAC to support full participation in employment, community living and recreation, and provides ideas for the future development of AAC technology.
Successful employment for individuals who use AAC
Dr. David McNaughton and Anthony Arnold describe strategies to support employment for individuals who use AAC. All strategies are illustrated with “success stories” of people who use AAC and who are employed.
Chris Klein: Building Relationships through the Tools of Communication
Chris Klein is a graduate of Hope College, and is an active advocate and educator in the field of AAC.