Personalization of Visual Scene Displays: Preliminary Investigations of Adults with Aphasia, Typical Females across the Age-Span, and Young Adult Males and Females.

Visual scene displays (VSDs) are becoming an increasingly popular method of message representation within augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) supports; however, design factors can influence the effectiveness of these images as communication supports. One issue that has come to light in recent years is the fact that selecting personalized VSDs, which depict the person with complex communication needs or an individual with whom they are familiar, are preferred over generic VSDs, which depict unfamiliar individuals. Although personalization is likely an important factor in the usability of VSDs, these images may be difficult for clinicians to obtain.

Building capacity in AAC: A person-centred approach to supporting participation by people with complex communication needs.

Effective communication is based both on the capacity of the person with complex communication needs, and of other key stakeholders (including communication and education professionals, family members, community partners, and healthcare professionals), to ensure that appropriate AAC supports are provided. In this paper, we describe strategies to build awareness of AAC and to assist people with complex communication needs in obtaining needed services; to build the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of AAC service providers; to provide instruction for people with complex communication needs, as well as communication partners and advocates; and to develop communication supports in society more broadly. We also provide an agenda for building capacity in research and development activities to support full participation by people with complex communication needs throughout society.

Designing effective AAC displays for individuals with developmental or acquired disabilities: State of the science and future research directions.

This paper reviews research on the impact of AAC display variables on visual attention and performance of children with developmental disabilities and adults with acquired conditions, and considers implications for designing effective visual scene displays (VSDs) or grids. When using VSDs with children with developmental disabilities or adults with acquired conditions, research supports the use of personalized photo VSDs that include familiar people engaged in meaningful activities, with navigation bars with thumbnail VSDs, located adjacent to the main VSD. Adults with acquired conditions seem to benefit from the inclusion of text boxes adjacent to the scene.

Using Visual Scene Displays as Communication Support Options for People with Chronic, Severe Aphasia: A Summary of AAC Research and Future Research Directions.

Research about the effectiveness of communicative supports and advances in photographic technology has prompted changes in the way speech-language pathologists design and implement interventions for people with aphasia. The purpose of this paper is to describe the use of photographic images as a basis for developing communication supports for people with chronic aphasia secondary to sudden-onset events due to cerebrovascular accidents (strokes). Topics include the evolution of AAC-based supports as they relate to people with aphasia, the development and key features of visual scene displays (VSDs), and future directions concerning the incorporation of photographs into communication supports for people with chronic and severe aphasia.

Influence of computerized sounding out on spelling performance for children who do and do not rely on AAC.

Purpose: Spelling is an important skill for individuals who rely on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). The purpose of this study was to investigate how computerized sounding out influenced spelling accuracy of pseudo-words. Computerized sounding out was defined as a word elongated, thus providing an opportunity for a child to hear all the sounds in the word at a slower rate.

Communication support through multimodal supplementation: a scoping review.

Speech supplementation strategies improve spoken communication for people with motor speech disorders who experience reduced speech intelligibility. The purpose of this review was to summarize the literature on traditional supplementation strategies (e.g.

Representation of potential communication items in medical settings: an intervention note.

Current augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices require individuals in medical settings to spell, locate symbols or phrases, or use non-verbal communication to express health and personal information to family and medical staff. The purpose of this initial investigation was to examine the type (personal, family, staff, procedural, or health status), form or representation and frequency of items that could be used to represent communication content for people in inpatient rehabilitation settings. Results revealed that potential communication items within the personal or procedural categories were consistently represented in participants' rooms.

Current and future AAC research considerations for adults with acquired cognitive and communication impairments.

Adults with acquired language impairments secondary to stroke, traumatic brain injury, and neurodegenerative diseases are candidates for communication supports outside of the traditional restoration-based approaches to intervention. Recent research proves repeatedly that augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) provides a means for participation, engagement, conversation, and message transfer when individuals can no longer expect full return of pre-morbid communication skills and that inclusion of communication supports should begin early. We discuss current research and future directions for integrated systems of technical supports that include low-technology, high tech, and partner-dependent strategies for adults with severe and chronic aphasia, cognitive-communication problems resulting from traumatic brain injuries, and primary progressive aphasia.

Access interface strategies.

Individuals who rely on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices to support their communication often have physical movement challenges that require alternative methods of access. Technology that supports access, particularly for those with the most severe movement deficits, have expanded substantially over the years. The purposes of this article are to review the state of the science of access technologies that interface with augmentative and alternative communication devices and to propose a future research and development agenda that will enhance access options for people with limited movement capability due to developmental and acquired conditions.

Impact of Computerized "Sounding out" on Spelling Performance of a Child Who Uses AAC: A Preliminary Report.

Spelling is a vital skill for people who rely on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). The ability to spell words provides an opportunity to create novel and spontaneous communication and increases educational, social, and employment opportunities for children and adults. However, many children and youth who rely on AAC struggle to gain functional spelling skills and written language.

Evaluation of a speech recognition prototype for speakers with moderate and severe dysarthria: a preliminary report.

This study described preliminary work with the Supplemented Speech Recognition (SSR) system for speakers with dysarthria. SSR incorporated automatic speech recognition optimized for dysarthric speech, alphabet supplementation, and word prediction. Participants included seven individuals with a range of dysarthria severity.

Navigation of a dynamic screen AAC interface by survivors of severe traumatic brain injury.

The researchers examined the effect of cognitive flexibility, image contextualization, and prompt type on accuracy and speed when adults with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) navigated dynamic screen augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) interfaces. Eighteen participants formed two groups based on cognitive flexibility status. Given matching informative versus uninformative prompts and three image contextualization conditions, participants located words on 3-level AAC systems.

Impact of personal relevance and contextualization on word-picture matching by people with aphasia.

Purpose: To determine the effect of personal relevance and contextualization of images on the preferences and word-picture matching accuracy of people with severe aphasia.

Method: Eight adults with aphasia performed 2 experimental tasks to reveal their preferences and accuracy during word-picture matching. The researchers used 3 types of visual stimuli-personally relevant, contextualized photographs; non-personally relevant, contextualized photographs; and noncontextualized, iconic images-paired with 3 types of target words-labels of people or objects, actions, and socially relevant events-as the stimulus materials.

An AAC personnel framework: adults with acquired complex communication needs.

A personnel framework designed to support people who rely on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) because of acquired medical conditions and those who assist them is described. The roles of AAC finders, general practice clinicians, AAC intervention specialists, AAC facilitators, and AAC experts are summarized. These roles are described in detail for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, brainstem impairment, and severe chronic aphasia.

AAC for adults with acquired neurological conditions: a review.

The purpose of this review is to describe the state of the science of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) for adults with acquired neurogenic communication disorders. Recent advances in AAC for six groups of people with degenerative and chronic acquired neurological conditions are detailed. Specifically, the topics of recent AAC technological advances, acceptance, use, limitations, and future needs of individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), traumatic brain injury (TBI), brainstem impairment, severe, chronic aphasia and apraxia of speech, primary progressive aphasia (PPA), and dementia are discussed.

AAC menu interface: effectiveness of active versus passive learning to master abbreviation-expansion codes.

This study investigated the accuracy with which 30 young adults without disabilities learned abbreviation expansion codes associated with specific vocabulary items that were stored in an AAC device with two accessing methods: mouse access and keyboard access. Both accessing methods utilized a specialized computer application, called AAC Menu, which allowed for errorless practice. Mouse access prompted passive learning, whereas keyboard access prompted active learning.

Augmentative and alternative communication use and acceptance by adults with traumatic brain injury.

The purpose of this study was to document augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) acceptance and use patterns of 25 adults with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) who used either high- or low-tech AAC devices or strategies at some point during their recovery. Specifically, the purposes were to (a) document acceptance of AAC system recommendations, (b) identify AAC use patterns by persons who accepted the recommendation and for whom AAC intervention was implemented, (c) identify AAC access patterns for message formulation and encoding, and (d) document the kind of communicative functions that different AAC strategies supported. Information was gathered via a questionnaire from speech-language pathologists who provided AAC assessments and interventions at six different sites.

Algorithmic Estimation of Pauses in Extended Speech Samples of Dysarthric and Typical Speech.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity and performance of an algorithm designed to automatically extract pauses and speech timing information from connected speech samples. Speech samples were obtained from 10 people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and 10 control speakers. Pauses were identified manually and algorithmically from digitally recorded recitations of a speech passage that was developed to improve the precision of pause boundary detection.

Accuracy, efficiency and preferences of survivors of traumatic brain injury when using three organization strategies to retrieve words.

The primary objective was to compare the accuracy and preferences of adult survivors of traumatic brain injury (TBI) when using three organization strategies--semantic topic, geographic place and a word's first letter (alphabet)--to retrieve words using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technology. A repeated measures research design was employed. Twelve adult survivors of TBI ranging in age from 18-50 years participated in the study.

Communication effectiveness of individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Unlabelled: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among speech intelligibility and communication effectiveness as rated by speakers and their listeners. Participants completed procedures to measure (a) speech intelligibility, (b) self-perceptions of communication effectiveness, and (c) listener (spouse or family member) perceptions of communication effectiveness for speakers with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The results of this study revealed that perceptions of communication effectiveness for speakers with ALS were quite similar for the speakers and their frequent listeners across 10 different social situations.

Improving AAC use for persons with acquired neurogenic disorders: understanding human and engineering factors.

The first section of this report focuses on those factors that influence augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) use by adults with acquired disability, including the natural course of the acquired neurogenic condition, use of multiple modes of communication, changing capabilities, communication patterns of adults, changing social roles, transitioning among environments, attitudes of AAC users and others, and instructional constraints. The second section provides recommendations about future technical and intervention innovations involving message management, alternative access strategies, and learning demands.

Listener comprehension of severely dysarthric speech: effects of linguistic cues and stimulus cohesion.

This study is the second in a two-part series examining the effects of linguistic variables on listener processing of dysarthric speech. The first study (see K. C.