ConnSENSE

Exciting New AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) Projects

Joe Hemphill
AAC-RERC Writers Brigade
joehemp@sbcglobal.net

The Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Communication Enhancement (AAC-RERC) has just started 15 new research and development projects. The funding for these projects was made possible by the National Institute for Disability And Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). The following is the summary of the six themes or project areas these project address.

The first project area aims to find ways that make it easier for young children and children and adults with a number of different disabilities, such as autism, and aphasia, to use communication devices. If a device is too difficult to learn, people may not use it. David Beukelman (University Nebraska), Jeff Higginbotham (University of Buffalo-New York) are involved in these projects, as is Janice Light (Pennsylvania State University), Howard Shane (Children's Hospital-Boston) and Kevin Caves and Frank DeRuyter (Duke University).

Even though some people using augmentative and alternative communication devices (AAC) are attending school and taking an active roll in their communities, they still struggle with many barriers. The second project area looks at obstacles to employment, education, literacy, and social participation. Four studies are examining how to better these situations. Researchers heading the projects are Janice Light and David McNaughton (Pennsylvania State University), Diane Bryen (Temple University), and David Beukelman and Kevin Caves.

In the third project area, researchers will simulate situations where people use communication devices during conversations. Then they will judge how well each device assists communication in this context. Jeff Higginbotham heads this project area.

It is important that a person can successfully use a device. Kevin Caves and Jeff Higginbotham are doing research to determine the extent to which current AAC devices are user-friendly, along with how accessible they are. This project area seeks to understand more about what it takes to learn to use devices and how to simplify the experience. .

To further reach the goal of accessibility, another project area considers alternative ways of accessing communication devices. Two studies are looking for ways to make an impaired natural voice more understandable. Other investigations are looking at devices that can recognize body movements, as well as use electrodes to respond to a person's thoughts or brain waves. David Beukelman and Kevin Caves, Howard Shane and Diane Bryen, Frank DeRuyter and Jeff Higginbotham are working on these projects.

The last project area is examining how communication devices may help people take part in the world. The first of these two projects looks at how communication devices may better enable people to function in their surroundings. The project staff will seek to stay informed of new technology improvements and help to ensure that AAC devices work with this new technology. Another project is studying how to make it possible for a person to collect packages of vocabulary about topics of personal interest on the Internet and download them into his communication device to use in a casual conversation. Jeff Higginbotham, Frank DeRuyter and Kevin Caves, along with Diane Bryen, David Beukelman and Howard Shane are over-seeing this project area.

The ACC-RERC partners have shown that they work well together and the information they will gather over the next five years will greatly help people who need and use communication devices.