AAC-RERC Goes "Virtual"

"The ability, through the Internet, to bring all these state-of-the-art locations together to improve AAC is truly revolutionary. To take advantage of the country’s greatest resources in a multi-site collaboration, rather than maintain an extensive effort in a traditional single location, enables us to bring together far greater expertise and provides the necessary resources to bring AAC into the next millennium. A lot of AAC technology already exists; this center will facilitate our ability to work together to make better use of what we have as well as come up with new solutions and creative strategies."

1. Attitudes of AAC users, peers, and intervention professionals toward AAC technology and toward technology use by elderly persons. This project will identify various attitudinal barriers toward the acceptance of AAC technology and its use by the AAC users with aphasia, ALS and Parkinson’s disease. Principal investigator: David R. Beukelman, University of Nebraska.

2. The study of organizational strategies for adult AAC users. This project will seek to determine the AAC organizational capabilities and preferences of four groups of AAC users (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, aphasia, Parkinson’s disease and traumatic brain injury) and one group of adults without disabilities. Similarities and differences in organization preferences among the groups will be compared and an effort made to facilitate the development of systematic conceptual message grouping structures within AAC technologies. PI: David R. Beukelman, University of Nebraska.

3. Improving AAC technologies for young children with significant communication disorders. This project will evaluate the learning demands and functional performance of various AAC technologies with young children. Goals are to design developmentally-based AAC technology specifications and instructional methodologies to teach innovative approaches to representation, presentation, organization and selection of language in AAC technologies with young children. The goals are to (a) determine developmentally-sound design specifications for improved AAC technologies for young children and (b) develop, implement, evaluate and disseminate effective and efficient instructional protocols to teach these innovative approaches to young children. PI: Janice Light, Penn State University.

4. Evaluating and enhancing communication rate, efficiency and effectiveness. This project will develop a comprehensive, empirically-based model that addresses issues of communication efficiency, rate and performance in the use of AAC technology. The project will: (a) develop procedures and software to simulate and measure performance of AAC devices; (b) establish methodologies to investigate communication rate in social interaction contexts; (c) evaluate the efficiency and communication rate of existing and experimental AAC technologies; and (d) develop a computerized model that can predict use-device performance. PI: Jeff Higginbotham,University of New York at Buffalo.

5. Improving employment outcomes for individuals who require AAC. This project will identify barriers and document strategies used by AAC users to obtain and maintain employment, including innovative uses and adaptations of assistive technology. The project will document empirically-based AAC design specifications for the workplace and describe action plans to achieve successful employment outcomes for key stakeholders (i.e., augmented communicators, families, employers, vocational rehabilitation and education professionals). PI: David McNaughton, Penn State University.

6. Advanced ACES. This project will develop and implement ACES (Augmentative Communication and Employment Supports), which will focus exclusively on AAC users becoming job-ready for employment in the world of computer-based telecommunication. The project will develop employment-related vocabulary and symbol sets, collaborate with private business in designing and implementing a job internship for graduates of Advanced ACES, replicate Advanced ACES with high school students and measure the outcomes of the ACES programs for AAC users. PI: Diane Bryen, Temple University.

1. Communication Enhancement Technology Watch. This project will collect, seek out and monitor emerging technology developments in commercial form and pre-release stages that can impact the engineering and clinical aspects of the AAC field. PIs: Frank DeRuyter, Kevin Caves, Duke University

2. The Development of a "Menu-Based" AAC Interface for the Elderly and other Persons with Recall Memory Limitations. This project will develop a menu-based interface minimizing the demands on recall memory common with fixed scr3een and dynamic screen interfaces. The interface, which will rely extensively on recognition memory, will operate in standard computer environments and manage orthographic and graphic symbols. PI: David R. Beukelman,University of Nebraska.

3. Improving Literacy Technologies for School-Age Children with Severe Physical Disabilities. This project will address the need for children with physical disabilities to have access to literacy activities. Goals are to: (a) develop design specifications for a literacy tool that can support children who use AAC in regular educational settings and (b) develop and validate a standardized reading assessment instrument that will provide valid, reliable information about the literacy capabilities of individuals with severe physical disabilities. PIs: Janet Sturm & David Yoder, University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill.

4. End-User AAC Technology Consumer’s Report. This project will facilitate a collaborative effort among consumers and manufacturers to establish useful measures for assessing the effectiveness of augmentative communication devices and technologies. A consumer-driven and consumer-managed review of dedicated AAC technology and software will be established. The AAC-RERC will promote and underwrite development of an AAC Technology Consumer’s Report, managed by AAC end-users and manufacturers of AAC technology. Pis: Kevin Caves & Frank DeRuyter, Duke University