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University of Nebraska Projects

ACN Volume 12, #3

The University of Nebraska is one of six collaborative partners of the AAC-Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (AAC-RERC). Researchers there are conducting three exciting projects related to elderly people who use AAC.

1. Attitudes of AAC users, peers and service providers toward AAC technology use by elderly persons. [David Beukelman, (PI), Laura Ball, Joanne Lasker, Melanie Richter, Rebecca Burke.]

This project investigates the attitudes of four groups of adults: (1) AAC users with diagnoses of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, aphasia and Parkinson’s disease; (2) their peers; (3) their family members and (4) AAC service providers. Because the success of AAC intervention often depends on the attitudes and acceptance of all four groups, it is important to know more about what each thinks. The project team is preparing three videotapes. One highlights an individual with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the second features a person who has Parkinson’s disease (PD) and the third shows someone with aphasia. In each video, individuals tell a story to a partner using three different methods of communicating: (a) their residual speech, (b) a low-tech AAC notebook and (c) a high-tech AAC device. Researchers plan to have four groups of subjects view each tape. For example, the ALS tape will be viewed by: (1) individuals with ALS who use AAC, (2) their peers, (3) their family members and (4) service providers who work with individuals who have ALS. Groups that view the PD tape and the aphasia tape will be similarly configured. All viewers will answer questions about their attitudes toward each method of communication and will rank order their preferences. Focus groups will explore reasons for these rankings.

2. Organizational strategies for three groups of AAC users. [David Beukelman, (PI), Katie Hustad, Laura Ball, Michelle Gutmann, Rebecca Burke, Janice Light.] This project seeks to better understand how (1) older individuals without communication impairments, (2) people with ALS, (3) individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and (4) people with aphasia approach the task of using AAC devices and techniques to communicate. These studies aim to identify better ways to design AAC technology that will insure the greatest possible use and reduce some of the learning requirements. Two groups of older persons with normal cognitive and linguistic capabilities (elderly and ALS) and two groups of people with cognitive/linguistic impairments (PD and aphasia) will be asked to recall and retrieve messages. Researchers are interested in how each group organizes "cognitive-linguistic space" to interface with AAC technology. Lexicons will be arranged in four configurations:

a. Semantic (family, food, etc.)

b. Spatial/geographic (kitchen, office, bedroom, etc.)

c. Episodic/theme (eating at a restaurant, going to the doctor, making a phone call, etc.)

d. Alphabetic

Both low-tech displays and high-tech devices will be used, and subjects will be asked to locate specific words (text) on each type of display. Subsequently, they may use devices/displays in role-playing situations.

3. Development of a "menu-based" AAC interface for the elderly and adults with recall limitations. [David Beukelman (PI), Chih Yang, Robert Tice, Katie Hustad, Rebecca Burke, Jeff Higginbotham.] Current AAC technology places high demands on recall memory. This is a problem for people with cognitive disabilities associated with stroke, TBI, dementia, etc., and perhaps for the elderly. This project is developing an AAC interface to manage orthographic and graphic information in ways that enable AAC users to rely extensively on recognition, rather than recall memory.

Researchers have developed AAC-Menu software that allows the user to formulate messages on a buffer screen and to have a device speak. An expert committee of AAC users is reviewing the orthographic version. Researchers will conduct field tests with people who are severely speech-impaired secondary to TBI, and their non-disabled controls. Subsequently, the software will be tested with other populations and compared to other dynamic screen programs. Preliminary programming is underway for a graphic version of the interface.

For more information, contact Dr. David Beukelman, P.O. Box 830732, 202 Barkley Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583-0732. (phone) 402-472-5462. dbeukelman1@unl.edu

Also, visit the AAC-RERC Website at: http://www.aac-rerc.com and the University of Nebraska’s AAC Website at http://aac.unl.edu

This article appears in Augmentative Communication News, Volume 12, #3.

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