AAC Flashcards
____ is when the computer talks for you
Synthesized speech
____ is when a recorded voice is used from a device.
Digitized speech
Where/How is AAC used? 3
1 for research/studies
2 for hospitals/daily life
3 for school/learning
Is AAC strictly compensatory?
No, it can have some restorative functions
Is AAC a temporary or permanent solution?
it can be either, a day without speech can have a strong impact
Does AAC help with comprehension?
yes, by sharing the communication space, the communication partner may be able to access visual imagery to improve comprehension[
___% of Americans need AAC.
1.3
What are the 8 areas of participation for AAC? ESCPHTES
1 employment/education 2 sexual and intimate behaviors 3 crime and abuse reporting 4 personal assistant management 5 health care mgmt 6 transportation mgmt 7 emergency communication 8 social interactions
What are Light’s 4 competencies?
1 Linguistic competence - language skills to operate
2 Operation competence - technical ability to run
3 Social competence - use it appropriately
4 Strategic competence - ability to deal with AAC limits
___ refers to what method of expressing the SLP/facilitator chooses
Message formulation strategy
What are methods of message formulation? 3
1 spelling (speed vs. generativity)
2 word by word (core vs. fringe vocab)
3 whole phrase/sentence
___ are words that should be in the AAC because everyone uses.
Core vocabulary
___ are words that are unique to that particular user.
Fringe vocabulary
How can whole phrase/sentence AAC method work?
if they are broken into thoughts, it can even work for public speaking!
What are the literacy levels and how do they relate to AAC message formulation? 3
1 pre-literate - can be trained: coverage and developmental vocab
2 non-literate - skills not expected to return
3 literate - more options, consider rate and physical ability
What is the difference between coverage and developmental vocabulary?
1 coverage covers only what they need in the moment
2 developmental provides them with word that they need to acquire
How does age affect vocab selection?
age changes academic/job setting and social roles/storytelling
How does gender affect vocab selection?
gender affects word choice and topic differences
How does personal interests and activities affect vocab selection? 3
1 important names
2 important places
3 hobby jargon
How does disabilities affect vocab selection? 3
1 medical mgmt (cardiologist v. neurologist)
2 terms related to their disability
3 terms related to ADLs
What is a generic conversation structure? Which part is the most variable?
1 greetings
2 small talk
3 content sharing
4 wrap up/conclusion
content sharing
___ is necessary for social politeness.
Small talk
What are the types of content sharing? 3
1 storytelling
2 procedural descriptions (sequential, could be caregiver directions)
3 content specific conversations (tied to social roles)
A(n) ___ is a person who knows the AAC user and can help to identify fringe vocabulary.
informant
What’s the best way to get fringe vocabulary?
select multiple informants with different relationships with the user
What are methods of obtaining vocab? 3
1 environmental inventory (watch person at same age & stage)
2 communication diaries (write down needed words, come back and discuss)
3 manufacturer vocab (some include fringe)
How does vocabulary maintenance work?
additions and subtractions of words/phrases (special event vocabulary + en vogue/passe phrases + friends that enter/leave our lives) - facilitators need to be invested and trained!
A(n) ____ is something that stands for or represents something else.
symbol
A(n) ___ is something that is represented by a symbol.
referent
A(n) ___ is something that the AAC device does.
behavior
What is iconicity?
how easy is it to identify the symbol by looking at it
What are the levels of iconicity?
1 transparent (symbol clearly depicts referent) 2 translucent (with effort, referent can be determined from symbol) 3 opaque (no symbol-referent relationship)
What is the hierarchy of learning? how does that affect symbol usage?
Nouns first, adjectives, verbs later: nouns are easier to depict
What is the difference between aided and unaided symbols?
Unaided is uses body, aided requires an external device
What are examples of unaided symbols? 3
1 gestures (cultural)
2 vocalizations
3 manual sign systems
What are examples of aided symbols? 3
1 tangible symbols (objects)
2 pictorial symbols
3 orthography and orthographic symbols (letters, braille)
What is meant by tangible symbols in AAC? 2
1 real objects (hairbrush, concert ticket)
2 miniature objects (small versions of everyday objects, miniature hairbrush)
What is meant by pictorial symbols in AAC? 3
1 Blissymbols (system of simple line drawings, abstract and difficult to learn) 2 Widgit (rebus) symbols (line drawings used to support reading 3 Picture Communication Symbols 4 Photographs (2 types)
___ are simple line drawings which are abstract and difficult to learn.
Blissymbols
___ are line drawing used to support reading.
Widgit (rebus)
___ are the boardmaker symbols which can be in color or B/W and are in many languages.
Picture Communication Symbols
What are the 2 types of photographs in pictorial symbols?
contextualized and isolated
What are at the easiest end of the symbol hierarchy continuum?
real objects and color photorgraphs
What are at the hardest end of the symbol hierarchy continuum?
printed words and blissymbols
What rate enhancement/encoding strategies? 3
1 retrieval strategies (reducing keystrokes, incr comm efficiency, decr fatigue)
2 memory-based strategies
3 display-based strategies (codes are pictured or spoken aloud)
What is meant by word codes? 5
1 alpha-word codes (truncation codes PIC=picture, contraction codes PCTR=picture)
2 alphanumeric codes (combo lettersnumbers, Class1==classroom, Class2=classify)
3 letter category codes (first letter announces category, second letter announces word, V=vehicles, VC=car)
4 numeric codes (16=hungry)
5 morse code
What is meant by prediction strategies?
the AAC uses an algorithm to attempt to predict what word the person is trying to type. Single-letter prediction is less accurate than word-level prediction and phrase/sentence-level prediction is also limited.
___ is a glass board or clear sheet which uses eye gaze as a low tech AAC. Need reliable yes and no signals and is a time consuming method of communication.
eTran
What is a selection set? 3
things that are available: could be 1 messages (I need help) and/or 2 functions/commands (go back) and/or 3 symbols (letters, punctuation, symbols)
What are the different ways of configuring a selection set? 2
1 grids (independent cells in rows and columns) 2 visual scenes (with hotspots OR with associated buttons)
What are some selection set considerations? 4
1 number of items/cells/locations/buttons
2 size (buttons/displays)
3 organization (cog/motor ability)
4 orientation of display (posture, visual ctrl, motor ctrl)
What is a hotspot in a visual scene?
an area of meaning (related to mom); the person touches it and it says something, like “mom”
What are display types? 2
1 static/fixed display (remain the same following a selection)
2 dynamic display (may automatically change following a selection)
What are low tech fixed displays? 2
1 communication book
2 communication vest
Are there hybrid displays?
PRC pathfinder - fixed buttons, with dynamic display at the top, producing synthesized speech
Scene-based hybrid display - fixed navigation ring, center scene dynamic
What is the ONLY indirect selection technique?
switch scanning
What are examples of direct selection? 5
1 fingers, toes, elbows 2 dynamic eye gaze/fixed eye gaze 3 headstick 4 mouse emulator 5 laser pointer
When would you use head mouse vs. eye tracking?
head mouse is better for good intentional head movement, but eye tracking is for people who can keep his/her head very still
What are direct activating choices for touch? 3
1 activate immediately on touch
2 activate after dwelling on location
3 activate upon release
What are activation choices for cursor ctrl? 2
1 head tracking with dwell activation
2 eye tracking with either dwell activation or blink activation
What are the benefits of direct selection? 2 What are limitations? 1
1 faster
2 cognitively less demanding
BUT requires motor ctrl and attention for targeting
What are the patterns/paths for scanning? 4
1 linear
2 circular
3 row-column
4 group-item
What are the different scan methods of access? 3
1 auto scan/interrupted - press to start scanning, press again to select
2 directed scan (press and hold to scan, release to select)
3 step scan - press for each location, press repeatedly to move (2 switches or dwelling)
What mechanisms are available for switch scanning? 4
1 whack
2 touch
3 movement
4 voice
What are some names of switches? 7
1 finger switch 2 grip switch 3 wobble switch 4 jelly bean switch 5 ribbon switch 6 sip and puff switch (pneumatic) 7 twitch switch 8 joystick
What are feedback techniques? 3
1 auditory (last ditch)
2 visual
3 tactile
What are feedback examples for visual? 3
1 zoom
2 highlighting (progressively filling in, frame, reverse image)
3 diode lights up - light in the corner
What are feedback examples for tactile?
physical sensation of movement
What are auditory feedback examples (last resort)? 2
1 beep/click 2 voice (public/private)
What are 3 things we can say about typically developing children’s language development?
1 acquire lang rapidly
2 learn by hearing and producing words
3 access to all vocabulary they hear
How are AAC-using kids language development than TD kids? 2
adults speak less to children with Complex Communication Needs (AAC-users) so they have:
1 limited exposure to new vocab
2 limited repetition of vocab
What happens with vocab selection for kid AAC-users? 3
1 adult vs child selected choices
2 mismatched expressive/receptive vocabulary
3 over-generalization of symbols (last longer than TD kids)
What is meant by an input/output discrepancy for kid AAC-users?
the input is verbal, but they have to output choosing a symbol
What is meant by verbal correction/training for kid AAC-users?
when we correct children (kid points to elephant and chooses the symbol for dog), we correct them verbally, we need to find the correct symbol
What is difficult for children using AAC?
1 receptive morphology - difficulty understanding morphological markers
2 expressive morphology - frequent morphological errors (Wide range)
What are possible reasons AAC-users (kids) have problems with morphemes? 3
1 no access in AAC
2 too time consuming (and they already take a long time to make an utterance)
3 lack of instruction regarding morphemes
What are the characteristics of expressive syntax for kid AAC-users? 3
1 compound sentences are problematic
2 word order difficulties
3 verbs, articles, adjectives omitted
How does AAC affect kids pragmatics? 2
1 often limited to request and respond
2 they can be passive communicators with limited social communciation
What are the learning language contexts for children? 5
1 physical context 2 functional context 3 language context 4 social context 5 cultural context
What is meant by physical context for children?
the lexical components of language in terms of people, objects, activities, and events in the child’s environment
What do we do for the child’s physical context? 2
1 maximize access to objects, events and people
2 promote independent mobility at an early age (e.g. wheelchair)
What is meant by functional context for children?
routines, events and activities that make up the child’s day
What do we do for the child’s functional context? 4
assess times
1 when lang is being learned (natural times)
2 when lang is not being learned (poor opportunities)
3 when child isn’t engaged
4 opportunities for additional stimulation
What is meant by language context for children?
linguistic code(s) of the kid’s environ; family/community code vs. child’s AAC code
What do we do for the language context for children? 3
1 AAC kids don’t get feedback for utterances as much as TD kids
2 choose more appropriate symbols (not just what comes in the device, since those might be designed for adults)
3 vocab selection - limited to available lexicon/overrepresentation of concrete & wants/needs/poor rep of question words
What is one of the most important language context to include for children AAC (arguably)?
question words (who, what, when, where, why, how) - this is how they learn new things.
What are the cons of preprogrammed msgs for children? 3
1 is it child appropriate?
2 less flexibility
3 limit experience sentence building variou sstructures
What are the pros of preprogrammed msgs for children? 2
1 speed
2 easy to understand
What do we do for the social context for children? 3
1 we provide high levels of support initially and gradually reduce support (don’t do this for AAC)
2 don’t talk over them (do talk over them, dominate interactions)
3 lots of practice with peers (minimal communication with peers for AAC)
What do we do for the cultural context for kids w/ AAC? 3
1 diverse values and expectations for language learning
2 different languages at home/school (when to code switch)
3 interventions reflect the norms and values of the schools (but we need to focus on family)
What are other issues for a child’s access to AAC? 2
1 kids may not have the OPERATIONAL competence to modify their device
2 kids may have limited access (sometimes device stuck at home or school)
What are methods of organizing for kid’s AAC? 4
1 Alphabetic Organization (not a good choice for kids generally)
2 Semantic-Syntactic Organization
3 Taxonomic Organization
4 Activity Based Organization
What’s another name for “Gateway Layout”?
Fitzgerald Key or Semantic-Syntactic Organization