Conversation Patterns between Children with Severe Speech Impairment and their Conversation Partners in Dyadic and Multi-person Interactions

Active engagement in interactions is crucial for the development of identity, social competence, and cognitive abilities. For children with severe speech impairment (SSI) who have little or no intelligible speech, active participation in conversations is challenging and can be critical for their social inclusion and participation. The present study investigated the conversational patterns emerging from interactions between children with SSI who use aided communication and typically speaking conversation partners (CPs) and explored whether active participation was different in interactions with different numbers of partners (dyadic versus multi-person interactions). An unusually large multilingual dataset was used (N= 85 conversations). This allowed us to systematically investigate discourse analysis measures indicating participation: the distribution of conversational control (initiations versus responses versus recodes) and summoning power (obliges versus comments). The findings suggest that (i) conversations were characterized by asymmetrical conversational patterns with CPs assuming most of the conversational control and (ii) multi-person interactions were noticeably more symmetric compared to dyadic, as children's active participation in multi-person interactions was significantly increased. Clinical implications and best practice recommendations are discussed.Peer reviewe

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) advances: A review of configurations for individuals with a speech disability

High-tech augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) methods are on a constant rise; however, the interaction between the user and the assistive technology is still challenged for an optimal user experience centered around the desired activity. This review presents a range of signal sensing and acquisition methods utilized in conjunction with the existing high-tech AAC platforms for individuals with a speech disability, including imaging methods, touch-enabled systems, mechanical and electro-mechanical access, breath-activated methods, and brain–computer interfaces (BCI). The listed AAC sensing modalities are compared in terms of ease of access, affordability, complexity, portability, and typical conversational speeds. A revelation of the associated AAC signal processing, encoding, and retrieval highlights the roles of machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) in the development of intelligent AAC solutions. The demands and the affordability of most systems hinder the scale of usage of high-tech AAC. Further research is indeed needed for the development of intelligent AAC applications reducing the associated costs and enhancing the portability of the solutions for a real user’s environment. The consolidation of natural language processing with current solutions also needs to be further explored for the amelioration of the conversational speeds. The recommendations for prospective advances in coming high-tech AAC are addressed in terms of developments to support mobile health communicative applications

The structure of participants' turn-transition practices in aided conversations that use speech-output technologies

Using the concepts and principles of conversation analysis (CA), this paper examines the everyday, unscripted, spontaneous conversations between 4 males who communicated with the aid of speech-output technologies and their mothers. The analyses focused on describing the conversationalists’ various actions in aided turn-transition processes, resulting in a 3-part turn-transition structure used to accomplish aided turn initiation. Despite the challenges to conversational progress, the participants did not consider the conversational speed a challenge. The participants and their mothers were oriented to the progression of the aided conversation by creating interaction practices to achieve successful turn-transitions. By understanding the structural characteristics of fluent aided conversations, it may be possible to develop effective interaction strategies for communication partners and for augmentative and alternative communication technologies that are intentionally designed to facilitate interactive communication.Peer reviewe

Mapping Communicative Activity: A CHAT Approach to Design of Pseudo- Intelligent Mediators for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)

The development of AAC technologies is of critical importance to the many people who are unable to speak intelligibly (or at all) due to a communication disorder, and to their many everyday interlocutors. Advances in digital technologies have revolutionized AAC, leading to devices that can “speak for” such individuals as aptly as it is illustrated in the case of the world famous physicist, Stephen Hawking. However, given their dependence on prefabricated language (and constant management by teams of people), current AAC devices are very limited in their ability to mediate everyday interactions. We argue here that the limits of AAC are firstly theoretical — grounded in prosthetic models that imagine AAC devices as replacements for damaged body parts and in transmission models of language production as communication. In contrast, our multidisciplinary team aims to design pseudo-intelligent mediators (PIMs) of communication by blending strengths of human mediators with features of current AAC technologies. To inform the design process, we report here our initial situated studies focusing on the distributed nature of everyday communicative activities conducted with potential AAC/PIM users. Our analysis focuses on the discursive alignments of these participants and their interlocutors, attending especially to the various ways their personal aides function as human mediators. Specifically, we focus on mapping the communicative activity around each of these differently-abled individuals (the majority of whom have cerebral palsy) as they navigated a university campus. We profile the everyday interactional patterns within functional systems and across settings, and present close discourse analysis of one interaction to highlight the diverse roles personal aides adopted in mediating communication. Finally, we argue that attending to differently “abled” bodies as they move through everyday communicative environments pushes CHAT to more fully theorize physicality, individual mobilities, and the roles of bodies in the laminated assemblage of functional systems.

A grounded theory of Internet and social media use by young people who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).

PURPOSE: This paper presents a conceptual grounded theory for how young people with a diagnosis of cerebral palsy who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), perceive using the Internet and social media. The aims of the research were to understand and contextualise their perceptions of access and use and explore implications for self-representation and social participation; to date literature on this topic is limited. METHOD: A constructivist grounded theory research approach concurrently collected and analysed interview data from 25 participants (aged 14-24 years) who use AAC and additional sources. RESULTS: A conceptual grounded theory was developed around an emergent core category that showed young people who use AAC have a clear desire to use the Internet and social media. This was underpinned by eight supporting categories: reported use, described support, online challenges, access technology, speech generating device (SGD) issues, self-determination, self-representation and online social ties. CONCLUSION: The conceptual grounded theory supports understanding of facilitators and challenges to use of the Internet and social media by young people with a diagnosis of cerebral palsy who use AAC. The grounded theory illustrates how the desire to use the Internet and social media is based upon perceived benefits for enriching social relationships and enhancing opportunities for self-representation and self-determination that are synonymous with identified antecedents for community-based social inclusion. Some of the participants are engaging with the Internet and social media through collaborative practice and the implications for how this phenomenon may impact on orthographic literacy and the personal care workforce are raised

Developing the personal narratives of children with complex communication needs associated with intellectual disabilities: what is the potential of Storysharing®?

Background: Sharing personal experience in narrative is challenging for individuals with intellectual disabilities. The aim was to investigate the potential of Storysharing® intervention. Materials and Methods: The study involved eleven pupil-educational supporter dyads at a special school. Storysharing® was implemented over a fifteen-week period. Personal narratives were captured on video pre- and post-intervention. The data were analysed for discourse and narrative. Results: Significant differences revealed a decline in ‘query-answer’ sequences and an increase in supporter use of ‘prompts’. Post-intervention there were fewer story episodes. Narrative structure showed gains in action sequences leading to climax, and in closing elements, indicating a more complete narrative. Conclusions: The Storysharing® intervention appears to be associated with changes to the dyadic, personal narratives illustrating its potential

A Window Into Functional Communication: Leveraging Naturalistic Speech Samples in Primary Progressive Aphasia

Purpose: Naturalistic speech samples should be routinely collected in the assessment of individuals with communication difficulties. However, even when these samples are collected, they are often underutilized. We propose that the analysis of naturalistic speech samples can greatly enhance our understanding and evaluation of the functional impact of primary progressive aphasia (PPA) on communication. First, we review the current practices of evaluating PPA. Second, we provide a framework to optimize the collection, analysis, and interpretation of speech samples to accomplish this goal. In particular, we demonstrate how speech samples can be evaluated for measures of informativeness, the presence of atypical patterns of speech, articulatory rate, and pausing, all of which are helpful metrics in characterizing disordered speech. These factors can be leveraged to identify both the strengths and difficulties an individual may face in everyday communication. / Conclusion: The collection of naturalistic speech in both clinical and naturalistic settings with typical communication partners is highly recommended to best diagnose, monitor, and inform treatment plans for individuals with PPA

Interlocutors and Interactions: Examining the Interactions Between Students With Complex Communication Needs, Teachers, and Eye-Gaze Technology

This study analyzes the role of the machine as a communicative partner for children with complex communication needs as they use eye-tracking technology to communicate. We ask: to what extent do eye-tracking devices serve as functional communications systems for children with complex communication needs? We followed 12 children with profound physical disabilities in a special education classroom over 3 months. An eye-tracking system was used to collect data from software that assisted the children in facial recognition, task identification, and vocabulary building. Results show that eye gaze served as a functional communication system for the majority of the children. We found voice affect to be a strong determinant of communicative success between students and both of their communicative partners: the teachers (humans) and the technologies (machines)