AAC Symbols, Multiculturalism, Rate Enhancement SLA G304 Kim Ho, PhD CCC-SLP

Overview Hand back quizzes, simulations Thank you note for Paul Remy Symbols lecture (adapted from Lloyd, 2004)

Symbol To stand for or represent Anything used to represent thought Acoustic, visual or tactile Linguistic or nonlinguistic

Symbols Classification Aided Static Iconic Sets Unaided Dynamic Opaque Systems

Symbol Sets & Systems Approximation of English Physical and cognitive difficulty Abstract/concrete Iconicity or visual representation

AAC Symbol Taxonomy Aided “…communication symbols, strategies, or techniques that use something external to the body to represent, select, or transmit data.” (Lloyd et al., 1997, pg. 523) Unaided “…communication symbols, strategies, or techniques that use only the body or parts of the body to represent, select, or transmit information.”

AAC Symbol Taxonomy Set “A collection or finite number of symbols with no rules or logic governing expansion.” (Lloyd et al., pg. 539) System – “…as related to symbols, having generative rules or logic.” (Lloyd et al., pg. 541) – “functionally related group of elements; an organized set of interrelated ideas or principles…” (American Heritage Dictionary of English Language, 2002)

AAC Symbol Taxonomy Static “…symbols in which movement or change is not necessary to understand meaning.” (Lloyd et al., 1997, pg. 542) Dynamic (1) “symbols in which movement or change is necessary to understand meaning” (2)“graphic symbols that are animated on the display of a device” (Lloyd et al., 1997, pg. 528)

AAC Symbol Taxonomy Iconic “…symbols that readily depict referents or some easily identifiable aspect of referents.” (Lloyd et al., 1997, pg. 532) Opaque “…symbols that have little to no visual resemblance to their referents.” (Lloyd et al., 1997, pg. 536)

Blissymbols ( Pictographs Ideographs Combined

Multiculturalism (Adapted from Soto, Blake Huer, & Taylor, 1997) Defined –understanding of diversity Example AAC service providers must be aware of their own and the AAC user’s cultural practices

Cultural Assumptions in Clinical Encounter Attitude towards disability Communication style and language use Dress and personal appearance Education Family structure and role of family members Food preferences

Cultural Assumptions Cont’d Important events in life and rituals Life expectations and aspirations Perceptions of time and space Perceptions of work and leisure Religious beliefs Rules for decorum and discipline Rules for interpersonal interactions Standards for health and hygiene

Multiculturalism and Symbols Minspeak PCS Blissymbols

Message Encoding Encoding defined How codes are represented numbers, letters or icons Alpha (Letter) Encoding Salient Letter Encoding Letter-Category Encoding

Message Encoding Cont’d Alpha-Numeric Encoding Numeric Encoding Morse code Iconic Encoding

Minspeak

Minspeak Cont’d Pictographs and ideographs Used as a mnemonic device Semantic encoding and retrieval Used on SGD’s Developed by Baker (1982) Example Saves on key strokes Small number of icons retrieve large vocab See Downloadshttp://

Sample 32 Location Overlay

Sample 128 Location Overlay

Rate Enhancement Natural speakers Guest speaker AAC users

Message Prediction Dynamic retrieval process Single-letter or word-level prediction Types of word-Level prediction 1. Word Prediction 2. Word-Pattern Prediction 3. Linguistic Prediction