AAC Symbols, Multiculturalism, Rate Enhancement

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

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

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

4. Aided Static Iconic Sets Unaided Dynamic Opaque Systems Symbols Classification

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

6. 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

7. Set “A collection or finite number of symbols with no rules or logic governing expansion.” (Lloyd et al., 1997. pg. 539) System – “…as related to symbols, having generative rules or logic.”(Lloyd et al., 1997. 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

8. 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

9. 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) AAC Symbol Taxonomy

12. Blissymbols • (http://www.blissymbolics.org/) • Pictographs • Ideographs • Combined

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. Multiculturalism and Symbols • Minspeak • PCS • Blissymbols

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

18. Message Encoding Cont’d • Alpha-Numeric Encoding • Numeric Encoding • Morse code • Iconic Encoding

19. Minspeak

20. 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 http://www.prentrom.com/ Downloads

21. Sample 32 Location Overlay

22. Sample 128 Location Overlay

23. Rate Enhancement • Natural speakers • Guest speaker • AAC users

24. Message Prediction • Dynamic retrieval process • Single-letter or word-level prediction • Types of word-Level prediction • Word Prediction • Word-Pattern Prediction • Linguistic Prediction