TY - JOUR
T1 - Designing effective AAC displays for individuals with developmental or acquired disabilities
T2 - State of the science and future research directions
AU - Light, Janice
AU - Wilkinson, Krista M.
AU - Thiessen, Amber
AU - Beukelman, David R.
AU - Fager, Susan Koch
N1 - Funding Information:
This paper is part of a special issue of the AAC Journal on the state of the science. Its contents were developed under the following grants: (a) Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (The RERC on AAC) from the US Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) grant # 90RE5017; (b) National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) P01 HD 25995; (c) NICHD R01 HD083381; and (d) The Hintz Family Endowed Chair on Children’s Communicative Competence. The contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the funding agency, and endorsement by the federal government should not be assumed.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, © 2019 International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication.
PY - 2019/1/2
Y1 - 2019/1/2
N2 - This paper reviews research on the impact of AAC display variables on visual attention and performance of children with developmental disabilities and adults with acquired conditions, and considers implications for designing effective visual scene displays (VSDs) or grids. When using VSDs with children with developmental disabilities or adults with acquired conditions, research supports the use of personalized photo VSDs that include familiar people engaged in meaningful activities, with navigation bars with thumbnail VSDs, located adjacent to the main VSD. Adults with acquired conditions seem to benefit from the inclusion of text boxes adjacent to the scene. Emerging evidence supports the use of motion to capture visual attention to VSDs (video VSDs) or to specific elements in VSDs. When using grid displays with children with developmental disabilities, research supports the use of spatial cues and clustering based on internal symbol colour to facilitate visual searching and selection. Background colour does not seem to facilitate searching for symbols on smaller displays, and may actually distract children from processing the meaningful components of symbols. Preliminary research suggests that the organization of onscreen keyboards and the number, types, and pairings of symbols in grids may impact performance of adults with acquired conditions. Directions for future research are discussed.
AB - This paper reviews research on the impact of AAC display variables on visual attention and performance of children with developmental disabilities and adults with acquired conditions, and considers implications for designing effective visual scene displays (VSDs) or grids. When using VSDs with children with developmental disabilities or adults with acquired conditions, research supports the use of personalized photo VSDs that include familiar people engaged in meaningful activities, with navigation bars with thumbnail VSDs, located adjacent to the main VSD. Adults with acquired conditions seem to benefit from the inclusion of text boxes adjacent to the scene. Emerging evidence supports the use of motion to capture visual attention to VSDs (video VSDs) or to specific elements in VSDs. When using grid displays with children with developmental disabilities, research supports the use of spatial cues and clustering based on internal symbol colour to facilitate visual searching and selection. Background colour does not seem to facilitate searching for symbols on smaller displays, and may actually distract children from processing the meaningful components of symbols. Preliminary research suggests that the organization of onscreen keyboards and the number, types, and pairings of symbols in grids may impact performance of adults with acquired conditions. Directions for future research are discussed.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85060159476&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85060159476&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/07434618.2018.1558283
DO - 10.1080/07434618.2018.1558283
M3 - Article
C2 - 30648896
AN - SCOPUS:85060159476
VL - 35
SP - 42
EP - 55
JO - AAC: Augmentative and Alternative Communication
JF - AAC: Augmentative and Alternative Communication
SN - 0743-4618
IS - 1
ER -