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ABOUT ME

Ajit Narayanan ajitn@avazapp.com

CEO, Avaz Inc.

• Created Avaz in 2007, initially

for India

• Major challenge: make it work

where there’s low therapist-

led intervention

• Named one of the world’s top

young inventors by MIT; TED

talk 1M+ views

• Today, Avaz is used in USA,

Denmark, Italy, Australia

WHY DOES AAC NEED DEMYSTIFICATION?

AAC works – according to research.

In practice:

- Kids don’t get it

- Kids abandon it

- Doesn’t show great outcomes

Everyone has their own best practices!

- Lots of jargon

- Many competing ideas and interpretations (sometimes vendor

driven)

BUT AAC IS BASED ON SOUND SCIENCE,

AND HAS SOLID FIRST PRINCIPLES.

SO LET’S DEMYSTIFY!

WHAT WE’RE GOING TO TALK ABOUT TODAY

1. Speech, language and communication; expectations from AAC

2. Communication as a social activity

3. Anatomy of a conversation; pragmatic patterns

4. Core words vs pragmatic vocabulary

5. Aided language input as an AAC strategy

6. Learnability; the use of color

7. AAC systems that grow with the child

8. Fluency and how to achieve it with motor planning

SPEECH, LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION

SPEECH: Articulation – physical expression

LANGUAGE: Shared meaning. Symbolic,

combinational

COMMUNICATION: Interaction between

people. Integral part of social living

WHAT DO WE EXPECT FROM AAC?

• Width of communication and

conversations

• Speaker autonomy

• Spontaneous novel utterance generation

WE EXPECT IT TO FACILITATE COMMUNICATION.

ANATOMY OF A CONVERSATION

Hey, what’s up?

Hi!

That sandwich looks yummy!

Yes it is.

I just made it!

Cool!

Do you want one?

Sure!

Could you make one for me, please?

No cheese, though. I’m dieting!

ANATOMY OF A CONVERSATION

Phatic Hey, what’s up?

Hi! Phatic

That sandwich looks yummy! Expression of opinion

Agreement Yes it is.

Relating information I just made it!

Cool! Phatic

Question [Y/N] Do you want one?

Sure! Agreement

Could you make one for me, please? Request

No cheese, though. Expressing a preference

I’m dieting! Relating information

ANATOMY OF A CONVERSATION

Phatic Good morning, sir.

Question Would you like a drink?

Hmm… Phatic

What choices do I have? Question

Joke “Yes” and “No”.

WHAT IS THIS PRAGMATICS THING, EXACTLY?

Phatic / greeting

Relating information

Sharing information

Agree and disagree

Protest

Answer a question

Instruct others

Request an action

Ask for things

Ask a question

Joke

Describe

Complain

Comment

Express opinion

Express feeling

Discuss interest

Bargain

Attract attention

Make a suggestion

HOW DOES PRAGMATICS AFFECT HOW MY

VOCABULARY IS ORGANIZED?

ACTIONS different

PEOPLE

more

PLACESFOOD

wantno

DESCRIBEMY

SENTENCES

stop

feel

yes THINGS

QUESTIONS

1

22

1

HOW DOES PRAGMATICS AFFECT HOW MY

VOCABULARY IS ORGANIZED?

ACTIONS different

PEOPLE

more

PLACESFOOD

wantno

DESCRIBEMY

SENTENCES

stop

feel

yes THINGS

QUESTIONS

1

2

33 3

4

PRAGMATICS AS A “NEW LANGUAGE”

ACTIONS different

PEOPLE

more

PLACESFOOD

wantno

DESCRIBEMY

SENTENCES

stop

feel

yes THINGS

QUESTIONS

1 1

2

3 33

4

CORE WORDS

• Pragmatics: Learning

language without

learning words?

• 96.3% of toddler

utterance = 23 words

• BUT: communication

first!

CORE WORDS

• Why not both instead?

• Pragmatic patterns built out

of core words instead of

sentences

• Make top 100 easily

accessible

AIDED LANGUAGE INPUT

• Best strategy for AAC intervention

• Caregiver communicates using AAC to the

child

• Child mimics the caregiver and acquires

language

• Child needs CONTINUOUS exposure to

language

• AAC needs to go outside the classroom!

Aided language input is effective in increasing spontaneous speech and

augmented communication & decreasing aberrant behaviors

Cafiero, 1995, 2001, 2005; Dexter, 1998, Acheson, 2006,Romski & Sevcik,

2008

LEARNABILITY

ALI template:

1. Caregiver learns AAC

2. Caregiver uses AAC while talking to kid

3. Kid picks up how to use AAC

4. Kid uses AAC

Making step 3 happen is “learnability”.

1. Communication temptations – cause and effect

2. Multi-sensory input

COLOR CODING

COLOR CODING

VOCABULARY THAT GROWS

How can AAC systems accommodate a growing

child?

• Each grade should build on previous one

• Evaluate vocabulary system upstream also

• Vocab needs you to start from scratch? Bad

idea!

• Usually, going through the learning trough kills

communication intent

VOCABULARY THAT GROWS VOCABULARY THAT GROWS

VOCABULARY THAT GROWS

VOCABULARY THAT GROWS

THE FLUENCY QUESTION

• AAC is being used as an AT as well as for education

• Either way, should facilitate speed with use

• Not just about speed: cognitive availability

• Ability to think and communicate at the same time:

that’s called FLUENCY.

• Brain capable of massive parallel processing

• AAC context: motor automaticity

MOTOR AUTOMATICITY IN AAC SYSTEMS

Only one rule:

One word, one path, one position

i.e. Every word has a unique position that never changes

Not a property of some AAC systems only. Almost all AAC

systems can be configured to facilitate motor

automaticity.

Main principle: DON’T REARRANGE, DON’T REPEAT!

STRATEGIES

The magic is not in the app. It’s in the intervention.

#1 strategy: Aided Language Input

Two other tips:

- Keep a low-tech version handy

- Encourage all kinds of augmented communication –

not just AAC!

Q & A