You are viewing the website for the aac-rerc, which was funded by NIDRR from 2008-2013.
For information on the new RERC on AAC, funded by NIDILRR from 2014-2019, please visit rerc-aac.psu.edu.
Research Projects
- Design AAC Systems that Provide Dynamic Shared Interactive Contexts for Children
Janice Light (Penn State University) will investigate the effects of an innovative design for AAC technologies aimed at creating dynamic shared contexts that support communication and language development for children with CCN.
- Designing AAC Systems that Provide Dynamic Shared Interactive Contexts-Adults
David Beukelman (University of Nebraska at Lincoln) will investigate the impact of various types of contextually, relevant information on the communication performance of persons with severe, acquired cognitive/linguistic limitations; to propose and evaluate further design specifications to reduce cognitive/linguistic load; and to evaluate the impact of these specifications on communication performance.
- Improved AAC Interface Strategies for Limited/Uncontrolled Movements
Jakobs (InvoTek, Inc.) will identify potential new interface strategies for use by persons with severe movement limitations, prepare design specifications, and evaluate the features of desirable access methods in prototypes.
- Dynamically Capturing and Representing Communication Environments
Beukelman will investigate communication situations, such as medical/rehabilitation environments, school classrooms, and employment environments to (1) identify the type, form, frequency and transience of dynamic communication content, (2) develop design features to dynamically capture the environment and present it on a AAC display, and (3) develop and evaluate the acceptance, use and impact of prototypes in a range of environments.
- AAC for Persons with Degenerative Language Disorders
Fried-Oken (Oregon Health & Science University) will compare effects of AAC supported conversational strategies on interaction patterns of adults with PPA and elderly adults under controlled and natural settings; and to develop staging guidelines, grounded in empirical data, for AAC interventions with individuals with degenerative language disorders.
- Context-sensitive messaging with RFID technology
DeRuyter (Duke University) as Principal Investigator and Fried-Oken (Oregon Health & Science University) as Co-Investigator will investigate the use of RFID technology to provide context-sensitive information and vocabulary, and to facilitate message construction, with the goal of improving speed and ease of AAC device use.