Augmentative and alternative communication: past, present and future.

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) for severely communicationally impaired people has developed with input from clinicians, users and their families, manufacturers, and researchers. A number of users of AAC are now internationally known figures. The increasing power and decreasing size and cost of computer-based technology continually offer new possibilities for improving AAC systems. It is important that such systems take into account the real needs of users, and the complex nature of human communication. It is also important to realize that AAC development is not a technical question alone. Many effective techniques do not involve sophisticated technology, and the provision of AAC for those who need it is often a matter of policy implementation rather than technical development. AAC is a new and exciting field. It is one which offers many challenges to all those associated with it. The benefits, however, are enormous. In order to advance the field increased international co-operation is required with respect to interventions, technologies, policies and services.

Developing AAC technologies: a personal story and philosophy.

Research into and development of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technologies is an exciting but complex field. The development of a technologically based system which will be an alternative to, or will augment, the speech modality for the interpersonal communication needs of people with communication dysfunction is not an easy task. This is only a young field and thus much of the research methodology is not yet well defined. It is also a growing field, and one to which we would wish to attract new practitioners, and provide appropriate guidance to them. In any technological development project, it is important to define clearly a number of parameters of the project. These are: the client group; the knowledge base needed to solve the problems; the potential technologies that will help and their characteristics; and the time scales envisaged for completion of the research. The authors have been part of a research team working in this field for many years, and, in this paper, they will examine three research strategies which they have found particularly beneficial, illustrating the concepts discussed mainly by reference to personal experiences. The paper concentrates on a relatively narrow definition of technology-that which is often referred to as 'high technology' or information technology. This is not to deny, in any way, the importance to the AAC field of solutions based on other technology, and the authors would hope that some of the comments in the paper are also appropriate to researchers who are working with systems and techniques which do not depend on these technologies.