Nader Danielle T, Agostine Susan, Erickson Karen A
Department of Health Sciences, Center for Literacy & Disability Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Department of Occupational Therapy, Western New England University, Springfield, MA, USA.
Augment Altern Commun. 2025 Jun 26:1-11. doi: 10.1080/07434618.2025.2519416.
People communicate using various modalities (e.g., spoken language, gestures, writing, and body movements), known as multimodal or embodied interaction. During in-person interactions, confirmations and rejections are often expressed in nuanced embodied ways through changes in tone, volume, or inflection. For individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), linguistic expression of these responses is often limited to binary "yes" and "no" selections delivered with flat affect using their speech generating devices. This study, part of a larger investigation of in-person interactions involving adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) who use AAC devices, centers on a young woman with IDD who lacked access to her AAC device during data collection. While completing as survey-based interaction task with a familiar communication partner, she relied on embodied movements to express confirmation and rejection. Whole-to-part, inductive analysis of recorded interactions led to the development of a coding scheme for these embodied responses. Microanalysis of selected segments revealed that despite communication and physical impairments and an inoperable AAC device, she coordinated body movements to deliver nuanced responses to binary questions. This study highlights the expressive power of embodied communication and offers implications for clinicians and communication partners of individuals who use AAC.
人们使用各种方式进行交流（例如，口语、手势、书写和身体动作），这被称为多模态或具身交互。在面对面互动中，确认和拒绝通常通过语气、音量或语调的变化以细微的具身方式表达出来。对于使用辅助和替代沟通（AAC）的个体而言，这些回应的语言表达通常仅限于使用语音生成设备以平淡的情感给出二元的“是”和“否”选择。这项研究是对涉及使用AAC设备的智力和发育障碍（IDD）成年人的面对面互动进行的一项更大规模调查的一部分，其核心是一名患有IDD的年轻女性，在数据收集期间她无法使用自己的AAC设备。在与一位熟悉的沟通伙伴完成一项基于调查的互动任务时，她依靠身体动作来表达确认和拒绝。对记录的互动进行从整体到部分的归纳分析，形成了针对这些具身回应的编码方案。对选定片段的微观分析表明，尽管存在沟通和身体障碍以及无法使用的AAC设备，但她仍能协调身体动作，对二元问题给出细微的回应。这项研究突出了具身沟通的表达能力，并为使用AAC的个体的临床医生和沟通伙伴提供了启示。
