AMANDA HYNAN FINAL THESIS PDF

4.4.3. Email
Sixteen participants said they used email,
Xavier:“I get emails about it”
Amanda: ah okay the same way I do and if you did have a comment that you
want to make, you would do the same thing I would do is send an email and
then it gets posted onto the forum
Xavier: ‘yes’ (nods head)
Caroline’s blog
I email people in my family to say thank you for presents, and friends to
arrange to meet
The main endorsement for using online social media sites was through the advice
offered to other AAC users
Amanda: maybe you have advice to give to somebody who uses AAC about if
they were thinking of using social media or Facebook or anything like that.
Will: ‘yes’ (raises brows)
Amanda: Yeah
Will: “Use demo first”
Amanda: there’s not much research about people who use AAC about the
internet and email. So what do you think would be important to tell the world
if anyone reads the research
Sean: “try it”
Amanda: would something you’d be interested in saying to people who
support people who use AAC that social media is a good thing
Harriet: ‘yes’ (nods head)
Amanda: so now that communication aids can link in with computers and
things, do you think it is an important thing to start working on with people
who use AAC
Harriet: ‘yes’ (nods head)
4.4.4. Texting and mobile phones
Mobile phone technology was used for texting in a variety of ways and was affected
by motor skills and literacy level. Peter, Harriet and Olivia, who were all literate, said
they used a mobile phone but needed someone to operate it for them as they could not
operate one directly. Mary, Keith, Moira and Sean all said they used a mobile phone
independently and Carol, Georgie, Fiona, Will, Erica and Xavier used texting via their
VOCAs. Two participants gave me demonstrations of this, Xavier typed a text and
sent it to one of his contacts using his VOCA and Fiona demonstrated the creation of
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