AMANDA HYNAN FINAL THESIS PDF

formally organised field bringing together people from many different disciplinary
backgrounds.
‘Aided’ communication tended to be in the form of communication boards (with
pictures or writing) and was considered a last resort as there was a concern that use of
these would impede the development of speech production (Vanderheiden, 2002).
There was also a belief that ‘unaided’ and ‘aided’ systems should not be used
simultaneously (Hourcade et al. 2004). A move in the philosophical basis of speech
and language therapy intervention to recognise the functional use of language made
‘aided’ AAC practices more attractive (Hourcade et al. 2004). The goal to acquire
natural speech was no longer considered a priority although there was a growing
recognition that ‘aided’ AAC could support the development of speech. Many aided
language representation systems were developed in the form of stylised symbols and
early forms of electronic communication devices emerged which produced messages
on a screen or printed onto paper and some early advances in switch and scanning
technology occurred.
Vanderheiden (2002) says the development of the Apple II (1977) was when
computer support for people with disabilities really was considered in earnest. During
the 1980s/90s, in response to computer advances, speech synthesis technology and
alternative access methods, a small dedicated AAC industry developed producing
computerised devices. Chapple (2011) charts how early devices in the 1980s were
basic computers with a voice synthesizer attached. Using a basic keyboard people
could create novel messages one letter at a time or store whole phrases under two or
three letter combinations. Later in the decade he explains how communication devices
shifted to being language-based and were pre-programmed with words and sentences
which were often represented by pictures or icons within a static display.
During the 1990s, Chapple (2011) says interest shifted to dynamic displays where
vocabulary was broken into categories which allowed users to select a button which
would then change the screen to a new selection of pictures or words within the new
category. Another development was alternative access through head pointer sensors or
external trackers that opened up possibilities for people to make selections using a
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