Glossary
1. AAC – refers to an area of research, as well as clinical and educational practice. Involves
attempts to study and when necessary, compensate for temporary or permanent
impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions of individuals with severe
disorders of speech-language production/comprehension, including spoken and written
modes of communication. This includes all forms of communication (other than oral
speech) that are used to express thoughts, needs, wants, and ideas.
2. Abbreviation-Expansion – Encoding techniques.
3. Amer-Ind – A form of sign language that has 250 concepts equivalent to approximately
2500 English words.
4. Blisssymbolics – A system used as an auxiliary language for international written
communication. It consists of 100 basic symbols that can be used individually or together
to communicate.
5. Candidacy Model – A model where individuals can be deemed “too” something ofr
AAC, such as “too young” or “too delayed”. NOT best practice.
6. Color encoding – A type of encoding system that aids in faster communication by
chunking icons in same or similar categories by color.
7. DECtalk – A voice synthesis system form company Digital, text-to-speech production.
8. Digitized speech – A type of electronic speech that consists of primarily natural speech
that has been recorded, stored, and reproduced. This type of electronic speech requires a
lot of computer memory.
9. Dynamic display – Screens that the individual can change as though turning pages of a
book; uses lights to signal available message options.
10. Facilitated Communication – A communication technique that assumes that the user
has communicative competence rather than impairment and that the user will be able to
produce meaningful, even complex messages with the proper support. Individual’s
forearm, wrist, and if necessary, index finger is physically supported by facilitator.
11. Iconicity – Continuum that describes symbols by ease of recognition.
12. Minspeak/Unity – Pictorial system that allows for fast and accurate access to language
through a process of using multiple meaning icons.
13. Optical pointer – High-tech device; a way for an individual to select icons using eyegaze as a communication tool.
14. Participation Model – Framework for AAC assessment and intervention in which AAC
assessment determines participation patterns and needs, environmental support and
barriers, as well as individual skills and capabilities. Intervention focuses on
implementation, evaluation, and follow up to enhance communication and participation
of individuals who rely on AAC.
15. PECS – AAC system that involves physical exchange of pictures to communicate with
another person for the purpose of requesting or commenting.
16. Step-by-step – Allows individual to go one step at a time for each activation of switch.
In this case, there is a one-to-one correspondence between the cursor movement and the
switch activation.
17. Scanning – Indirect method of accessing a computer or a voice-output device. Requires
an individual to activate switch and make sequence of choices that leads to desired
output. These usually made via switch or switches.
18. Tangible Symbols – AAC symbols that use objects or pictures that share a relationship
with the items they represent as symbols. This helps students with multiple disabilities
since they are understood by touch.
19. Unaided Symbols – Symbols that require no external device or item for production of
communication, such as gestures or signs.
20. Visual scene display – Communication display featuring full screen picture or
photograph that represents familiar context or place.
21. Word prediction – Strategy where AAC device predicts word or phrase being written by
the individual using the device.