The Interplay of Communication Device Output Mode and Interaction Style between Nonspeaking Persons and Their Speaking Partners

¹ State University of New York at Buffalo

This study sought to determine how augmentative communication device output modes differentially affected various aspects of interactions between nonspeaking persons (NSPs) and their speaking partners (SPs). It was hypothesized that when an electronic output display (EOD) was added to a communication board, the semipermanent display of information would lessen the dyad's need to adopt specialized turn and message formulation conventions, permitting the NSP to construct more complex messages with fewer communication breakdowns. A series of 10 interactional teaching tasks were recorded for two adult male nonhandicapped dyads performing under the two output conditions (±EOD). Interaction transcripts were analyzed with regard to quantitative differences within and between dyads with respect to turn taking, message formulation, propositional content, and several types of insertion sequences (guessing, confirmation queries, message reformulations).

With the exception of message reformulation, changes due to output mode were nonexistent or inconsistent for the variables measured within and across dyads. The addition of the EOD significantly lowered the rate of message reformulation and the total number of reformulation-related turns. Results are discussed with regard to research and clinical implications for augmentative communication.

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