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How can Higher Education Personnel best support students who use AAC devices to communicate?
1 in 5
Undergraduate Students Have a Disability
(National Center for Education Statistics 2023).
Ensuring equitable access to higher education education means recognizing and addressing the unique needs of every student, including those who use AAC devices. This website is designed to bridge the gap between students and the broader campus community by offering insights into research, strategies, and best practices for enhancing support across all areas of higher education.
In the Classroom
On Campus
What is AAC?
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Whenever possible, provide classroom discussion questions to all students in advance.
Providing discussion questions in advanced gives all students the opportunity to better formulate their thoughts and prepare for the discussion. When researching conversational symmetry, Seale, Bisantz, and Higginbotham found that AAC users had a more difficult time with conversational flow and symmetry than their peers (2020). This can be mitigated by providing the discussion questions in advanced, so they can take part in conversation easier as they can think through and pre-program and/or write their answers.
Use accessible content with screen-reader capability, closed captioning, text to speech, alternative text, and other accessibility features.
Accessibility features can be beneficial to many students not just AAC users, and are part of fostering an inclusive classroom environment.
Incorporate a variety of assessment options to demonstrate learning.
There are many different ways students can demonstrate mastery of a topic. Giving students some flexibility in how they demonstrate mastery not only benefits AAC users, but also makes the material more interesting and inclusive for every student.
Give extra time to all students to respond during discussion (KU Center on Developmental Disabilities 2024).
Giving space and allowing silence for students to think can take the pressure away from being called on in class. For AAC users it also gives them time to formulate their answer using their device
Do not talk around a student using AAC, include them in the conversation equally (Hillary, A. 2019).
It is important to give students using AAC devices an equal platform to voice their thoughts just as you would any other student.
Do not cut the student off and attempt to finish their thoughts (Alyssa 2017).
As most people know, cutting another person off in conversation is rude. This holds true when interacting with an AAC user as well.
Peer Connections
Students who use AAC devices are still capable of having strong peer connections. Past research has found that those with disabilities have fewer friendships than individuals without disabilities. However, in a research study titled “Perspectives and experiences of adults who use AAC on making and keeping friends”, it was found through interviews that individuals who use AAC devices described themselves as having strong friendships and frequent positive friend interactions (Therrien 2019). While the sample size was relatively small, this study is promising for peer-to-peer interactions among AAC users. Dada et al. performed a similar study focused on young adults, and had similar findings on the quality of friendships for AAC users (2022).
However one barrier to Peer Interactions for AAC users is perceived competence. Researchers, Brock et al., did a study on the Attitudes and Perceived Communicative Competence of AAC users. College students made up a large group of their participants. Unfortunately, they found that college students had a more negative perspective towards AAC users. Undergraduate students were found to have the least positive attitude. While this individual study can not be generalized, it does demonstrate a potential barrier for AAC users as they form valuable peer connections.
Education and Advocacy
Education and advocacy on campus can go a long way with helping reduce bias towards AAC users on campus. University accessibility offices play an important role in advocating for these students and assisting with the accommodations process. Additionally, university faculty can help by fostering an inclusive classroom environment for all students. Campus life offices can also assist by providing accessible activities on campus. This will also assist in positive peer interaction opportunities.
Learn More About Student Experiences
Future Directions
Research on AAC users experience in Higher Education is very limited. In the future, it would be beneficial to collect more data on the thoughts and perceptions of AAC users throughout their undergraduate experience. Additionally, research into how classroom practices influence AAC users higher education outcomes would be interesting to explore.
Additionally, in order to increase retention of students who use AAC devices, increased levels of education for all disabilities is necessary within higher education. This education needs to extend beyond the Student Accessibility office, and be provided for faculty and staff as well. Focusing on UDL principles during course development can also help eliminate barriers for all students.
References
Alyssa. (2017, October 22). Disabled in grad school: Augmentative and Alternative Communication Awareness Month. Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and Jobs. https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/gradhacker/disabled-grad-school-augmentative-and-alternative-communication-awareness-month
Anderson, H. (2019). Perspectives of Augmentative-Alternative Communication Users Regarding Their Experiences and Perceived Barriers to Engagement in Higher Education [Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation]. Louisiana Tech University.
Brock, K. L., Koul, R., Corwin, M., & Schlosser, R. W. (2022). Attitudes toward and Perceived Communicative Competence of Individuals with Aphasia Using Speech-Generating Devices. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 38(1), 15–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/07434618.2022.202800
Dada, S., Tonsing, K., & Goldbart, J. (2022). Friendship Experiences of Young Adults Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication. International Journal of Disability, Development & Education, 69(3), 951–975. https://doi.org/10.1080/1034912X.2020.1746246
Hillary, A. (2019). Am I the curriculum? Curriculum Inquiry, 49(4), 373–386. https://doi.org/10.1080/03626784.2019.1664255
Kearns, J., & Kleinert, J. (2020). Getting to know students who use AAC (TIPS Series: Tip #3). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota, TIES Center.
KU Center on Developmental Disabilities. (2024). Empowering Students Who Use AAC [Video]. Youtube. https://youtu.be/PZqsQGq3_Q8?si=ySLAz-2v2Sl0J-LD
National Center for Education Statistics. (2023). Table 311.10. Number and percentage distribution of students enrolled in postsecondary institutions, by level, disability status, and selected student characteristics: Academic year 2019–20 [Data table]. In Digest of education statistics. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d22/tables/dt22_311.10.asp.
Seale, J. M., Bisantz, A. M., & Higginbotham, J. (2020). Interaction symmetry: Assessing augmented speaker and oral speaker performances across four tasks. AAC: Augmentative & Alternative Communication, 36(2), 82–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/07434618.2020.1782987
Therrien, M. C. S. (2019). Perspectives and experiences of adults who use AAC on making and keeping friends. AAC: Augmentative & Alternative Communication, 35(3), 205–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/07434618.2019.1599065
Zimmerman, J. (2021, April 8). Student voice: As a person with autism, I spend lots of time studying, attending class - and explaining that I am not deaf. The Hechinger Report. https://hechingerreport.org/student-voice-person-autism-spend-lots-time-studying-attending-class-explaining-not-deaf/