by Julia Wynne, MA, CCC-SLP (Speech-Language Pathologist); NWACS Contributor

Learning how to communicate with Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) can be a challenge given the mismatch between what children are hearing (spoken language) and how they are expected to communicate (visual symbols). Communication partners are an important piece of the puzzle when teaching children to learn spoken language, as well as AAC. Aided Language Modeling is a helpful tool that reduces the mismatch between what children are seeing and hearing and what they are expected to communicate. One challenge that may come up when modeling language using AAC is the display, or how the symbols are arranged and presented. A display that is hard to navigate will likely make modeling more difficult. Arranging word types by background colors was proposed as a way to make modeling easier for communication partners and was explored in this study by Jennifer Thistle.

Below you will find definitions of some key terms. Keywords will be bolded throughout the blog. You’ll then find the research questions, the importance of the research and a summary of the findings, followed by the most important takeaways from the research article below. Enjoy!

The Effect of Symbol Background Color on the Speed of Locating Targets by Adults Without Disabilities: Implications for Augmentative and Alternative Communication Display Design

Aided Language Modeling: a communication strategy where a communication partner teaches symbol meaning and models language by combining their verbal input with a selection of vocabulary or symbols on the Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) system. This is done by selecting vocabulary on the AAC system and speaking at the same time. Also called Aided Language Input or Modeling.

Fitzgerald Key: color-coding system for symbols on an AAC display

The researcher was trying to answer the following question:

• Does color-coding symbols on an AAC system make it easier for communication partners to locate symbols from a display?

When teaching a child to communicate using AAC, it is important to reduce barriers to communication. The way that symbols are presented visually, such as color-coding word types (e.g., nouns-yellow, verbs-green), can potentially make modeling easier for the communication partner, increasing the number of models, and therefore, benefiting the child’s learning of the display. Color-coding might be an important tool to highlight a group of words to search for, rather than looking at each symbol on the display.

Thirty participants were asked to sequence three symbols on a 16-symbol display and a 60-symbol display. The symbols were displayed using a colored background, colored border, or white background. The symbols were color-coded according to a modified Fitzgerald Key (people were yellow, verbs were green, nouns were orange, and adjectives were blue). The participants needed to locate a sequence of 3 underlined words presented in a sentence.

The color coding made no difference in response time when presented with a 16-symbol display but resulted in faster response times when presented with a 60-symbol display. The response rates were fastest for the colored background. The colored border also resulted in faster response times than when the symbols were on a white ground with black border. So, when given a larger display of symbols, color coding helped reduce the time that participants were searching for symbols. 

Background color on a large array of symbols increases the speed of searching for adults without disabilities. AAC displays that use color-coding to highlight parts of speech can benefit adults by reducing the amount of time that they need to search for symbols. The ability to find a symbol more quickly may be beneficial when communication partners are looking for symbols to match their speech for modeling. Including color to support the communication partner may make a communication partner more likely to provide modeling.

Some limitations that were noted by the author were that the study was not completed in a realistic setting (e.g., searching for symbols while talking). Further research could include determining rates of modeling with and without color-coding.

Please comment below with any thoughts or questions!  

Full article link:  https://doi.org/10.1044/2019_PERSP-19-00017

Images include Boardmaker PCS. The Picture Communication Symbols ©1981–2018 by Mayer-Johnson LLC. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Used with permission.

Reference:

Thistle, J. J. (2019). The Effect of Symbol Background Color on the Speed of Locating Targets by Adults Without Disabilities: Implications for Augmentative and Alternative Communication Display Design. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, 4(6), 1482-1488. doi:10.1044/2019_persp-19-00017

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