In order to support their communication needs children with speech delays and disabilities often turn to Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices. These devices can help them better express their needs, participate in classrooms, and interact with their peers. Until now there hasn’t been anything readily available for those needing to communicate with AAC users to practice with. Our latest grant recipients adjunct professor Tammy McEachern Hughes, Catherine Winters, and Gabrielle Coombs hope to change all that with their AAC Simulator software.
The AAC Simulato
r is a web-based communication board-building tool and connected shared practice environment, originally designed for EPSE 411 students in the Faculty of Education at UBC. The goal of the simulator is to allow students to create and test their own boards, without having to be in the same physical location. By using this platform, users can easily edit, adapt, and test these boards in one place with a communication partner. Using the tool helps students develop awareness and build understanding of the importance of accessible messaging for communication partners, whether users of AAC or otherwise. It aims to empower students to take risks, reflect, tinker, and iterate, while also providing an avenue to better include students in remote communities and students with disabilities.
The AAC Simulator is accessible from any computer with a web browser and internet connection, without users having to install apps or own expensive hardware. Using the AAC board-building tool demonstrates how technology can be used to enhance accessibility, improve the lives of people with disabilities, and reach non-traditional students especially in rural and remote contexts through an immersive, low-stakes environment.
This Edith Lando Grant supports the development of a more accessible virtual environment and board-building tool, as well as making it available to a broader audience across UBC. Once completed, the AAC Simulator will be available via the Edith Lando website.
