Attitudes Towards Peers with Informal Vocabulary on Their AAC Devices
Amy Turk, Ann Beck, & Marcia Dennis
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Illinois State University
2011 ASHA Convention
Introduction
Procedures
As children move into the adolescent stage of development, one of the many
changes that occurs is the increasing importance of interacting and communicating
with their peers. Adolescents who use AAC to communicate have the same social
needs as their peers, but may not have similar vocabulary. Speaking peers’ attitudes
towards children who use AAC may be affected by their choice in vocabulary, based
on its formality and informality. Few studies have been conducted to find out if
formal versus informal vocabulary selection affects the attitudes of speaking peers.
One class (n=25) randomly selected to watch the formal English only video
and the other class (n=25) the formal English plus informal terms video.
AATAAC-2 and an Op-Scan placed face down on the desks in front of each
individual. Scripted instructions were used. Participants viewed the selected
video two times and then completed the AATAAC-2.
Purpose: To explore how programming informal and formal vocabulary on an AAC
device as compared to programming formal vocabulary only influences attitudes of
college-aged individuals toward a peer who used AAC.
Methods
Participants:
• 50 female college-aged students; ages 18-21from two different college classes.
• Majors: 42 CSD, 4 early childhood, 2 special ed, 2 non-specified.
Materials:
• Two videotapes showing the forearm and hand of a college-aged student
communicating with an AAC device to a speaking adult female.
• The AAC device used was a Mayer Johnson Dyna Vox with a 20-location overlay
• The overlay contained each of the 23 conversational turns (from the script)
written out
• Only difference was vocabulary used: formal English only v. formal English and
informal terms.
• Two scripts were created.
• In both AAC user had 12 conversational turns, speaking partner 11
• Both partners’ turns included greetings, closing responses, questions, responses,
and comments.
• In the informal terms script, 12 responses contained an informal term or phrase.
• In both scripts the AAC users’ responses ranged from 2 word responses to 12
word sentences.
• The speaking adult female’s responses were identical in both scripts.
• The topic of the scripts was age appropriate and gender neutral: a Chicago Cubs
baseball game.
Measurement tool:
• The Assessment of Attitudes Toward Augmentative and Alternative
Communication- Secondary Form (AATAAC-2)
Data Analysis
The AATAAC-2 scoring for positive items: strongly agree 5 points, agree 4,
cannot decide 3, disagree 2, and strongly disagree 1. Scoring is reversed for
negatively worded items. A higher score indicates more positive responses.
The first page of the AATAAC-2 contains 7 items to assess familiarity with
individuals with disabilities. Scores between 7-14 points considered to represent
a high level of familiarity, scores between 15-22 a low level.
Mean AATAAC-2 scores were the dependent measure. A 2 (low versus high
familiarity level) x 2 (vocabulary type) ANOVA was calculated. A Pearson
Product Correlation Coefficient was calculated to determine the relationship
between mean AATAAC-2 scores and mean familiarity scores.
Results
2 x 2 ANOVA
• Significant main effect of familiarity level [F (1,50) = 8.679, p = .005]
• No significant main effect of vocabulary or of 2-way interaction.
Pearson Product Correlation
• Significant negative correlation [rxy = -.434, p = .002].
Discussion
Being familiar with peers who have disabilities has an affect on collegeaged students’ attitudes: The more familiar the person is, the more positive his or
her attitude. The use of informal slang terms and formal English terms on an
AAC device was not statistically significant
All of the participants in the study were females who typically hold more
positive attitudes toward those with disabilities than do males. The participants
were also all majoring in a field of study focusing to help others. Thus these
participants’ positive bias might have over-ridden any effect of vocabulary. This
study should be replicated with other populations that include males.
Even though all participants might have held more positive attitudes than the
general population, a significant effect of familiarity was still found, which
emphasizes the importance of this factor.