Glossary

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E-Tran Frame(also: Eye-Transfer Frame, Eye-Pointing Frame, ETRAN)

A low-technology augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device consisting of a transparent frame or board that allows a person to communicate by directing their eye gaze toward symbols, letters, words, or colour-coded groups arranged on the frame. The communication…

Echolalia(also: Echoing, Echolalic Speech)

The repetition or echoing of words, phrases, or sounds spoken by others, commonly observed in individuals with autism spectrum disorder and some other developmental conditions. Echolalia can be immediate (repeating something just heard) or delayed (repeating something heard…

Embodied Communication(also: Embodied Interaction)

Communication that involves the whole body as a resource for meaning-making, including gestures, posture, facial expressions, gaze, touch, and physical movement through space. Embodied communication recognizes that meaning is not solely transmitted through words but is…

Emergent Communicator(also: Beginning Communicator, Pre-Symbolic Communicator)

A person who is in the early stages of learning to use symbolic communication — understanding that symbols, words, pictures, or signs can represent objects, actions, and concepts. Emergent communicators may use a combination of gestures, vocalizations, facial expressions, and…

Emoji(also: Emojis)

Small pictographic characters — faces, gestures, objects, symbols — encoded as Unicode code points and rendered by platform-specific font sets, used to convey affect, tone, and non-verbal nuance in otherwise text-based or visually-limited communication. For accessibility, emoji…

English Literacy(also: Reading Literacy, English Reading Literacy)

The ability to read, write, and comprehend written English. In the context of deaf and hard-of-hearing accessibility, English literacy is a significant consideration because many DHH individuals — particularly those who are native ASL users — may have lower levels of English…

Ethnomethodology

A sociological approach, founded by Harold Garfinkel, that studies the everyday methods people use to make sense of and produce social order in interaction - the implicit rules and shared practices through which we treat ordinary situations as ordinary. Conversation analysis…

Expressive Communication(also: Expressive AAC, Rich Communication)

Communication that conveys not just informational content but also emotion, personality, attitude, humor, and social nuance. For AAC users, achieving expressive communication is a significant challenge because most AAC technology prioritizes efficient message transmission over…

Extra-Speech Information(also: ESI, Paralinguistic Information)

Aspects of spoken language beyond the words themselves that convey additional meaning, including how something is said rather than what is said. Examples include tone of voice (yelling, whispering), vocal emotion (sarcasm, anger, joy), singing, the language being spoken, speaker…

Eye Gaze(also: Gaze, Gaze Direction, Visual Gaze)

The direction and focus of a person's eyes during visual attention, used both as a communication signal and as a measurable indicator of cognitive processing. In sign language communication, eye gaze serves critical linguistic functions including marking grammatical…

Eye Gaze Communication(also: Gaze-Based Communication, Eye Tracking Communication)

The use of eye movements and gaze direction as a means of communication, either naturally (making eye contact, looking at objects to indicate interest) or through technology (eye-tracking systems that allow users to select items on a screen by looking at them). For AAC users,…

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