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• Do-It-Yourself AAC: Co-Designing User-Programmable AI Communication Tools with People with Aphasia

  Jong Ho Lee, Stephanie Valencia · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Lee and Valencia explore how people with aphasia (PWA) can become designers of their own AI-powered augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) tools rather than users of rigid, pre-built systems. The authors note that aphasia, a language disorder typically resulting from…

  aphasia · AAC · augmentative and alternative communication · end-user programming · generative AI

• Giving Meaning to Movements: Challenges and Opportunities in Expanding Communication by Pairing Unaided AAC with Speech Generated Messages

  Imran Kabir, Sharon Ann Redmon, Lynn R. Elko, Kevin Williams, Mitchell A. Case, Dawn J. Sowers, Krista Wilkinson, Syed Masum Billah · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Kabir and colleagues tackle a long-standing split in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC): aided AAC — speech-generating devices, symbol boards, tablet apps — produces standardised, intelligible output but is slow, visually demanding, and awkward when partners are…

  AAC · augmentative and alternative communication · motor impairment · speech impairment · wearable technology

• Speech AI for All: The What, How, and Who of Measurement

  Kimi Wenzel, Alisha Pradhan, Maria Teleki, Tobias M. Weinberg, Robin Netzorg, Alyssa Hillary Zisk, Anna Seo Gyeong Choi, Jingjin Li, Raja Kushalnagar, Colin Lea, Abraham Glasser, Christian Vogler, Ly Xinzhen M. Zhangsun Brown, Nan Bernstein Ratner, Allison Koenecke, Karen Nakamura, Shaomei Wu · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26) — Workshop

  This CHI 2026 workshop proposal — the second in the organisers' 'Speech AI for All' series — assembles 17 researchers, practitioners, and community advocates to tackle a specific downstream problem in fair and accessible speech AI: measurement. The motivating claim is that…

  speech AI · automatic speech recognition · speech diversity · augmentative and alternative communication · disfluency

• Before the Technological Fix: Scoping AI and AAC for Social Futures

  Seray B Ibrahim, Tom Griffiths, Michael Clarke, Simon Judge, Petr Slovak, Graham Pullin, Jeff Higginbotham · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)

  Ibrahim and colleagues - a multi-institution team of researchers working at the intersection of AAC, HCI, and disability studies - argue that the recent surge of HCI work applying AI to Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is drifting away from where contemporary AAC…

  AAC · augmentative and alternative communication · artificial intelligence · scoping review · social interaction

• NarrAid: Supporting Storytelling of People with Aphasia via Generative Visual Scene Displays

  Xiangfei Hu, Xiuqi Zheng, Qi Liu, Zejian Li, Ying Zhang, Lu Wang, Xipei Ren · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’26)

  NarrAid is a generative AI-driven Visual Scene Display (VSD) system designed to support storytelling, not just basic wants and needs, for people with aphasia (PWA). The authors argue that existing AAC tools, including traditional VSDs, support functional communication well but…

  aphasia · augmentative and alternative communication · visual scene display · storytelling · generative AI

• Helping or Homogenizing? GenAI as a Design Partner to Pre-Service SLPs for Just-in-Time Programming of AAC

  Cynthia Zastudil, Christine Holyfield, Christine Kapp, Kate Hamilton, Kriti Baru, Liam Newsam, June A. Smith, Stephen MacNeil · 2025 · ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper investigates the integration of generative AI into augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices, specifically examining how AI-suggested hotspots affect the creation of visual scene displays (VSDs). VSDs are image-based communication tools that embed…

  augmentative and alternative communication · AAC · visual scene displays · generative AI · autism

• Life as an International Computer Science PhD Student with Cerebral Palsy

  Tianchi Mo, Humphrey Curtis, Timothy Neate · 2025 · ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper presents a longitudinal autoethnographic study of Tianchi, an international PhD student with cerebral palsy (CP) navigating the final stages of his doctoral journey in Computer Science at Stony Brook University. Born in China in 1990, Tianchi experienced medical…

  cerebral palsy · autoethnography · assistive technology · augmentative and alternative communication · graduate education

• "An Old Bastard in Bright Orange Satin!": Zuzenna's Aphasia Diary: And Lessons Learned from DIY Augmentative and Alternative Communication

  Humphrey Curtis, Filip Bircanin, Timothy Neate · 2025 · ASSETS 2025: 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper presents a four-month qualitative study of Zuzenna, a stroke survivor living with aphasia in North London, and her self-made DIY communication diary that serves as an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device. Against a backdrop of widespread AAC…

  aphasia · augmentative and alternative communication · DIY assistive technology · single-subject study · stroke recovery

• Looking Past Screens: Exploring Mixed Reality and Discreet AAC Devices

  Humphrey Curtis, Adam D G Jenkins, Seray B Ibrahim, Timothy Neate · 2024 · Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2024)

  This paper challenges the dominance of tablet-based augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices by co-designing mixed reality (MR) and discreet assistive technologies with people living with aphasia following stroke. Current AAC devices are typically…

  augmentative and alternative communication · mixed reality · aphasia · co-design · wearable technology

• COMPA: Using Conversation Context to Achieve Common Ground in AAC

  Stephanie Valencia, Jessica Huynh, Emma Y Jiang, Yufei Wu, Teresa Wan, Zixuan Zheng, Henny Admoni, Jeffrey P Bigham, Amy Pavel · 2024 · Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '24)

  This paper presents COMPA, a browser extension add-on tool designed to help AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) users and their conversation partners achieve common ground during online group conversations. The core problem is speed asymmetry: AAC users may take…

  AAC · augmentative and alternative communication · communication accessibility · group conversation · common ground

• Watch Your Language: Using Smartwatches to Support Communication

  Humphrey Curtis, Timothy Neate · 2023 · ASSETS '23: Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper presents the first participatory design and evaluation of AAC smartwatch applications co-designed directly with people who have complex communication needs (CCNs), specifically people living with aphasia — an acquired language impairment most commonly caused by stroke…

  augmentative and alternative communication · AAC · smartwatch · aphasia · wearable technology

• A Usability Study of Nomon: A Flexible Interface for Single-Switch Users

  Nicholas Bonaker, Emli-Mari Nel, Keith Vertanen, Tamara Broderick · 2023 · Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2023)

  This paper presents the first usability study of Nomon — an alternative single-switch interface — with actual motor-impaired users, comparing it against the widely used row-column scanning (RCS) method. Single-switch interfaces are essential communication tools for people with…

  single switch · augmentative and alternative communication · motor impairment · text entry · scanning

• Nonverbal Communication through Expressive Objects

  Stephanie Valencia, Mark Steidl, Michael L. Rivera, Cynthia L. Bennett, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Henny Admoni · 2023 · Communications of the ACM

  This paper explores how physical motion through an expressive object — a "sidekick" — can support nonverbal communication for augmented communicators (ACs) who use AAC devices. The work centres on Mark, a co-author with cerebral palsy who has used AAC for over 19 years and…

  AAC · augmentative and alternative communication · cerebral palsy · nonverbal communication · co-design

• AAC with Automated Vocabulary from Photographs: Insights from School and Speech-Language Therapy Settings

  Mauricio Fontana de Vargas, Jiamin Dai, Karyn Moffatt · 2022 · Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This paper presents Click AAC, a prototype mobile application that automatically generates situation-specific communication boards from photographs using computer vision and natural language processing. Traditional symbol-based AAC devices organize vocabulary hierarchically by…

  augmentative and alternative communication · AAC · autism · computer vision · just-in-time vocabulary

• State of the Art in AAC: A Systematic Review and Taxonomy

  Humphrey Curtis, Timothy Neate, Carlota Vazquez Gonzalez · 2022 · Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This paper presents the first systematic review and taxonomy of high-tech augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices and interventions within the ACM literature. The authors analyzed 562 articles from the ACM Digital Library and SCOPUS databases spanning 43 years…

  augmentative and alternative communication · AAC · systematic review · taxonomy · complex communication needs

• Aided Nonverbal Communication through Physical Expressive Objects

  Stephanie Valencia, Mark Steidl, Michael Rivera, Cynthia Bennett, Jeffrey Bigham, Henny Admoni · 2021 · Proceedings of the 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents an in-depth case study of co-designing a physical expressive "sidekick" device to support nonverbal communication for an augmented communicator (AC) named Mark, who has cerebral palsy and uses a head-switch-operated AAC device. While AAC systems enable speech…

  augmentative and alternative communication · nonverbal communication · co-design · participatory design · cerebral palsy

• Action Blocks: Making Mobile Technology Accessible for People with Cognitive Disabilities

  Lia Carrari, Rain Michaels, Ajit Narayanan, Lei Shi, Xiang Xiao · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This demonstration paper presents Action Blocks, an Android application developed by Google that simplifies mobile device interactions for people with cognitive disabilities. The app allows users or their caregivers to create customizable one-tap buttons on the device home…

  cognitive accessibility · mobile accessibility · assistive technology · aging in place · augmentative and alternative communication

• Action Blocks: Making Mobile Technology Accessible for People with Cognitive Disabilities

  Lia Carrari, Rain Michaels, Ajit Narayanan, Lei Shi, Xiang Xiao · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This demonstration paper presents Action Blocks, a Google Android application designed to make mobile technology accessible to people with cognitive disabilities. The core problem the paper addresses is that modern smartphones require complex multi-step interactions — finding…

  cognitive accessibility · mobile accessibility · assistive technology · aging in place · augmentative and alternative communication

• The TalkingBox.: Revealing Strengths of Adults with Severe Cognitive Disabilities

  Filip Bircanin, Laurianne Sitbon, Bernd Ploderer, Andrew Azaabanye Bayor, Michael Esteban, Stewart Koplick, Margot Brereton · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This paper presents a case study of TalkingBox, a tangible communication device co-designed with Chris (pseudonym), a young adult with a severe cognitive disability, and his support network at a community day centre in Brisbane, Australia. Chris is minimally verbal, communicates…

  intellectual disability · augmentative and alternative communication · tangible interaction · co-design · participatory design

• Lessons from Expert Focus Groups on how to Better Support Adults with Mild Intellectual Disabilities to Engage in Co-Design

  Ryan Colin Gibson, Mark D. Dunlop, Matt-Mouley Bouamrane · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This paper proposes and evaluates a two-stage procedure for making co-design workshops accessible to adults with mild intellectual disabilities (ID). The context is the development of a clinical AAC application to help people with mild ID communicate more effectively with their…

  intellectual disability · co-design · participatory design · augmentative and alternative communication · healthcare accessibility

• Computer Vision-based Methodology to Support AAC

  Rúbia Eliza de Oliveira Schultz Ascari, Roberto Pereira, Luciano Silva · 2020 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents a methodology for supporting augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) through personalized gestural interaction using computer vision and machine learning. The authors developed the PGCA (Personal Gesture Communication Assistant) system, which enables…

  AAC · augmentative and alternative communication · computer vision · machine learning · gesture recognition

• Conversational Agency in Augmentative and Alternative Communication

  Stephanie Valencia, Amy Pavel, Jared Santa Maria, Seunga (Gloria) Yu, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Henny Admoni · 2020 · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  This paper introduces conversational agency as a new framework for studying how augmented communicators (ACs) — people who use AAC devices to speak — participate in and influence conversations. While prior AAC research has focused primarily on improving device throughput and…

  AAC · augmentative and alternative communication · cerebral palsy · conversational agency · communication partners

• Designing a Context Aware AAC Solution

  Conor McKillop · 2018 · Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '18)

  This student research competition paper explores the design of a context-aware AAC keyboard prototype that uses mobile device sensors — particularly GPS and Wi-Fi positioning — to suggest location-relevant phrases and categories for people with speech, language, and…

  augmentative and alternative communication · context awareness · word prediction · cerebral palsy · mobile accessibility

• Using Participatory Design with Proxies with Children with Limited Communication

  Foad Hamidi, Melanie Baljko, Isabel Gómez · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper explores the use of Participatory Design with Proxies (PDwP) as a methodology for including children with severe communication limitations in the design of digital technologies. PDwP is a variation of participatory design where people familiar with the target users —…

  participatory design · children with disabilities · communication accessibility · augmentative and alternative communication · design methodology

• Development and Theoretical Evaluation of Optimized Phonemic Interfaces

  Gabriel J. Cler, Cara E. Stepp · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper presents the development and computational evaluation of optimized phonemic communication interfaces for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) users. Unlike traditional letter-based (orthographic) interfaces like QWERTY keyboards, phonemic interfaces allow…

  augmentative and alternative communication · motor disability · input methods · interface design · speech synthesis