Interaction Research
My research involving augmentative communication has generally focused on how individuals with impaired movement, including those with cerebral palsy and motor neuron disease, engage in interactions with others, using their bodies and augmentative communication technology. Much of my work has focused on the distortions in interaction time related to the augmented speaker's slowly composed productions and the consequent adaptations made by the interactants to accommodate the increased demands on attention, vigilance, memory, etc. In general, my research has focused on the interactional costs inherent in the use of augmentative devices and how they can be designed to avoid some of these “designed” impediments. My research has utilized both group level experimental designs, as well as smaller and more intense microanalytic investigations.
Work with Industry and Technology
In the mid- 1990’s I helped to start Enkidu Research, which developed some of the first handheld AAC technologies. With David Wilkins, we developed Frametalker, a technology for the use of utterance- based communication in AAC (received 4 patents), which was licensed by the Dynavox Corporation. As a founding member of the Rehabilitation and Engineering Research Center for Communication Enhancement (1998 – 2014), my laboratory was responsible for the development of automated data logging technologies for AAC and dynamic word prediction that uses the internet for dynamic fringe vocabulary. From 2014 - 2020, I partnered with Bryan Moulton, UltraBlue LLC, to develop Therapy Science, a web portal which provides powerful single case design and tracking tools and curriculum material for speech-language pathology.