Glossary of Terms Augmentative and Alternative Communications Systems

Glossary of Terms	Definitions	Examples
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis	Is a nervous system (neurological) disease that causes muscle weakness and impacts physical function.	ALS often begins with muscle twitching and weakness in an arm or leg, or sometimes with slurring of speech.
Aphasia	Language disorder affecting both expression and reception of spoken and written language.	Aphasia is a condition that robs you of the ability to communicate.
Apraxia	In inability to plan motor movements, wherein the peripheral components necessary to execute the motion are generally intact.	Apraxia is caused by damage to the brain.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication	Approaches and systems that are designed to ameliorate the problems faced by persons who have difficulty speaking or writing because of neuromuscular disease or injury.	AAC strategies assist people with severe communication disabilities to participate more fully in their social roles including interpersonal interaction, learning, education, community activities, employment, volunteerism, care management, and so on.
Autism Spectrum Disorder	These disorders are characterized, in varying degrees, by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors.	A group of complex disorders of brain development.
Complex Communication Needs	Complex communication needs result from significant speech, language, and/or cognitive impairments.	When individuals cannot meet their daily communication needs through the current method of communication.
Context-Dependent Communicators	Context-dependent memory refers to improved recall of specific episodes or information when the context present at encoding and retrieval are the same.	When an individual has lost an item (e.g. lost car keys) in an unknown location.
Dynamic Communication Displays	An input mode used in AAC in which in which the selection set displayed to the user is changed as new choices are made, can be altered easily depending on previous choices and allows reliance on recognition rather than recall.	A device or software that displays vocabulary as text and/or graphics on a screen and is able to be changed to another set of text and/or graphics electronically.
Dysarthria	A disorder of motor speech control resulting from central or peripheral nervous system damage; characterized by weakness, slowness, and incoordination of the muscle necessary for speech.	A motor speech disorder affecting muscles in the mouth, face, and respiratory system.
Emergent Communicators	Tell you what they want to be able to say	Delivering your message to the world.
Icon Prediction	A feature of Minspeak-based devices that aids in recalling stored sequences.	If you have pressed any keys on the screen, you have probably noticed that some keys on the keyboard lost their icons and became blank.
Independent Communicators	Not limited in what they can talk about or whom they can talk to.	Meets face-to-face and communicates through e-mail to share best practices in managing and marketing.
Language	Is the human ability to acquire and use complex systems of communication.	The words, their pronunciation, and the methods of combining them used and understood by a community.
Selection Set	The items available from which user choices are made, in AAC device this is the component that presents the symbol system and possible vocabulary selections to the user.	Syntax
Speech	The expression of or the ability to express thoughts and feelings by articulate sounds.	·         Verbal Expression ·         Verbal Communication
Speech-Generating Devices	Are electronic augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems used to supplement or replace speech or writing for individuals with severe speech impairments, enabling them to verbally communicate their needs.	SGDs are important for people who have limited means of interacting verbally, as they allow individuals to become active participants in communication interactions.
Traditional Orthography	Is the methodology of writing a language.	It includes rules of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation.
Visual Scene Displays	May be used to enhance communication on either low-tech boards or high-tech devices.	Portray events, people, actions, objects and activities against the backgrounds within which they occur or exist.