Augmentative and Alternative Communication Lab

Our lab aims to improve the lives of individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication by developing and evaluating augmentative and alternative communication tools, strategies and processes.

Over five million people in the United States cannot rely on speech alone to be heard and understood. To improve their participation in society, augmentative and alternative communication strategies such as speech-generating apps on tablets, communication devices controlled by eye movements and communication boards can be used; however, learning and using these tools is not always an easy or intuitive process.

Our work has focused on the development and evaluation of new augmentative and alternative communication access technologies (e.g., brain-computer interface [BCI], multimodal access methods such as eye-tracking and switch-scanning), training tools to support the participation of individuals with limited speech in healthcare and community settings and apps to support clinical decision-making in augmentative and alternative communication. 

The Augmentative and Alternative Communication Lab is located within UNMC's Munroe-Meyer Institute Department of Speech-Language Pathology.

Approach

Our work is accomplished through close collaborations with individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication and their families/companions, clinical practitioners, engineers, students, faculty, researchers and industry partners. Our collaborative model has allowed us to blend user-centered technology development, clinical practice and real-life application to translate augmentative and alternative communication research into clinical practice and community use.

Our Team

Our research lab includes faculty with expertise in augmentative and alternative communication and speech-language pathology, engineers, clinical speech-language pathologists, research assistants with lived experiences as a person who uses augmentative and alternative communication or family member and students. In our laboratory, we offer interdisciplinary training opportunities in augmentative and alternative communication research and clinical translation of new technologies and processes to improve augmentative and alternative communication services.

Faculty, Staff and Student Research

Explore research publications focused on many aspects of disability performed by MMI's faculty, staff and students in the Augmentative and Alternative Communication Lab.

• Susan Fager, PhD, CCC-SLP, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Fellow
• Jessica Gormley, PhD, CCC-SLP