Episode 211: Using Animated Symbols to Improve AAC Instruction & Comprehension (Part 2)

This week, we present part 2 of Chris’s interview with Dr. Kris Brock, an Assistant Professor at Idaho State University who shares his experience researching using animated AAC symbols to teach and represent verbs and prepositions.

Before the interview, Chris and Rachel share some of the resources that are being shared each week on the Talking with Tech Patreon page, including www.wombo.ai, mytalkingpet.com, biteable.com and more! If you are a TWT listener and would like to support the podcast while getting access to bonus resources and content each week, join our patreon at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

Key ideas this week:

🔑 If you are searching for GIFs to teach verbs & prepositions, use caution in choosing GIFs that don’t move too fast and represent the concept you want to represent exactly. 

🔑 Pairing the static symbol on an AAC user’s device with the animation they are watching can be more effective than trying to teach the meaning of the animation alone.

🔑 Pairing audio with animation can be a better choice than pairing text with animation because audio uses a different input modality. By using different channels, you can allow for more effective processing.

🔑 Studies have indicated that animated visual scene displays may help some AAC users (e.g. people with aphasia) to generate more complex communication than using a grid, which requires more internal processing to interpret. 

Link this week:

S. Berney, Mireille Bétrancourt (2016)  Does Animation Enhance Learning? A Meta Analysis https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360131516301336?via%3Dihub