Augmentative
     and
Alternative
Communication
World at

Purdue University

For information contact:

Lyle L. Lloyd, Ph.D., CCC-A&SLP, lloydaac@purdue.edu
Professor of Special Education, and
Professor of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences
http://www.edst.purdue.edu/lloyd

Oliver Wendt, Ph.D., olli@purdue.edu
Assistant Professor of Special Education, and
Assistant Professor of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~wendto

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)

1. The supplementation or replacement of natural speech and/or writing using aided or unaided symbols. Blissymbols, pictographs, Sigsymbols, tangible symbols, and electronically produced speech are examples of aided symbols. Manual signs, gestures, and fingerspelling are examples of unaided symbols. The use of aided symbols requires a transmission device, whereas the use of unaided symbols requires only the body.
   
   
2. The field or area of clinical/educational practice to improve the communication skills of individuals with little or no functional speech. (Lloyd, Fuller, & Arvidson, 1997, p. 524)

Last update: March 12, 2007