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ISAAC Conference

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Beyond the borders of speech: Music and touch at the core of social interaction

October 30 @ 11:00 pm – October 31 @ 12:00 am EDT

Session ID: 1027

 

Objectives:

1. Explain the fundamental importance of embodied interaction in all social communication.

2. Describe a variety of ways in which social interaction can be fostered through forefronting diverse modalities.

3. Implement collaborative activities that include the participation of diverse social communicators.

Details

Start:
October 30 @ 11:00 pm EDT
End:
October 31 @ 12:00 am EDT
Event Category:

Organizer

Venue

Online (Zoom)

Speakers

Abstract

Non-speaking autistic individuals, characterised as having a “deficit in social communication” and limited in their speaking ability, are often perceived to be absorbed in a world of their own.

With the dominance of oral-acoustic speech, traditional AAC intervention has focused on augmenting the AAC user with a referential language system, geared towards speech generation.

This talk argues that an overwhelming focus on speech misses out on the existence of autistic sociality, embedded in their sensory practices. As an attempt to move beyond speech and towards the bodily foundations of human connection, a novel interactive environment mapping interpersonal touch to music was brought into the homes of 10 non-speaking autistic individuals. Through collaborative improvisation, bringing parents into their sensory practices, autistic children cultivate novel communicative avenues with others. This talk details the desire of autistic children for human connection, and an imagined future where communicative diversity is celebrated by everyone.

Disclosures:

Financial:

As of May 10, 2024, there is no financial disclosure apart from research grants supporting this project. 

Nonfinancial:

Rachel S.Y.Chen has no nonfinancial disclosures to report.