The RERC on AAC is a collaborative center committed to advancing knowledge and producing innovative engineering solutions in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Since 2020, the RERC has completed four consumer-led research projects. In this presentation the three Co-Leaders of the Training and Dissemination Team for the RERC on AAC – Lance McLemore, David McNaughton, and Tracy Rackensperger – will describe the supports and barriers to inclusive research that they have experienced in completing and disseminating the findings of these four studies.
In our first project, we investigated the experiences of adults with cerebral palsy who use AAC during Patient-Provider Communication with medical professionals. We were especially interested in what can both sides do – AAC users as patients, and medical staff as providers – to improve outcomes, and how can AAC technology can provide more effective support. This project primarily made use of OnLine surveys to gather information, and resulted in the creation of an online learning module that has been completed by over 2,000 future teachers and speech-language pathologists (McNaughton et al., 2021).
Our second topic, Experience as Expertise, grew out of an interest in how people who use AAC could take a leadership role in the preparation of teachers and speech language pathologists. We asked AAC users about their experiences presenting to preservice professionals like students who are learning to be speech language pathologists, teachers, and other professions. For this project, we made combined use of online surveys and follow-up zoom interviews to gather information, and presented our findings at ISAAC 2023 (Rackensperger et al., 2023).
In our third project, we examined the role of Direct Support Professionals in supporting community living and participation for AAC users. We made use of an Integrated Knowledge Translation approach (Nguyen et al., 2020) in which we asked a Direct Support Professional to be a partner on our research team. Findings were presented at ASHA 2023 (McNaughton et al., 2023), and are being prepared for dissemination in an in interactive podcast (McLemore et al., 2025).
In our fourth project wanted to look at the potential impact of AI on AAC. We again included elements of an Integrated Knowledge Translation approach, as we knew we would be developing recommendations for AAC manufacturers and developers, so we asked a software engineer to join our research team. In addition, rather than all the participants being anonymous, they were all made co-authors and co-presenters. Finally, we conducted zoom interviews with our co-authors, and conducted interviews in teams of three, so each interview always included two AAC users (one of whom was a regular member of our research team) and a university-based researcher who made use of speech. Preliminary results were presented at ATIA 2025 (Rackensperger et al., 2025), and data analysis is ongoing.
The analysis of supports and barriers to inclusive research, as experienced in these four studies, will make use of the Vaughn and Jacquez (2020) guidelines for the conducting of inclusive research. The presentation will address four major questions:
* What are key supports to inclusive AAC research?
* What are key barriers to inclusive AAC research?
* How can these barriers to inclusive AAC research be addressed?
* And most importantly, why it is critically important, that we continue to find new ways to incorporate diversity and support inclusive practices in AAC research.
References
McLemore, L., Rackensperger, T., Solis, C., & Redmon, S. (2025). Communicating with Direct Support Professionals (podcast under development)
McNaughton, D., Stroschein, R., & Chapple, D. (2021, June 10). Supporting Patient-Provider Communication [Instructional Resource]. AAC Learning Center. https://aac-learning-center.psu.edu/moodle/supporting-patient-provider-communication/
McNaughton, D., Rackensperger, T., & McLemore, L. (2023, November 16-18). AAC and adult life: New Directions for AAC research, technology, and instruction [1-Hour Seminar]. ASHA 2023 Convention, Boston, MA, United States.
Nguyen, T., et al., (2020). How does integrated knowledge translation (IKT) compare to other collaborative research approaches to generating and translating knowledge. Health research policy and systems, 18, 1-20.
Rackensperger, T., Chapple, D., McLemore, L., McNaughton, D. (2023). “Recognizing experience as expertise”: Video Tele-Conferencing to Support the Participation of People who Use AAC in Pre-Service Preparation. Presentation at the ISAAC Conference, Cancun, Mexico.
Rackensperger, T., McLemore, L., Mcnaughton, D., & Jakobs, E. (2025, January 30 – February). The promise and risk of AI in AAC: A multi-perspective discussion. [60-minute Education Session]. ATIA 2025 Convention, Orlando, Florida, United States.
Vaughn, L. M., & Jacquez, F. (2020). Participatory research methods–choice points in the research process. Journal of Participatory Research Methods, 1(1).
