Exploring interaction between a non-speaking boy using aided AAC and his everyday communication partners
features of turn organizing and turn design
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jircd.v2i2.183Keywords:
Aided interaction, Conversation Analysis, Augmentative and Alternative Communication, turn-at-action, turntaking, disabilityAbstract
This study investigates the practice of achieving common understanding in aided Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). The aims are to explore whether communicative contributions can be described as turns, as defined in conversation analytic terms, and how then the contributions to the interaction can be designed. The principles and practices of Conversation Analysis (CA) were used to record, transcribe and analyse conversations between a non-speaking boy with cerebral palsy with, on different occasions, his mother, his assistant and his friend. The boy augments his communication with aided AAC, bliss symbolics. The analysis indicates that the participants can collaborately create and orient to units in interaction equivalent to turns in interaction although they differ dramatically from ordinary turns-at-talk. In order to capture the nature of the described units, the category turn-at-action is suggested. The analyses demonstrate that the boy’s turn-at-actions are oriented to as a co-constructed and thus interactionally achieved unit: the boy points at a bliss symbol which is given voice by the speaking co-participant. In and through the relevant made voicing of the turn-at-action, a turn constructional unit (TCU) emerges, and the turn-at-action is designed and oriented to as a TCU-based unit. The analysis will also show that turns can be designed as non TCU-based units. These findings may have implications for CA theory as well as for clinical intervention.
References
Abrahamsson, L. and Ljung, I-K. (2008). Bliss i interaktion ? En samtalsanalytisk fallstudi av hur blissanvandare och tolkare tillsammans bygger upp yttranden. Unpublished Master Thesis, Uppsala University, Uppsala. In Swedish.
Blackstone, S., Williams, M. and Wilkins, D. (2007). Key principles underlying research and practice in AAC. AAC- Augmentative and Alternative Communication 23 (3): 191?203. doi:10.1080/07434610701553684
Blau, A. (1986). Communication in the Back Channel: Social Structural Analyses of Nonspeech/Speech Conversations. Doctoral thesis. New York: City University of New York.
Bloch, S. (2005). Co-constructing meaning in Acquired Speech Disorders: Word and letter repetition in the construction of turns. In K. Richards and P. Seedhouse (eds), Applying Conversation Analysis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bloch, S. (2011). Anticipatory other-completion of augmentative and alternative communication talk: A conversation analysis study. Disability and Rehabilitation 33 (3): 229?242. doi:10.3109/09638288.2010.491574
Bloch, S. and Beeke, S. (2008). Co-constructed talk in the conversations of people with dysarthria and aphasia. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics 22 (12): 974?990. doi: 10.1080/02699200802394831
Bloch, S. and Wilkinson, R. (2004). The understandability of AAC: A conversation analysis study of acquired dysarthria. Augmentative and Alternative Communication 20 (4): 272?282. doi:10.1080/07434610400005614
Brekke, K. M. and von Tetzchner, S. (2003). Co-construction in graphic language development. In S. von Tetzchner and N. Grove (eds), Augmentative and Alternative Communication Developmental Issues, 211?228. London and Philadelphia, PA: Whurr Publishers.
Buzolich, M., J. and Wieman, J. (1988). Turn taking in atypical conversations: The case of the speaker/augmented-communicator dyad. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 31: 3?18.
Clarke, M. (2005). Conversational Interaction Between Children Using Communication Aids and their Peers. Doctoral thesis. London: University College London, Department of Developmental Science.
Clarke, M. and Wilkinson, R. (2007). Interaction between children with cerebral palsy and their peers 1: Organizing and understanding VOCA use. Augmentative and Alternative Communication 23 (4): 336?348. doi:10.1080/07434610701390350
Clarke, M. and Wilkinson, R. (2008). Interaction between children with cerebral palsy and their peers 2: Understanding initiated VOCA-mediated turns. Augmentative and Alternative Communication 24 (1): 3?15. doi:10.1080/07434610701390400
Collins, S. (1996). Referring expressions in conversations between aided and natural speakers. In S von Tetzchner and M. Hygum Jensen (eds) Augmentative and Alternative Communication. European Perspectives, 89?100. London: Whurr Publishers.
Dahlgren Sandberg, A. and Liliedahl, M. (2008). Patterns in early interaction between young preschool children with severe speech and physical impairments and their parents. Child Language Teaching and Therapy 24 (1): 9?30. doi:10.1177/0265659007084566
Duncan, S. and Fiske, D. (1977). Face-to-face Interaction: Research, Methods, and Theory. Hillsdale, NJ: Laurence Erlbaum Associates.
Ford, C. and Thompson, S. (1996). Interactional units in conversation: Syntactic, intonational, and pragmatic resources for the management of turns. In E. Ochs, E. Schegloff and S. Thompson (eds) Interaction and Grammar, 134?184. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Goffman, E. (1979). Footing. Semiotica 25: 1?29. doi:10.1515/semi.1979.25.1-2.1
Goode, D. (1994). A World Without Words. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Goodwin, C. (1981). Conversational Organization. Interaction Between Speakers and Hearers. New York: Academic Press.
Goodwin, C., Goodwin, M. and Olsher, D. (2002). Producing sense with nonsense syllables: Turn and sequence in conversations with a man with severe aphasia. In C. Ford, B. Fox and S. Thompson (eds) The Language of Turn and Sequence, 56?80. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Goodwin, C. (2003). Conversational frameworks for the accomplishment of meaning in aphasia. In C. Goodwin (ed) Conversation and Brain Damage, 90?116. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Harris, D. (1982). Communication interaction processes involving non-vocal physically handicapped children. Topics in Language Disorder 2: 22?37. doi:10.1097/00011363-198203000-00005
Hellquist, B. (1982). SIT. Sprakligt Impressivt test. Skivarp, Sweden: Pedagogisk Design.
Heister Trygg, B., Andersson, I., Hardenstedt, L. and Sigurd Pilesjo, M. (1998). Alternativ och kompletterande kommunikation (AKK) i teori och praktik. Stockholm: Handikappinstitutet. In Swedish.
Heritage, J. (1984). Garfinkel and Ethnomethodology. Oxford: Polity Press.
Higginbotham, D. J., Mathy-Laikko, P. and Yoder, D. (1988). Studying conversations of augmentative communication system users. In L. Bernstein (ed.) The Vocally Impaired: Clinical Practice and Research, 265?294. Philadelphia, PA: Grune & Stratton.
Higginbotham, D. J., and Wilkins, D. P. (1999). Slipping through the timestream: Social issues of time and timing in augmented interactions. In D. Korvasky, J. F. Duchan and M. Maxwell (eds) Constructing (In)competence: Disabling Evaluations in Clinical and Social Interaction, 49?82. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Hutchby I. and Wooffitt, R. (2008). Conversation Analysis. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Kraat, A. W. (1985). Communication Interaction between Aided and Natural Speakers. A State of the Art Report. Toronto: Canadian Rehabilitation Council for the Disabled.
Larsson, I. and Thoren-Jonsson, A.-L. (2007). The Swedish Interpretation Service: An exploratory study of a new communication support provided to people with aphasia. AAC- Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 23 (4): 312?322. doi:10.1080/07434610601180026
Lerner, G. (1996). On the ?semi-permeable’ character of grammatical units in conversation: Conditional entry into the turn space of another speaker. In E. Ochs, E. Schegloff and S. Thompson (eds) Interaction and Grammar, 238?276. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Light, J. (1988). Interaction involving individuals using augmentative and alternative communication systems. State of the arts and future directions. Augmentative and Alternative Communication 4 (2): 66?82. doi:10.1080/07434618812331274657
Light, J., Collier, B. and Parnes, P. (1985a). Communicative interaction between young non-speaking physically disabled children and their primary caregivers: Part I ? discourse patterns. Augmentative and Alternative Communication 1 (2): 74?83. doi:10.1080/07434618512331273561
Light, J., Collier, B. and Parnes, P. (1985b). Communicative interaction between young nonspeaking physically disabled children and their primary caregivers: Part III ? modes of communication. Augmentative and Alternative Communication 1 (4): 125?133. doi: 10.1080/07434618512331273621
Lind, M. ( 2001). Conversational Co-operation. University of Oslo, Oslo.
McNaughton, S. (1985). Communicating with Blissymbolics. Toronto: Blissymbolics Communication Institute.
Muller, E. s., G. (2000). Capturing the Complexity of Aided Interactions: A Conversation Analysis Perspective. Paper presented at the Research Symposia Proceedings ? International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication, Washington DC.
Muller, E. and Soto, G. (2002). Conversation patterns of three adults using aided speech: Variations across partners. Augmentative and Alternative Communication 18 (2): 77?89. doi:10.1080/07434610212331281181
Ochs, E., Schegloff, E. and Thompson, S. (1996). Interaction and Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511620874
Perkins, M. (2007). Pragmatic Impairment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511486555
Rapley, M. (2004). The Social Construction of Intellectual Disability. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511489884
Rasmussen, G. (2010). ‘Going mental’ ? The risks of assessment activities (in teenage talk). Discourse Studies 12 (6): 739?761. doi:10.1177/1461445610381863
Robillard, A. B. (1999). Meaning of a Disability: The Lived Experience of Paralysis. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. and Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematics for the organization of turntaking for conversation. Language 50 (4): 696?735. doi:10.2307/412243
Schegloff, E. (1982). Discourse as an interactional achievement: Some uses of ?uh huh’ and other things that come between sentences. In D. Tannen (ed.) Analyzing Discourse: Text and Talk, 71?93. Georgetown, TX: Georgetown University Press.
Schegloff, E. A. (1996). Turn organization: One intersection of grammar and interaction. In E. Ochs, E. A. Schegloff and S. Thompson (eds) Interaction and Grammar, 52?133. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schegloff, E. (1998). Body torque. Social Research 65 (3): 535?596.
Schegloff, E. (2007). Sequence Organization in Interaction. A Primer in Conversation Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511791208
Sigurd Pilesjo, M. (forthcoming). Exploring interaction between a non-speaking boy using aided augmentative and alternative communication and his every-day communication partners: Non-spoken resources as turn constructional methods in turn transition. In N. Noren, C. Samuelsson and C. Plejert (eds) Aided Communication in Dialogical Perspectives. Augmentative and Alternative Communication as Action and Participation within Embodied Social Worlds. Guildford, Surrey: J&R Press Ltd.
Steensig, J. (2001). Sprog i virkeligheden. Bidrag til en interaktionel lingvistik. Aarhus: Aarhus Universitetsforlag.
von Tetzchner, S., Grove, N., Loncke, F., Barnett, S., Woll, B. and Clibbens, J. (1996). Preliminaries to a comprehensive model of augmentative and alternative communication. In S. H. J. von Tetzchner, M. (ed.) Augmentative and Alternative Communication: European Perspectives, 19?36. London: Whurr.
von Tetchner, S. and Hygum Jensen, M. (1996). Augmentative and Alternative Communication. European Perspectives. London: Whurr.
Wechsler, D. (2005). Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence – Third edition. WPSSI-III Manual. Stockholm: Psykologiforlaget AB.
Blackstone, S., Williams, M. and Wilkins, D. (2007). Key principles underlying research and practice in AAC. AAC- Augmentative and Alternative Communication 23 (3): 191?203. doi:10.1080/07434610701553684
Blau, A. (1986). Communication in the Back Channel: Social Structural Analyses of Nonspeech/Speech Conversations. Doctoral thesis. New York: City University of New York.
Bloch, S. (2005). Co-constructing meaning in Acquired Speech Disorders: Word and letter repetition in the construction of turns. In K. Richards and P. Seedhouse (eds), Applying Conversation Analysis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bloch, S. (2011). Anticipatory other-completion of augmentative and alternative communication talk: A conversation analysis study. Disability and Rehabilitation 33 (3): 229?242. doi:10.3109/09638288.2010.491574
Bloch, S. and Beeke, S. (2008). Co-constructed talk in the conversations of people with dysarthria and aphasia. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics 22 (12): 974?990. doi: 10.1080/02699200802394831
Bloch, S. and Wilkinson, R. (2004). The understandability of AAC: A conversation analysis study of acquired dysarthria. Augmentative and Alternative Communication 20 (4): 272?282. doi:10.1080/07434610400005614
Brekke, K. M. and von Tetzchner, S. (2003). Co-construction in graphic language development. In S. von Tetzchner and N. Grove (eds), Augmentative and Alternative Communication Developmental Issues, 211?228. London and Philadelphia, PA: Whurr Publishers.
Buzolich, M., J. and Wieman, J. (1988). Turn taking in atypical conversations: The case of the speaker/augmented-communicator dyad. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 31: 3?18.
Clarke, M. (2005). Conversational Interaction Between Children Using Communication Aids and their Peers. Doctoral thesis. London: University College London, Department of Developmental Science.
Clarke, M. and Wilkinson, R. (2007). Interaction between children with cerebral palsy and their peers 1: Organizing and understanding VOCA use. Augmentative and Alternative Communication 23 (4): 336?348. doi:10.1080/07434610701390350
Clarke, M. and Wilkinson, R. (2008). Interaction between children with cerebral palsy and their peers 2: Understanding initiated VOCA-mediated turns. Augmentative and Alternative Communication 24 (1): 3?15. doi:10.1080/07434610701390400
Collins, S. (1996). Referring expressions in conversations between aided and natural speakers. In S von Tetzchner and M. Hygum Jensen (eds) Augmentative and Alternative Communication. European Perspectives, 89?100. London: Whurr Publishers.
Dahlgren Sandberg, A. and Liliedahl, M. (2008). Patterns in early interaction between young preschool children with severe speech and physical impairments and their parents. Child Language Teaching and Therapy 24 (1): 9?30. doi:10.1177/0265659007084566
Duncan, S. and Fiske, D. (1977). Face-to-face Interaction: Research, Methods, and Theory. Hillsdale, NJ: Laurence Erlbaum Associates.
Ford, C. and Thompson, S. (1996). Interactional units in conversation: Syntactic, intonational, and pragmatic resources for the management of turns. In E. Ochs, E. Schegloff and S. Thompson (eds) Interaction and Grammar, 134?184. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Goffman, E. (1979). Footing. Semiotica 25: 1?29. doi:10.1515/semi.1979.25.1-2.1
Goode, D. (1994). A World Without Words. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Goodwin, C. (1981). Conversational Organization. Interaction Between Speakers and Hearers. New York: Academic Press.
Goodwin, C., Goodwin, M. and Olsher, D. (2002). Producing sense with nonsense syllables: Turn and sequence in conversations with a man with severe aphasia. In C. Ford, B. Fox and S. Thompson (eds) The Language of Turn and Sequence, 56?80. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Goodwin, C. (2003). Conversational frameworks for the accomplishment of meaning in aphasia. In C. Goodwin (ed) Conversation and Brain Damage, 90?116. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Harris, D. (1982). Communication interaction processes involving non-vocal physically handicapped children. Topics in Language Disorder 2: 22?37. doi:10.1097/00011363-198203000-00005
Hellquist, B. (1982). SIT. Sprakligt Impressivt test. Skivarp, Sweden: Pedagogisk Design.
Heister Trygg, B., Andersson, I., Hardenstedt, L. and Sigurd Pilesjo, M. (1998). Alternativ och kompletterande kommunikation (AKK) i teori och praktik. Stockholm: Handikappinstitutet. In Swedish.
Heritage, J. (1984). Garfinkel and Ethnomethodology. Oxford: Polity Press.
Higginbotham, D. J., Mathy-Laikko, P. and Yoder, D. (1988). Studying conversations of augmentative communication system users. In L. Bernstein (ed.) The Vocally Impaired: Clinical Practice and Research, 265?294. Philadelphia, PA: Grune & Stratton.
Higginbotham, D. J., and Wilkins, D. P. (1999). Slipping through the timestream: Social issues of time and timing in augmented interactions. In D. Korvasky, J. F. Duchan and M. Maxwell (eds) Constructing (In)competence: Disabling Evaluations in Clinical and Social Interaction, 49?82. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Hutchby I. and Wooffitt, R. (2008). Conversation Analysis. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Kraat, A. W. (1985). Communication Interaction between Aided and Natural Speakers. A State of the Art Report. Toronto: Canadian Rehabilitation Council for the Disabled.
Larsson, I. and Thoren-Jonsson, A.-L. (2007). The Swedish Interpretation Service: An exploratory study of a new communication support provided to people with aphasia. AAC- Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 23 (4): 312?322. doi:10.1080/07434610601180026
Lerner, G. (1996). On the ?semi-permeable’ character of grammatical units in conversation: Conditional entry into the turn space of another speaker. In E. Ochs, E. Schegloff and S. Thompson (eds) Interaction and Grammar, 238?276. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Light, J. (1988). Interaction involving individuals using augmentative and alternative communication systems. State of the arts and future directions. Augmentative and Alternative Communication 4 (2): 66?82. doi:10.1080/07434618812331274657
Light, J., Collier, B. and Parnes, P. (1985a). Communicative interaction between young non-speaking physically disabled children and their primary caregivers: Part I ? discourse patterns. Augmentative and Alternative Communication 1 (2): 74?83. doi:10.1080/07434618512331273561
Light, J., Collier, B. and Parnes, P. (1985b). Communicative interaction between young nonspeaking physically disabled children and their primary caregivers: Part III ? modes of communication. Augmentative and Alternative Communication 1 (4): 125?133. doi: 10.1080/07434618512331273621
Lind, M. ( 2001). Conversational Co-operation. University of Oslo, Oslo.
McNaughton, S. (1985). Communicating with Blissymbolics. Toronto: Blissymbolics Communication Institute.
Muller, E. s., G. (2000). Capturing the Complexity of Aided Interactions: A Conversation Analysis Perspective. Paper presented at the Research Symposia Proceedings ? International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication, Washington DC.
Muller, E. and Soto, G. (2002). Conversation patterns of three adults using aided speech: Variations across partners. Augmentative and Alternative Communication 18 (2): 77?89. doi:10.1080/07434610212331281181
Ochs, E., Schegloff, E. and Thompson, S. (1996). Interaction and Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511620874
Perkins, M. (2007). Pragmatic Impairment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511486555
Rapley, M. (2004). The Social Construction of Intellectual Disability. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511489884
Rasmussen, G. (2010). ‘Going mental’ ? The risks of assessment activities (in teenage talk). Discourse Studies 12 (6): 739?761. doi:10.1177/1461445610381863
Robillard, A. B. (1999). Meaning of a Disability: The Lived Experience of Paralysis. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. and Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematics for the organization of turntaking for conversation. Language 50 (4): 696?735. doi:10.2307/412243
Schegloff, E. (1982). Discourse as an interactional achievement: Some uses of ?uh huh’ and other things that come between sentences. In D. Tannen (ed.) Analyzing Discourse: Text and Talk, 71?93. Georgetown, TX: Georgetown University Press.
Schegloff, E. A. (1996). Turn organization: One intersection of grammar and interaction. In E. Ochs, E. A. Schegloff and S. Thompson (eds) Interaction and Grammar, 52?133. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schegloff, E. (1998). Body torque. Social Research 65 (3): 535?596.
Schegloff, E. (2007). Sequence Organization in Interaction. A Primer in Conversation Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511791208
Sigurd Pilesjo, M. (forthcoming). Exploring interaction between a non-speaking boy using aided augmentative and alternative communication and his every-day communication partners: Non-spoken resources as turn constructional methods in turn transition. In N. Noren, C. Samuelsson and C. Plejert (eds) Aided Communication in Dialogical Perspectives. Augmentative and Alternative Communication as Action and Participation within Embodied Social Worlds. Guildford, Surrey: J&R Press Ltd.
Steensig, J. (2001). Sprog i virkeligheden. Bidrag til en interaktionel lingvistik. Aarhus: Aarhus Universitetsforlag.
von Tetzchner, S., Grove, N., Loncke, F., Barnett, S., Woll, B. and Clibbens, J. (1996). Preliminaries to a comprehensive model of augmentative and alternative communication. In S. H. J. von Tetzchner, M. (ed.) Augmentative and Alternative Communication: European Perspectives, 19?36. London: Whurr.
von Tetchner, S. and Hygum Jensen, M. (1996). Augmentative and Alternative Communication. European Perspectives. London: Whurr.
Wechsler, D. (2005). Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence – Third edition. WPSSI-III Manual. Stockholm: Psykologiforlaget AB.
Published
2011-08-29
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Pilesjo, M. S., & Rasmussen, G. (2011). Exploring interaction between a non-speaking boy using aided AAC and his everyday communication partners: features of turn organizing and turn design. Journal of Interactional Research in Communication Disorders, 2(2), 183-213. https://doi.org/10.1558/jircd.v2i2.183
