Social Media and Individuals with Complex Communication Needs who use AAC
Open Access
Author:
Schwartz, Melanie
Area of Honors:
Communication Sciences and Disorders
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Jessica Gosnell Caron, Thesis Supervisor Carol Anne Miller, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
AAC Facebook Complex Communication Needs Social Media
Abstract:
Communication is multimodal, including face-to-face and online interactions. Social media is a growing platform for social access and a way that everyone is communicating and connecting. In this study, 8 participants who use AAC with complex communication needs and 8 college-aged participants without complex needs were recruited through Facebook to observe engagement behaviors. Three months of Facebook logs were analyzed using an engagement framework. The results showed that the most utilized engagement behavior was commenting followed by sharing then producing then curating as the least utilized function. Of all commenting behaviors demonstrated, liking a status/post was utilized the most; 36% of the time out of the 16 commenting behaviors observed. More research needs to be conducted in this area in order to get a better understanding of how to improve this form of communication for individuals who use AAC, as well as development of future trainings. It is important that everyone have access and the knowledge to participate in this form of communication, if they choose.
