Communication and Non-Speaking Children with Physical Disabilities: Opportunities and Reflections from Design-Oriented Research

Non speaking children with severe physical disabilities experience the world differently compared with children who use natural verbal speech. Connected to their bodily impairments, these children have limited opportunities for social interaction, play and learning, posing significant social risk factors for later life. Responding to how technologies might reduce social risk factors, assistive technologies for communication have largely focused on designing technologies that enable electronic speech generation or supporting children to meet typical developmental milestones. However, the abandonment rate for these technologies continues to be high, which suggests a need for rethinking how assistive technologies might reflect the contemporary concerns of non-speaking children with severe physical disabilities and their social groups.

To respond to these challenges, my doctoral thesis sought to inform new ways of designing for communication involving non-speaking children with severe physical disabilities. The overarching goal was to disrupt the widely cited view that communication centres around speech and happens at the level of the individual through the transmission of information. Through a series of empirical studies, my PhD research demonstrated that it is possible to design for digitally mediated communication in new ways by applying multiple, alternative frames that acknowledged children's values, multimodal and co-constructed communication. My research contributed new insights for research and practice in three distinct ways. First, it offered a new perspective for studying communication in the fields of AAC and HCI where existing work has largely been dominated by linguistically-driven and deficit-orientated perspectives. Second, the findings made a methodological contribution for involving 'hard to reach' children in research and design work. Finally, third, the empirical findings contributed to design by identifying new opportunities as well as new ways of using design documentaries as a tool for inspiring design in this context.

Building on these findings, this fellowship will disseminate the findings of my PhD research and begin to generate new discussions by focusing on ways of representing and designing for children's communication experiences. I intend to build stronger links with a growing network of professionals from both academic and nonacademic settings who can inform and be informed by these insights.

To achieve this goal, within academia, I will share the findings of my PhD research through written publications in peer-reviewed journals and relevant conference proceedings within the fields of human computer interaction, augmentative and alternative communication and multimodal communication. Outside of academia, I will connect with practitioners from special education and mainstream schools, assistive technology and healthcare settings. Through a contained, small project that produces 'bite-sized' video documentaries about the findings, I intend to generate new discussions and connections for future design work. In doing so, the fellowship will offer exciting opportunities for me to develop my skills as an early career researcher and plan for further research that builds on and extends my specific research interests in disability, design and communication.