The effect of familiarity of conversation partners on conversation turns contributed by augmented and typical speakers.
Familiar partners still dominate talk time with AAC users—train the partner, not just the device.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team watched 20-minute chats between AAC users and speaking partners.
Half the talks were with a close family member. Half were with a stranger.
They counted who took more turns.
What they found
AAC users spoke less no matter who sat across from them.
Familiar faces did not fix the lopsided talk time.
The gap stayed the same.
How this fits with other research
Bauminger-Zviely et al. (2014) saw kids with autism talk better with friends than with strangers. Familiarity helped them.
Tsai (2013) shows the opposite for AAC users. Familiarity did not help. The two papers seem to clash, but they test different groups.
Douglas et al. (2022) gives the next step. They trained whole families to model AAC. After coaching, the child used the device more. Familiarity alone failed; skilled partners succeeded.
Why it matters
Do not assume a loved partner equals a balanced chat. Spend your training time teaching pause, prompt, and wait strategies. Script partners to ask open questions and leave quiet space. Measure turns, not just words.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The purpose of this current research was to determine the effect of familiarity of conversation partners on contributed conversation turns to dyadic conversation between individuals who use AAC and typically speaking conversation partners. Three groups (G1-G3) participated in this study. Each group contained seven participants, including an individual who used a speech-generating device (SGD) and familiar and unfamiliar conversation partners. Each 20-min dyadic conversation was video-recorded for analysis of contributed conversation turns. The findings of the current study showed that the asymmetries of contributed conversation turns exist in both familiar and unfamiliar dyadic conversation between AAC users and typically speaking conversation partners. In addition, the asymmetry in the familiar dyadic conversation did not differ from that in the unfamiliar dyadic conversation.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2013 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2013.04.014