The use of augmentative and alternative communication to support the dialogue of people with intellectual disabilities

The Augmentative and Alternative Communication is one of the strategies to deal with communication problems, especially for people with intellectual disabilities. Augmentative and Alternative Communication exploits more than one communication channel to send messages, but it does not guarantee that communication will happen. Thus this work aims to identify how communication occurs for people with intellectual disabilities as well as to develop an Augmentative and Alternative Communication system to support the communication of these people. To study the solution of this problem, this work uses the Design Science Research (DSR), Participatory Design and qualitative analysis. Participatory Design is used in three cycles of DSR. The cycles are performed as follows: knowledge about the user; adaptation of a communication model; the development of prototype screens; and the development of the Augmentative and Alternative Communication system. This research was performed with a person with cerebral palsy, apraxia and without functional speech. This work presents as results: the requirements of the communication system for people with intellectual disabilities, the screen prototypes, the implementation of the system, and the qualitative analysis of the use of Augmentative and Alternative Communication.