Developing peer relationships in school is an essential part of growing up. Many
children who have little or no functional speech are provided with augmentative and
alternative communication (AAC) systems such as speech synthesizers and books and
charts of symbols/pictures/words. Such children face many barriers to communication
and to developing peer relationships. To date there exists little understanding of
the characteristics of interaction between children using AAC and their speaking
peers. This paper reports findings from an analysis of interactions
between 12 children with physical disabilities using AAC systems and their speaking
peers in school. Analysis identifies the primary structures, functions,
and modes of communication used by both partners in one-to-one conversation.
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