1. Three Key Features of a Next-
Generation AAC Tool
Millions of children struggle on a daily basis with learning disabilities,
speech delays, language delays, cognitive delays, autism, Down syn-
drome, apraxia, cerebral palsy, aphasia, and other non-verbal condi-
tions or developmental disabilities.
For these children, an effective AAC (Augmentative and Alternative
Communication) tool can empower them to communicate their needs
and emotions—helping them develop self-esteem, build confidence,
and master their everyday challenges.
There are many AAC tools now on the market. How can you tell which
one is right for your child or your students?
Obviously, each child’s needs are unique, and what might work best
for one child might not work as well for another. However, this white
paper offers a framework for evaluating AAC tools according to three
fundamental ideas. These ideas are grounded in studies of child be-
havior and backed by respected practitioners in the field:
1. Creating a simple and consistent learning environment can
enhance a child’s learning experience.
2. Learning through play can enhance a child’s learning experi-
ence.
| White Paper | Feb. 03, 2016

2. 3. Using your own photos can have a greater benefit than using
symbols and/or generic images.
These three beliefs form the basis for SuperSpeak, a next-generation
AAC mobile application made by Superplus. Developed under the
advisement of Katrine Gulstad Pedersen, a Special Education Teach-
er and CEO of Superplus; Roald Øien, an Autism Research Scientist
at University of Tromso and visiting Research Scientist at Yale Child
Study Center; well-respected Behavior Analysts Sam Blanco and Ma-
rie Moksness; and Frederick Shic, Yale’s Child Study Center, Director
of Technology and Innovation Laboratory & Autism Program, these
three pillars are the core ideals upon which SuperSpeak rests.
This white paper, compiled by Tristan Lim from the University Of Boc-
coni in Milan, will explain why these pillars are important, citing re-
search to support its claims. It will show how these pillars relate to
some of the characteristics of an effective AAC tool—and it will de-
scribe how SuperSpeak incorporates these key features.
Pillar 1: Creating a simple and
consistent learning environment can
enhance a child’s learning experience
If AAC tools are to have an impact on a child’s communication and
well-being, they should be easy to learn and to use, special need prac-
titioners have argued. What’s more, these tools should be integrated
seamlessly into all aspects of a child’s daily life—and they should be
easy for families and professionals to use and maintain as well.

3. Key feature
Based on these principles, it makes sense that an AAC resource
should have a simple interface that gives both children and caregiv-
ers access to a consistent learning environment across any device:
from home, at school, or anywhere in between. Access to a consist-
ent, shared learning environment that is stored in the cloud can help
children and caregivers seamlessly integrate the AAC tool into their
everyday experience.
How SuperSpeak meets this need
SuperSpeak is designed with its users in mind. Within AAC mode, two
separate options exist—a child mode and an administrator mode.
The child mode has a streamlined interface that offers a simple grid of
categories and images. By eliminating complexity and reducing the

4. number of external foci, the child mode is an effective way to reduce
the learning demands of SuperSpeak for children. While the child
mode offers a more traditional grid of categories and images, the ad-
ministrator mode includes a variety of features to help users custom-
ize a child’s learning experience.
All of a child’s photos, voice recordings, categories, and labels are
stored in a secure, cloud-based profile, creating a consistent learn-
ing environment that is accessible from any iOS device. This allows
a teacher to add new photos to a child’s profile that depict vocabu-
lary words learned in school, and parents can access these photos
and have their child practice these words from home or anywhere

5. else—allowing for seamless, consistent use of the app across any
environment.
What the research says
• In “Improving the Design of Augmentative and Alternative Technolo-
gies for Young Children” (2002), SLPs Janice C. Light and Kathryn
D. R. Drager from Pennsylvania State University reveal several chal-
lenges to using AACs and their remedies. Light and Drager argue that
AAC technologies should be “easy for children to learn and effortless
for children to use”—and these tools also should be “efficient for fam-
ilies, professionals, and other facilitators to learn, maintain, and de-
velop.” The need for efficiency is strongly linked with another issue
brought up in the paper: the need to better integrate AAC technology
into a child’s everyday activities.
• In another paper written by Light and Drager, titled “AAC technolo-
gies for young children with complex communication needs: State of
the science and future directions” (2007), they argue that there is the
need for an AAC tool that “grows with” children—and that AAC tech-
nologies “must be designed to recognize the unique roles that com-
munication partners play during interactions.” They say special need
practitioners and parents often find it difficult learning together with
children using AAC tools, owing to the complexity of these systems.
• In her research, Dr. Cynthia Cress, an associate professor at the Uni-
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln who specializes in early communication
and intervention for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD),
says there are two ways to reduce the demands of learning to use an
AAC. The first is to “reduce the number of tools or external foci,” and
the second is to “reduce the complexity of the tools.” This advice ap-

6. plies to the learning demands of both children and their communica-
tion partners.
Pillar 2: Learning through play can
enhance a child’s learning experience
The power of learning through play is a well-known and widely ac-
cepted concept, and many special need practitioners have noted
that children are more likely to be engaged in apps that are fun and
attractive. However, there must be substance behind the flash—and
a system that rewards children for correct responses.
Key feature
For an AAC tool to be an effective resource for teaching as well as
communicating, it should include a game-based learning mode that
both engages children and motivates them to succeed.
How SuperSpeak meets this need
SuperSpeak is playfully designed to capture and maintain a child’s
interest. In a game-based mode called SuperSpeak Play, children can
learn the building blocks necessary to language and concept com-
prehension, as well as grow their vocabulary through a variety of vis-
ual lessons.As they associate the correct image with the prompt, they
can earn customizable tokens that can be used to purchase items or
unlock other engaging elements of the game.

7. Parents or teachers can set a child’s reinforcement schedule to award
tokens continuously, after a set time, after a random or fixed number
of correct answers—and they can create their own photo-based in-
structional lessons from within the administrator mode.
What the research says
• In their 2002 paper, Light and Drager refer to the need for AACs to
have a “smile value.” One study the paper references concludes that
children prefer colorful and fun devices. The paper goes on to argue
that while bright colors and decorations serve to attract children to
AAC technology initially, it is important to have additional features to
keep children’s interest. While next-generation digital AAC tools are
increasingly more colorful and attractive, many lack the additional
features required to maintain high levels of interest.

8. Child trades their
tokens for access to
desirable items or
activities.
Child has no tokens
and no access to
desirable items or
activities.
1
Child is given
tokens for
engaging in these
target behaviors.
3
Child engages
in desirable
behaviors or “target
behaviors.”
24
The basic token economy “cycle”
Time
Cumulativenumberofresponses
VR
FR VI FI
A chart demonstrating the different response rate of the four simple
schedules of reinforcement, each hatch mark designates a reinforcer
being given. VR = Variable Ratio. FR = Fixed Ratio. VI = Variable
Interval. FI = Fixed Interval.
Response rates for different reinforcement schedules

9. • Onesolutionforachievinglong-terminterest,asdescribedbyassistant
psychologist Gavin Cosgrove’s website www.educateautism.com, is
incorporatingatokeneconomy(seealsoCooper,Heron&Heward,2007
for more information). In a token economy, children are given tokens
for completing predefined tasks. Much like how money is used to buy
material goods, tokens that children earn by initiating “target behav-
iors” can be used to access “backup reinforcers.” These backup rein-
forcers can take the form of desired activities or items and serve as a
further reward for achieving the target behavior (choosing the correct
photo).
• As deduced from B.F. Skinner’s famous “Skinner box” experiments,
coupling a reinforcement schedule with a token economy would
enhance a child’s level of interest (see also Catania, 2013 for more
information). Skinner’s experiments have shown that reinforcement
schedules has varying effects on response rates and resistance to ex-
tinction. The graph above illustrates this relationship — whereas the
two types of schedules used by SuperSpeak Play are a variable-ratio
(VR) and a fixed-ratio schedule (FR). The FR schedule is especially
helpful when establishing new skills, while the VR schedule is shown
to generate a high and roughly constant response rate between rein-
forcers and resistance to extinction.
The research suggests that SuperSpeak ticks the right boxes in be-
ing a highly engaging app that entices children to learn. The token
economy, a variable ratio reinforcement schedule, and customizable
rewards are all complementary elements that support Pillar 2.

10. Pillar 3: Using your own photos can
have a greater benefit than using
symbols and/or generic images
Symbols can be hard for some children to understand, because they
are decontextualized from the child’s environment. For this reason,
some special need practitioners believe that using one’s own photos
can be more effective in building a child’s vocabulary than using ge-
neric images.
Key feature
An effective AAC tool should include a simple way for users to add
their own images and recordings to the system’s library, given that
children often learn more easily when shown a contextual image rath-
er than a non-contextual one.
How SuperSpeak meets this need
Only a limited number of preloaded photos, categories, labels, and
voice recordings are available within SuperSpeak. Instead, there are
templates with prompts that encourage families and educators to
take their own photos and make their own recordings. For instance,
the “people” category includes several templates that propose to the
administrator whom he or she should include pictures of (such as
mother, father, teacher, and so on).
By encouraging the use of self-taken images, SuperSpeak is essen-
tially promoting a more efficient way for children to learn.

11. What the research says
• Megan Lyons: Clinical Instructor of Social Work, Speech-Language
Pathologist at Yale’s school of medicine and Frederick Shic, director
of the Yale Child Study Center’s Technology and Innovation Labora-
tory, which focuses on the development and advancement of tech-
nologies to help individuals with ASD, reveals that children “often
need more familiar, concrete, and veridical picture-based content.”
Shic and Lyons also emphasizes that self-taken photos can help chil-
dren relate to their immediate environment, especially when creating
a social story or an activity schedule.
• Daniel Fitch is an SLP who argues that different studies in the field of
speech-language pathology support the use of symbols or photos,
depending on the AAC user—distinguishing between emerging and
more experienced users. Referring to his personal experience with
children, Fitch explains that symbols can be harder to understand for

12. emerging AAC users, as they are decontextualized from the user’s en-
vironment.
• With respect to self-taken photos giving children a better contextu-
alization, Light and Drager made clear in their 2002 paper the need
for AAC tools to be “integrated into all aspects of everyday living.” In
their 2007 paper, they found that “children’s representations of early
emerging language concepts differed significantly from the represen-
tations used in many current symbol sets.” To reach this conclusion,
they asked a sample of children to draw pictures of ten early emerg-
ing language concepts and then analyzed how the children’s draw-
ings compared with the AAC symbols. Subsequent analysis showed
that children, in fact, used “entire scenes to depict concepts” instead
of “isolated parts of objects or events.”
• In Volume 46 of the Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Re-
search from the American Speech, Language and Hearing Associa-
tion, there appeared a study titled “The Performance of Typically De-
veloping 2 1/2 Year-Olds on Dynamic Display AAC Technologies with
Different System Layouts and Language Organizations.” A notable
takeaway from the study was that children seemed to remember vo-
cabulary more readily based on context. When viewing a schematic
scene, like a birthday party, children were able to recall their vocabu-
lary more easily, because the objects were placed in a context. The
same was less true when they were faced with a grid system showing
the standalone objects without any context. According to the study,
“embedding language concepts within contextual scenes reduced
the metalinguistic demands of the task for the children.” In the ab-
sence of context, a larger demand on working memory is required.

13. More than just a communication tool
Based on research and supported by leading practitioners, these
three concepts— creating a simple and consistent learning environ-
ment can enhance a child’s learning experience, learning through
play can enhance a child’s learning experience, and using your
own photos can have a greater benefit than using symbols and/or
generic images—define some of the key characteristics of a next-
generation AAC tool. They also are the pillars upon which Super-
Speak is based.
SuperSpeak empowers children to express themselves and to com-
municate with their family and friends using images, video, and
sound. But it’s much more than just a picture-based communica-
tion board: It’s a next-generation learning platform that borrows
from gaming theory to build a child’s vocabulary and encourage
success.
Try SuperSpeak free of charge for 14 days by downloading it from
the iTunes App Store: http://get.superspeak.today.