Requirements and Quality Attributes of High-Tech AAC Solutions: An In-Depth Analysis
Resumo
Communication is an essential multimodal process, yet certain disabilities can critically restrict interaction. Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) solutions have the potential to promote inclusion for individuals with Complex Communication Needs (CCN); however, these computational solutions require accessible and highly customizable interfaces. This paper investigates high-tech AAC, with a focus on pictographic applications for Autism Spectrum Disorder and Cerebral Palsy (CP). Grounded in the theory of organizational knowledge creation, the study aims to expand the understanding of functional and quality requirements for these systems. The research combines a rapid systematic literature mapping (RLM) and an exploration of app stores, providing a descriptive analysis of leading academic and commercial solutions. We identified functional and non-functional requirements and validated them through the development and evaluation of an open-source AAC system, conducted in collaboration with Occupational Therapists. Additionally, personas representing non-verbal autistic individuals and children with CP were developed to support the identification of user needs and system requirements. The study outlines key requirements and limitations, highlighting significant gaps in accessibility, portability, and customization. Based on these findings, the AAC platform VivaVox was developed to address these challenges and better support diverse user needs. A comparative analysis of three freely available platforms – VivaVox, AsTeRICS Grid, and SymbolTalk – revealed that alternative access methods (scanning and eye tracking) remain the critical differentiator, with AsTeRICS Grid providing the broadest coverage.
Palavras-chave:
AAC, CCN, Assistive Technology, Autism, Cerebral Palsy
Referências
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American Psychiatric Association. 2022. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th, text revision ed.). American Psychiatric Association Publishing, Washington, DC. DOI: 10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. 1993. Definitions of Communication Disorders and Variations. Retrieved Nov 18, 2024 from [link]
Avaz. 2009. Avaz: Making Every Voice Heard. [link]
USREE Bhattacharya, Wisnu A Pradana, Xing Wei, Daniel Tarquinio, Olivia Datta, Kaleigh Anderson, and Nicole Cruz-Diaz. 2022. Medical communication and advocacy through eye-tracking AAC: Implications for applied linguistics. EuroAmerican Journal of Applied Linguistics and Languages 9, 1 (2022), 71–90.
Michael Bond. 2019. Spoken - Tap to Talk AAC. [link]
Giorgio Brajnik, Yeliz Yesilada, and Simon Harper. 2011. Web accessibility guideline aggregation for older users and its validation. Universal Access in the Information Society 10, 4 (2011), 403–423.
Talita Britto and Ednaldo Pizzolato. 2016. Towards web accessibility guidelines of interaction and interface design for people with autism spectrum disorder. In ACHI 2016: The Ninth International Conference on Advances in Computer-Human Interactions. IARIA, Rome, Italy, 1–7.
Jessica Caron, Janice Light, Beth E Davidoff, and Kathryn DR Drager. 2017. Comparison of the effects of mobile technology AAC apps on programming visual scene displays. Augmentative and Alternative Communication 33, 4 (2017), 239–248.
Miao-En Chien, Cyun-Meng Jheng, Ni-Miao Lin, Hsien-Hui Tang, Paul Taele, Wen-Sheng Tseng, and Mike Y Chen. 2015. iCAN: A tablet-based pedagogical system for improving communication skills of children with autism. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 73 (2015), 79–90.
Prentke Romich Company. 2010. TouchChat - Discover the Joy of Communication. [link]
Humphrey Curtis, Timothy Neate, and Carlota Vazquez Gonzalez. 2022. State of the art in AAC: A systematic review and taxonomy. In Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1–22.
Celso Rodrigues da Costa, Fernanda Márcia Rodrigues Martins Ferreira, Marcos Vinícius Bortolus, and Maria Gabriela Reis Carvalho. 2015. Dispositivos de tecnologia assistiva: fatores relacionados ao abandono/Assistive technology devices: abandonment related factors. Cadernos Brasileiros de Terapia Ocupacional 23, 3 (2015), 611–624.
Karla de Oliveira, Jefferson Junior, Jefferson Silva, Nelson Neto, Marcelle Mota, and Ana Oliveira. 2016. VoxLaps: A free symbol-based AAC application for Brazilian Portuguese. In Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Interaction Techniques and Environments: 10th International Conference, UAHCI 2016, Held as Part of HCI International 2016, Toronto, ON, Canada, July 17-22, 2016, Proceedings, Part II 10. Springer, 129–140.
Rúbia Eliza de Oliveira Schultz Ascari, Luciano Silva, and Roberto Pereira. 2024. MyPGI-a methodology to yield personalized gestural interaction. Universal Access in the Information Society 23, 2 (2024), 795–820.
Tania Desai, Katherine Chow, Leslie Mumford, Fanny Hotze, and Tom Chau. 2014. Implementing an iPad-based alternative communication device for a student with cerebral palsy and autism in the classroom via an access technology delivery protocol. Computers & Education 79 (2014), 148–158.
Elad Elram. 2017. SymboTalk Communication Boards AAC. [link]
Taciana Pontual Falcao et al. 2024. ‘Should I use my imagination?’ An attempt at co-designing a game editor within an app for alternative communication with children with autism. In Proceedings of the XXIII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems. SBC, Brazil, 1–10.
Hao Fang, Hao Cheng, Maarten Sap, Elizabeth Clark, Ari Holtzman, Yejin Choi, Noah A. Smith, and Mari Ostendorf. 2018. Sounding Board: A User-Centric and Content-Driven Social Chatbot. In Proceedings of the 2018 Conference of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics: Demonstrations. Association for Computational Linguistics, 96–100. DOI: 10.18653/v1/n18-5020
Clara Regina Abdalla Ferraz, Marcos Vinícius de Araújo, and Luiz Renato Rodrigues Carreiro. 2010. Inclusão de crianças com Síndrome de Down e paralisia cerebral no ensino fundamental I: comparação dos relatos de mães e professores. Revista Brasileira de Educação Especial 16 (2010), 397–414.
Natália de Melo Franco et al. 2014. Uma linguagem para modelagem do vocabulário de pranchas de comunicação alternativa. Master’s thesis. Universidade Federal de Alagoas.
Mary Jo Cooley Hidecker, Nigel Paneth, Peter L. Rosenbaum, Ray D. Kent, John Lillie, John B. Eulenberg, Kenneth Chester Jr., Beverly Johnson, Lisa Michalsen, Matthew Evatt, and Katie Taylor. 2011. Developing and validating the Communication Function Classification System for individuals with cerebral palsy. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology 53, 8 (2011), 704–710. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.2011.03996.x
Jasmina Ivšac Pavliša and Željka Car. 2021. Outcomes and Challenges of Collaboration between Social and Technical Professions in the Field of AAC. In The 4th International Student Congress of the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences. 16–16.
Benjamin Klaus et al. 2024. AsTeRICS Grid: Why freely accessible software is needed for democratizing AAC in the long term. In International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs. Springer, Cham, Switzerland, 125–136.
Benjamin Klaus, Benjamin Aigner, Martin Deinhofer, Alija Sabic, and Christoph Veigl. 2024. AsTeRICS Grid: Why Freely Accessible Software is Needed for Democratizing AAC in the Long Term. In International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs. Springer, 125–136.
Sharynne McLeod. 2018. Communication rights: Fundamental human rights for all. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 20, 1 (2018), 3–11.
David Moher, Alessandro Liberati, Jennifer Tetzlaff, Douglas G Altman, Prisma Group, et al. 2010. Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement. International journal of surgery 8, 5 (2010), 336–341.
Maíra Carla Moreira ARAGÃO and João Batista BOTTENTUIT JÚNIOR. 2020. Transtorno do espectro autista e tecnologia: contribuições do aplicativo Matraquinha. Revista Espacios 41, 39 (2020).
Janice Murray and Juliet Goldbart. 2009. Augmentative and alternative communication: a review of current issues. Paediatrics and child health 19, 10 (2009), 464–468.
MyTalkTools. 2018. MyTalkTools: AAC Made Simple. [link]
Rodica Neamtu, André Camara, Carlos Pereira, and Rafael Ferreira. 2019. Using artificial intelligence for augmentative alternative communication for children with disabilities. In Human-Computer Interaction–INTERACT 2019: 17th IFIP TC 13 International Conference, Paphos, Cyprus, September 2–6, 2019, Proceedings, Part I 17. Springer, 234–243.
Amy Paulson and Jilda Vargus-Adams. 2017. Overview of Four Functional Classification Systems Commonly Used in Cerebral Palsy. Children 4, 30 (2017). DOI: 10.3390/children4040030
Silja Pirila, Jaap van der Meere, Taina Pentikainen, Pirjo Ruusu-Niemi, Raija Korpela, Jenni Kilpinen, and Pirkko Nieminen. 2007. Language and motor speech skills in children with cerebral palsy. Journal of communication disorders 40, 2 (2007), 116–128.
Annio Posar and Paola Visconti. 2018. Alterações sensoriais em crianças com transtorno do espectro do autismo. Jornal de Pediatria 94 (2018), 342–350.
Francisca Laudênia Vieira Ribeiro, Gislene Mariana Pereira Castelo Branco, Maria Lucilene da Silva, Tamires de Moura Saboia, and Ruth Raquel Soares de Farias. 2021. A comunicação alternativa como suporte a indivíduos com esclerose lateral amiotrófica. Research, Society and Development 10, 15 (2021), e554101523243–e554101523243.
Uma Louise Roa. 2021. Pic-A-Talk - Connect with your non-verbal loved ones through modern means. [link]
Samuel Sennott and Adam Bowker. 2009. Autism, aac, and Proloquo2Go. Perspectives on Augmentative and Alternative Communication 18, 4 (2009), 137–145.
Thais Rodrigues Talarico, Mayra Jacuviske Venegas, and Karin Zazo Ortiz. 2011. Perfil populacional de pacientes com distúrbios da comunicação humana decorrentes de lesão cerebral, assistidos em hospital terciário. Revista Cefac 13 (2011), 330–339.
Tobii Dynavox. 2024. TD Snap communication platform - AAC app software. Retrieved Nov 18, 2024 from [link]
Cláudia Miharu Togashi and Cátia Crivelenti de Figueiredo Walter. 2016. As contribuições do uso da comunicação alternativa no processo de inclusão escolar de um aluno com transtorno do espectro do autismo. Revista Brasileira de Educação Especial 22 (2016), 351–366.
United Nations. 1948. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved Nov 18, 2024 from [link]
Nachiappan Valliappan, Na Dai, Ethan Steinberg, Junfeng He, Kantwon Rogers, Venky Ramachandran, Pingmei Xu, Mina Shojaeizadeh, Li Guo, Kai Kohlhoff, et al. 2020. Accelerating eye movement research via accurate and affordable smartphone eye tracking. Nature communications 11, 1 (2020), 4553.
Jacob Van Kokswijk and Marc Van Hulle. 2010. Self adaptive BCI as service-oriented information system for patients with communication disabilities. In 4th International Conference on New Trends in Information Science and Service Science. IEEE, Beijing, China, 264–269.
Takamitsu Watanabe, Geraint Rees, and Naoki Masuda. 2019. Atypical intrinsic neural timescale in autism. Elife 8 (2019), e42256.
Xiang Zhang et al. 2018. Converting your thoughts to texts: Enabling brain typing via deep feature learning of eeg signals. In 2018 IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications (PerCom). IEEE, Athens, Greece, 1–10.
Ana Amaral, Beatriz Machado, Filipe Có, and Henrique Gil. 2021. Impact of the Expressia Platform on a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Case Study. In 2021 International Symposium on Computers in Education (SIIE). IEEE, 1–5.
American Psychiatric Association. 2022. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th, text revision ed.). American Psychiatric Association Publishing, Washington, DC. DOI: 10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. 1993. Definitions of Communication Disorders and Variations. Retrieved Nov 18, 2024 from [link]
Avaz. 2009. Avaz: Making Every Voice Heard. [link]
USREE Bhattacharya, Wisnu A Pradana, Xing Wei, Daniel Tarquinio, Olivia Datta, Kaleigh Anderson, and Nicole Cruz-Diaz. 2022. Medical communication and advocacy through eye-tracking AAC: Implications for applied linguistics. EuroAmerican Journal of Applied Linguistics and Languages 9, 1 (2022), 71–90.
Michael Bond. 2019. Spoken - Tap to Talk AAC. [link]
Giorgio Brajnik, Yeliz Yesilada, and Simon Harper. 2011. Web accessibility guideline aggregation for older users and its validation. Universal Access in the Information Society 10, 4 (2011), 403–423.
Talita Britto and Ednaldo Pizzolato. 2016. Towards web accessibility guidelines of interaction and interface design for people with autism spectrum disorder. In ACHI 2016: The Ninth International Conference on Advances in Computer-Human Interactions. IARIA, Rome, Italy, 1–7.
Jessica Caron, Janice Light, Beth E Davidoff, and Kathryn DR Drager. 2017. Comparison of the effects of mobile technology AAC apps on programming visual scene displays. Augmentative and Alternative Communication 33, 4 (2017), 239–248.
Miao-En Chien, Cyun-Meng Jheng, Ni-Miao Lin, Hsien-Hui Tang, Paul Taele, Wen-Sheng Tseng, and Mike Y Chen. 2015. iCAN: A tablet-based pedagogical system for improving communication skills of children with autism. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 73 (2015), 79–90.
Prentke Romich Company. 2010. TouchChat - Discover the Joy of Communication. [link]
Humphrey Curtis, Timothy Neate, and Carlota Vazquez Gonzalez. 2022. State of the art in AAC: A systematic review and taxonomy. In Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1–22.
Celso Rodrigues da Costa, Fernanda Márcia Rodrigues Martins Ferreira, Marcos Vinícius Bortolus, and Maria Gabriela Reis Carvalho. 2015. Dispositivos de tecnologia assistiva: fatores relacionados ao abandono/Assistive technology devices: abandonment related factors. Cadernos Brasileiros de Terapia Ocupacional 23, 3 (2015), 611–624.
Karla de Oliveira, Jefferson Junior, Jefferson Silva, Nelson Neto, Marcelle Mota, and Ana Oliveira. 2016. VoxLaps: A free symbol-based AAC application for Brazilian Portuguese. In Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Interaction Techniques and Environments: 10th International Conference, UAHCI 2016, Held as Part of HCI International 2016, Toronto, ON, Canada, July 17-22, 2016, Proceedings, Part II 10. Springer, 129–140.
Rúbia Eliza de Oliveira Schultz Ascari, Luciano Silva, and Roberto Pereira. 2024. MyPGI-a methodology to yield personalized gestural interaction. Universal Access in the Information Society 23, 2 (2024), 795–820.
Tania Desai, Katherine Chow, Leslie Mumford, Fanny Hotze, and Tom Chau. 2014. Implementing an iPad-based alternative communication device for a student with cerebral palsy and autism in the classroom via an access technology delivery protocol. Computers & Education 79 (2014), 148–158.
Elad Elram. 2017. SymboTalk Communication Boards AAC. [link]
Taciana Pontual Falcao et al. 2024. ‘Should I use my imagination?’ An attempt at co-designing a game editor within an app for alternative communication with children with autism. In Proceedings of the XXIII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems. SBC, Brazil, 1–10.
Hao Fang, Hao Cheng, Maarten Sap, Elizabeth Clark, Ari Holtzman, Yejin Choi, Noah A. Smith, and Mari Ostendorf. 2018. Sounding Board: A User-Centric and Content-Driven Social Chatbot. In Proceedings of the 2018 Conference of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics: Demonstrations. Association for Computational Linguistics, 96–100. DOI: 10.18653/v1/n18-5020
Clara Regina Abdalla Ferraz, Marcos Vinícius de Araújo, and Luiz Renato Rodrigues Carreiro. 2010. Inclusão de crianças com Síndrome de Down e paralisia cerebral no ensino fundamental I: comparação dos relatos de mães e professores. Revista Brasileira de Educação Especial 16 (2010), 397–414.
Natália de Melo Franco et al. 2014. Uma linguagem para modelagem do vocabulário de pranchas de comunicação alternativa. Master’s thesis. Universidade Federal de Alagoas.
Mary Jo Cooley Hidecker, Nigel Paneth, Peter L. Rosenbaum, Ray D. Kent, John Lillie, John B. Eulenberg, Kenneth Chester Jr., Beverly Johnson, Lisa Michalsen, Matthew Evatt, and Katie Taylor. 2011. Developing and validating the Communication Function Classification System for individuals with cerebral palsy. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology 53, 8 (2011), 704–710. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.2011.03996.x
Jasmina Ivšac Pavliša and Željka Car. 2021. Outcomes and Challenges of Collaboration between Social and Technical Professions in the Field of AAC. In The 4th International Student Congress of the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences. 16–16.
Benjamin Klaus et al. 2024. AsTeRICS Grid: Why freely accessible software is needed for democratizing AAC in the long term. In International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs. Springer, Cham, Switzerland, 125–136.
Benjamin Klaus, Benjamin Aigner, Martin Deinhofer, Alija Sabic, and Christoph Veigl. 2024. AsTeRICS Grid: Why Freely Accessible Software is Needed for Democratizing AAC in the Long Term. In International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs. Springer, 125–136.
Sharynne McLeod. 2018. Communication rights: Fundamental human rights for all. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 20, 1 (2018), 3–11.
David Moher, Alessandro Liberati, Jennifer Tetzlaff, Douglas G Altman, Prisma Group, et al. 2010. Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement. International journal of surgery 8, 5 (2010), 336–341.
Maíra Carla Moreira ARAGÃO and João Batista BOTTENTUIT JÚNIOR. 2020. Transtorno do espectro autista e tecnologia: contribuições do aplicativo Matraquinha. Revista Espacios 41, 39 (2020).
Janice Murray and Juliet Goldbart. 2009. Augmentative and alternative communication: a review of current issues. Paediatrics and child health 19, 10 (2009), 464–468.
MyTalkTools. 2018. MyTalkTools: AAC Made Simple. [link]
Rodica Neamtu, André Camara, Carlos Pereira, and Rafael Ferreira. 2019. Using artificial intelligence for augmentative alternative communication for children with disabilities. In Human-Computer Interaction–INTERACT 2019: 17th IFIP TC 13 International Conference, Paphos, Cyprus, September 2–6, 2019, Proceedings, Part I 17. Springer, 234–243.
Amy Paulson and Jilda Vargus-Adams. 2017. Overview of Four Functional Classification Systems Commonly Used in Cerebral Palsy. Children 4, 30 (2017). DOI: 10.3390/children4040030
Silja Pirila, Jaap van der Meere, Taina Pentikainen, Pirjo Ruusu-Niemi, Raija Korpela, Jenni Kilpinen, and Pirkko Nieminen. 2007. Language and motor speech skills in children with cerebral palsy. Journal of communication disorders 40, 2 (2007), 116–128.
Annio Posar and Paola Visconti. 2018. Alterações sensoriais em crianças com transtorno do espectro do autismo. Jornal de Pediatria 94 (2018), 342–350.
Francisca Laudênia Vieira Ribeiro, Gislene Mariana Pereira Castelo Branco, Maria Lucilene da Silva, Tamires de Moura Saboia, and Ruth Raquel Soares de Farias. 2021. A comunicação alternativa como suporte a indivíduos com esclerose lateral amiotrófica. Research, Society and Development 10, 15 (2021), e554101523243–e554101523243.
Uma Louise Roa. 2021. Pic-A-Talk - Connect with your non-verbal loved ones through modern means. [link]
Samuel Sennott and Adam Bowker. 2009. Autism, aac, and Proloquo2Go. Perspectives on Augmentative and Alternative Communication 18, 4 (2009), 137–145.
Thais Rodrigues Talarico, Mayra Jacuviske Venegas, and Karin Zazo Ortiz. 2011. Perfil populacional de pacientes com distúrbios da comunicação humana decorrentes de lesão cerebral, assistidos em hospital terciário. Revista Cefac 13 (2011), 330–339.
Tobii Dynavox. 2024. TD Snap communication platform - AAC app software. Retrieved Nov 18, 2024 from [link]
Cláudia Miharu Togashi and Cátia Crivelenti de Figueiredo Walter. 2016. As contribuições do uso da comunicação alternativa no processo de inclusão escolar de um aluno com transtorno do espectro do autismo. Revista Brasileira de Educação Especial 22 (2016), 351–366.
United Nations. 1948. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved Nov 18, 2024 from [link]
Nachiappan Valliappan, Na Dai, Ethan Steinberg, Junfeng He, Kantwon Rogers, Venky Ramachandran, Pingmei Xu, Mina Shojaeizadeh, Li Guo, Kai Kohlhoff, et al. 2020. Accelerating eye movement research via accurate and affordable smartphone eye tracking. Nature communications 11, 1 (2020), 4553.
Jacob Van Kokswijk and Marc Van Hulle. 2010. Self adaptive BCI as service-oriented information system for patients with communication disabilities. In 4th International Conference on New Trends in Information Science and Service Science. IEEE, Beijing, China, 264–269.
Takamitsu Watanabe, Geraint Rees, and Naoki Masuda. 2019. Atypical intrinsic neural timescale in autism. Elife 8 (2019), e42256.
Xiang Zhang et al. 2018. Converting your thoughts to texts: Enabling brain typing via deep feature learning of eeg signals. In 2018 IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications (PerCom). IEEE, Athens, Greece, 1–10.
Publicado
27/10/2026
Como Citar
BRITO, Isabella A. A. L.; SANTOS, Letícia A.; SILVA, Beatriz L.; CASTRO, Mariana A. P. C.; SANTOS, Matheus A. S.; CUNHA, Bruna C. R..
Requirements and Quality Attributes of High-Tech AAC Solutions: An In-Depth Analysis. In: BRAZILIAN SYMPOSIUM ON MULTIMEDIA AND THE WEB (WEBMEDIA), 32. , 2026, Lavras/MG.
Anais [...].
Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação,
2026
.
p. 452-461.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/webmedia.2026.30785.
