Recent Project Converse Publications and Presentations

Nader, D. (2024) Making meaning with AAC: Examining interactions between exemplary AAC SLPs and children who use AAC. Doctoral Dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. [Speech and Hearing Science].https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/dissertations/k643bc43m

Quick, N., Geist, L., Erickson, K. (in press). Using Conversation Analysis to Examine a Multicomponent Intervention. Qualitative Research in Communication Differences and Disorders.

Quick, N., Geist, L. & Erickson, K. (2025). AAC-mediated classroom participation: Calling on and coming back​, Journal of Interactional Research in Communication Disorders. https://utppublishing.com/doi/10.3138/jircd-2024-0013

Quick, N., & Geist, L. (2025). Focusing on form versus meaning during AAC-mediated instruction. American Speech-language and Hearing Association (ASHA) 2025 Convention, Washington, DC. [Download Handout]

Quick, N. & Geist, L. (2022). Interaction during robust receptive vocabulary instruction in AAC: A conversational analysis. American Speech-language and Hearing (ASHA) 2022 Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Annotated Bibliography of Research Studies

An annotated collection of studies focused on communication, interaction, and aided communication for children with disabilities, especially those who use eye‑gaze technology or speech‑generating devices (SGDs). Each entry includes a citation, a brief overview, and a link to the full study.

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Research Briefs

Quick, N.A., Geist, L.A., & Erickson, K.A. (2025). AAC-mediated classroom participation: Calling on and coming back. Journal of Interactional Research in Communication Disorders, 15(4), 297-330. https://doi.org/10.3138/jircd-2024-0013

Introduction

Calling on and coming back is an instructional practice in which a teacher calls on a student to begin composing a response while group instruction continues and then returns later for them to share their completed response. The practice is often used with students who use AAC and aimed at providing more time for composition. This study used conversation analysis to investigate the practice with one student (Jared) as he interacted during group instruction.

Essential Findings

  • Jared indicated understanding the question assigned to him yet consistently attempted to respond to questions posed to the whole group.
  • Jared used embodied and linguistic communication to indicate he wanted to participate with the group rather than work in a separate parallel track.
  • Jared’s messages were either not acknowledged or met with confusion and the need for repair because they did not match the initial question posed to only him.
  • Communication breakdowns involving Jared were addressed by the classroom adults rather than directed at Jared.
  • Meeting the teacher’s expectations would have required Jared to disengage from the group and miss the continued instruction and class discourse.

Take-Aways

Calling on and coming back resulted in the student’s responses being misaligned with the teacher’s expectations, even though he was clearly attempting to contribute in meaningful ways to the class discourse. The practice resulted in exclusion rather than inclusion. Although calling on and coming back may work for some students in certain situations, it should be used with caution and offered as a choice for the student rather than assigned by the teacher.

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