High and Low Technology Approaches in the Development of Communication Systems for Severely Physically Handicapped Persons

Abstract

An understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of both high and low technology implementations of approaches to providing effective means of communication to individuals with severe speech and motor impairments is important both to avoid the inappropriate application of high technologies where they are not needed and to ensure their application when they are in fact required. Misconceptions about the relative strengths of both high and low technologies contribute to the general confusion in this area. Presented is an overview of the basic approaches to providing augmentative communication modes to severely physically handicapped individuals. Various implementations of these approaches ranging from simple to advanced aids as well as the relative advantages of each level are discussed.