Clinkenbeard, M. J. (2020). A posthuman approach to agency, disability, and technology in social interactions. Technical Communication Quarterly, 29(2), 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572252.2019.1646319
This study examined how the social action of choosing a color is collaboratively negotiated and coordinated between a seven-year-old child with Pitt Hopkins Syndrome and autism who uses an AAC device while engaging with an SLP. At times the device offered opportunities for alignment as an extension of the words and gestures of the SLP or child, but it also introduced possibilities for action that did not align with the activity (i.e., presence of a home button on the colors page). The speaking partner used an interactional assemblage of resources including linguistic resources of spoken utterances, prosody, gestures, and positioning of the AAC device to indicate relevant next responses for the child. At one point the child responded with gaze, gesture, and breath, but disalignment occurred because the child refrained from providing a preferred response, selecting a color. In response, the speaking partner reconfigured the interactional assemblage to demonstrate different possibilities for responding. Following the first demonstration of possible responses, the child demonstrated a pre-beginning of making a graphic symbol selection but then abandoned this action when the speaking partner continued to present other relevant response possibilities. The speaking partner created an interactional slot by pausing, gazing at the student, and removing her hand from the screen. The student then initiated a pre-beginning of a dispreferred action, selecting the home screen button. In response, the speaking partner covered this symbol with her hand which would have opened possibilities for actions that would not align with the color choosing activity. Finally, the child selected a color and the speaking partner provided an expanded voicing of the child’s selection while connecting it to the embodied activity of drawing on the sidewalk.