Doak, L. (2019). ‘But I’d rather have raisins!’: Exploring a hybridized approach to multimodal interaction in the case of a minimally verbal child with autism. Qualitative Research, 19(1), 30–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794117752115
This study examined a snack time interaction between a school staff member and a three-year-old student with ASD and Global Developmental Delay who is minimally verbal in a classroom where PECS and Makaton signing are used and encouraged. The student used a wide range of embodied communicative strategies to request a ‘dispreferred action’. Although his choice not to select a preferred action could have been interpreted as a refusal of his turn, the student’s use of intertwined modalities was effective in building mutual understanding. His multimodal competence comprised of modal complexity (gaze, vocalization, object manipulation, touch) and modal intensity (repetitions, extended holding of gesture).