Tegler, H., Demmelmaier, I., Johansson, M. B., & Norén, N. (2020). Creating a response space in multiparty classroom settings for students using eye-gaze accessed speech-generating devices. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 36(4), 203–213. https://doi.org/10.1080/07434618.2020.1811758
This study investigated the organization of multiparty classroom interaction that included one 14-year-old student with physical and intellectual disabilities due to cerebral palsy who uses an eye-gaze accessed SGD. The teacher used display questions and explicit naming combined with gaze direction to create an interactional space for an SGD-mediated response in a sequentially recognizable position. A facilitator with visual access to the screen supported SGD-mediated responses through the use of locally contingent verbal and embodied cues (e.g., indexical spoken turns, deictic gestures, response particles, verbal and embodied clues) that supported the student’s symbol selection in response to a known answer question while preserving the interactional space through making the process public. When competing responses from classmates occurred, the teacher created a local participation framework by attuning her voice (i.e., whispering, practicing smiley voice, laughter, increased speed, decreased volume) that softened the corrective action while negotiating agreement to not interrupt during the SGD turn construction. In situations when the needed vocabulary for answering a question was not accessible, the student did not immediately display recipiency.