Technology and Disability 16 (2004) 157–167 157 IOS Press Impact of computer augmented communication on the daily lives of speech-impaired children. Part I: Daily communication and activities Anna-Liisa Salminen a,∗ , Helen Petrie b and Susan Ryan c a STAKES, National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, PL 220, 00531 Helsinki, Finland Tel.: +358 40 5600935; E-mail: Anna-Liisa.Salminen@stakes.fi b City University, London, UK c University College Cork, Cork, Ireland Abstract. This study investigated the impact of Bliss-based computer augmented communication (CAC) on the daily communi- cation and activities of six severely disabled speech-impaired children and youngsters – from the point of view of the children and youngsters, and their discussion partners and therapists. The study investigated CAC during the first year of its use in real life settings. The implementation process of CAC was highly individual and context dependent. During the study all of the speech-impaired participants learned to operate their CAC devices. Their initial enthusiasm began to decline three to six months after the participants received their devices. At the end of the study year, the CAC devices were hardly used for face-to-face communication, but they were used mainly for educational purposes, written communication, or play and leisure. The main reasons for not using the CAC devices were their poor usability, slow operation speeds and insufficient vocabularies, as well as a lack of related services. The speech-impaired children considered the CAC devices important for them and primarily helpful for schoolwork and play. Keywords: Alternative and augmentative communication, computer augmented communication, assistive technologies, speech- impaired children and youngsters, user perspective, qualitative research 1. Introduction Children with severe physical disability and speech impairment, such as those with cerebral palsy, usually understand other people’s speech well, but are unable to express themselves through spoken language because they have difficulty in controlling their speech organs in order to articulate the sounds intelligibly [1]. They may also have a language dysfunction. These children can learn to communicate with manual signs, gestures, tan- gible symbols, vocalisations, and graphic means (such * Corresponding author. as written communication, pictures or symbols). These communication modes can substitute for spoken lan- guage, some of them with the aid of communication devices. The purpose of Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) interventions is to provide the children with communication modes that they can use everywhere during the entire course of their lifespan. Communication is multimodal and it is important that AAC interventions provide the child with a selection of communication modes, which the child is able to use effectively in different situations [2]. Computer augmented communication (CAC) has in- creasingly been used as one mode of communication for speech-impaired children. Computers can serve as ISSN 1055-4181/04/$17.00  2004 – IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved