PWR-201 · Assistive & Restorative Technology

Augmentative and alternative communication

AAC is a legitimate communication capability of the person-with-system-and-partners, not an inferior substitute for speech.

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Revision 7T · Full Tutorial Edition · Release manifest · Methodology · Corrections

One source of teaching truth

Canonical Power learning unit · TLU-PWR-201

With a qualified AAC team, the user selects a meaningful goal, accesses and authors messages, confirms intended meaning and repairs one communication breakdown across two partners.

Canonical Power page
PWR-201 · Augmentative and alternative communication
Full tutorial
Open full tutorial
Practical authority
The tutorial teaches the complete method; qualified supervision controls the specified practical parts.
Current treatment
Full supervised tutorial
Research depth
focused · 3 bound sources
Risk framing
moderate to high clinical or mobility
Capability self-practice
Qualified supervision is required for the practical method
Pathway membership
Retained external route · SP-HUB-004

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Explanation is not permission.

This dossier explains the evidence and its limits. It is not a diagnosis, personal recommendation, assessment, clearance, performance promise or training programme. Actionable teaching appears only when the canonical Power record explicitly authorises it.

Complete bounded explanation

What this power means.

Capability to develop or express augmentative and alternative communication in a declared context without inheriting broader claims.

What the current evidence supports

AAC is a legitimate communication capability of the person-with-system-and-partners, not an inferior substitute for speech.

How to observe or measure it without overclaiming

Independently authored meaning, partner comprehension, communication turns, participation and breakdown repair across settings. This measures the declared configured system and cannot by itself establish broad transfer, unaided ability, safety or legitimacy.

Myth

A speech device speaks for a person automatically

Metric

Independently authored meaning, partner comprehension, communication turns, participation and breakdown repair across settings

Boundary

Report person, device/model/interface, task, assistance, failure state and comparator; the metric is not proof of unaided general capability.

Negative and limiting findings

  • No one device fits every user, and messages produced through discredited facilitator-dependent methods must not be assumed to be the person's authorship.
  • No cited evidence supports perfect, universal or consequence-free performance.

Claims this evidence cannot support

  • A speech device speaks for a person automatically
  • The tool or robot's output proves an unaided, universal or permanent human superpower
  • A successful laboratory task proves independent real-world or clinical capability

Individual tutorial · FULL SUPERVISED TUTORIAL

How to learn this Power now.

With a qualified AAC team, the user selects a meaningful goal, accesses and authors messages, confirms intended meaning and repairs one communication breakdown across two partners.

  1. Get readyConfirm the AAC user’s consent, goal, authorship signal and right to stop.
  2. Learn the method8 concrete steps teach the permitted method from start to finish.
  3. See right and wrong4 comparisons show correct or safer execution beside common wrong or riskier choices.
  4. PractiseThe qualified AAC team sets dose. A realistic starting plan is two four-turn simulations with rest, twice weekly, then one provider-approved community trial; review whenever health, seating, access, vocabulary, partner or device changes.
  5. Check progressConfigured fixture: Jordan chooses the goal of ordering tea at a familiar café using a speech-generating device, a paper alphabet board and a yes/no signal as fallbacks. The provider logs “Assess access with the team”, every “Calibrate authorship” result, the “Repair a breakdown” response and Independently authored meaning, partner comprehension, communication turns, participation and breakdown repair across settings. Record partner prompts, access method, correction attempts and fatigue for each café exchange; compare authored meaning only across trials with the same device layout and partner preparation.

Authority boundary: Titan teaches the complete method; a qualified person controls the parts that require supervision, clearance, specialist equipment, load, dose or progression. The method is Power-specific; its actionability follows this treatment.

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Related Powers: PWR-202 · PWR-203 · PWR-204 · PWR-205

Direct evidence register

Sources that support—and limit—the claim.

Citation roles are explicit. A source may support existence or trainability while simultaneously limiting transfer, certainty, generalisation or safety.

  1. Primary empirical supportLimiting / contrary
    The Impact of Eye-gaze Controlled Computer on Communication and Functional Independence in Children and Young People with Complex Needs - A Multicenter Intervention Study

    Maria Borgestig; Isphana Al Khatib; Sandra Masayko; Helena Hemmingsson · 2021 · Primary research

  2. Limiting / contraryOfficial boundary context
    Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)

    American Speech-Language-Hearing Association · 2026 · Official authority

  3. Limiting / contraryOfficial boundary context
    Global report on assistive technology

    World Health Organization; United Nations Children's Fund · 2022 · Official authority

Current teaching and evidence boundary

The next gate remains visible.

External confirmation is required before higher-authority use because: a clinical, high-risk or regulated configuration; a supervision or non-attempt boundary; cultural, community-rights or affected-person authority; a restricted safety or legitimacy boundary.

A Power-specific tutorial is available at /tutorials/pwr-201/. It contains a plain-English method, 8 ordered steps, a worked example, right-versus-wrong comparisons, specific mistakes and corrections, practice, measurement, accessibility, stopping rules and evidence. Its supervised mode remains controlling.