AAC-RERC 3

The AAC-RERC, hosted by Duke University, was recently awarded a $4.75 million grant by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) for the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) for Communication Enhancement.

Literacy Instruction for Individuals with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome
and Other Disabilities

This new website provides guidelines for teaching literacy skills to learners with special needs, especially learners with complex communication needs. The site provides information on what skills to each, how to teach literacy skills to individuals with complex communication needs, and videotaped examples of instruction with learners with special needs

Disaster Preparedness for People with Complex Communication Needs

Any emergency situation, whether it be a flood, a fire, an earthquake, a tornado, ice-storm or the loss of electrical power, puts people with complex communication needs at risk. In this presentation, Pamela Kennedy describes her experiences as an individual with complex communication needs and as a survivor of the Grand Forks flood of 1997. She also describes 7 steps for emergency preparation that are critical for all individuals with complex communication needs.

AAC Technology Transfer: An AAC-RERC Report

The Rehabilitation and Engineering Research Center on Communication Enhancement (AAC-RERC) has worked with the manufacturing community for the last 10 years. The purpose of this article is to discuss barriers to technology transfer, to outline some technology transfer strategies, and to illustrate these strategies with AAC-RERC related activities.

Please address re-print requests to Dr. Jeff Higginbotham at

AAC TechConnect - Device Assistant

AAC TechConnect, in cooperation with the AAC-RERC, presents Device Assistant, a searchable database of over 100 AAC devices

Seating and Positioning for Individuals who use Assistive Technology

Aileen Costigan (Penn State University) provides an introduction to important issues in seating and positioning for individuals who use assistive technology (AT)