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Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Campus Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Computational Science and Engineering (PhD)

Administrative Home Department

Department of Computer Science

Advisor 1

Keith Vertanen

Committee Member 1

Briana Bettin

Committee Member 2

Robert Pastel

Committee Member 3

David McNaughton

Abstract

Some people do not use speech to communicate and instead use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). We conducted a scoping review to explore how AAC is used for social communication and community engagement. We found that some AAC users script out social and community interactions. We explored how to design AAC to support the social and community engagement of autistic adults. We conducted a focus group with five autistic adults and found that some wanted to use AAC and that some also script out interactions. We then used a series of co-design workshops with three autistic adults and two support professionals to develop a new AAC interface. We designed an AAC system called Coniferous that supports scripting conversations. We recruited five autistic adults to complete a diary study with Coniferous. We found that participants experienced increased confidence, more organized thoughts, and a sense of comfort from having AAC available. We also explored how to make design research more accessible. We collected feedback from participants and found they valued time to process information and having multiple methods of interaction. Two autistic adults provided feedback on the entire research process. They shared that researchers proactively making their methods accessible and being open to feedback throughout the research process are critical to meaningfully including autistic adults in research.

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