Reading Acquisition, AAC and the Transferability of English Research to Languages with More Consistent or Transparent Orthographies

Abstract

Research on reading in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is primarily provided for the English language, which has nontransparent orthographic depth and a complex syllable structure. While there is a great deal to learn about English reading in AAC, there is substantially more information regarding reading in AAC in English than in other languages. In this article we compare reading acquisition in English and German, drawing from the existing research regarding reading for children with complex communication needs and describing how that might apply to German and other European languages with orthography that is more consistent than English (e.g., Swedish, Spanish, Finnish; Aro & Wimmer, ). The goal is to support the development of cross-linguistic understandings in reading and AAC.

Keywords:

• Augmentative and alternative communication
• Reading
• Literacy
• Models

Notes

1 Interestingly there is a relatively high degree of spelling-sound consistency at the level of the rime compared to the level of the vowel phoneme in English (Widjaja & Winskel, 2004).

2 Consonant-Vowel-Consonant.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.