Illinois
SOCIAL INTERACTION AND COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE
SUPPORTED BY FOCAL POINT
photo photo
Treatment study focused on use of computer interaction to facilitate speech (left)

Professor DeThorne and two graduate students in Speech-language Pathology (right)

Project Description

Focal Point Phase II which extends the work begun with our 2009-10 Focal Point Project Social interaction and communicative competence: Integrating theory and clinical practice is currently meeting (See Reading Group dates). This phase of the project redirects our focus to highlight the role of technology to address the critical needs of diverse communicators in our societies, especially those with diagnosed communication disorders, by exploring ways to enhance people's communicative competence and social participation both through, and in the context of, modern communication and computerized technologies. In our meetings and readings, we explore the potential and challenges of utilizing modern communication technologies to enhance people’s communicative competence and social interaction.