PUBLICATIONS & PRODUCTS
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AAC Style Guide
Style Requirements
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
At Submission
Prior to the start of the peer review process, all submissions MUST conform to basic APA style as per the 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) for all of the following elements: headers, running heads, headings, page numbers, margins, type font, spacing; and presentation and order of elements standard to research papers (e.g., abstract, introduction, methods and results sections, references, tables, figures).
The elements of the manuscript, including tables and figures, should be organized and presented as outlined in the APA manual, 6th edition (see Chapter 2, Manuscript Structure and Content).
All figures must be in camera-ready format and self-explanatory. Graphs must include axis labels and a legend. Photographs of people who can be identified must be accompanied by a signed release form (see also, Instructions for Authors). Refer to the APA manual for descriptions and examples of various table and figure types, including formatting of table titles and figure captions. Images should be submitted as TIF, EPS, PDF or JPG (preferred) files. Scanned images should be of a sufficient resolution, i.e., 300 dpi for halftones/color, 500 dpi for combination halftones and 1000–1200 dpi for line art.
It is the author’s responsibility to consult the APA manual and to ensure that these requirements are met.
Manuscripts must also conform to style requirements (listed below) that are specific to Augmentative and Alternative Communication, including for length of submission; and recognition of software/hardware manufacturers, endnotes, and use of terminology and conventions for examples of communications with and by people who use AAC.
- The manuscript must not exceed 35 pages, including title page, abstract, references, tables, appendices, figures, and acknowledgements.
- For review purposes, the manuscript document should not contain author-identifying information. Therefore, the title page should be submitted in a document that is separate from the manuscript itself and should contain the following information:
- The full title of the paper
- The name, institution and country of each author
- Contact information for the first author (institution; full mailing address; phone number; email address)
- Keywords (the first word of each term should be capitalized)
- A running head (an abbreviated version of the title that appears at the top of each page)
- The submission must be accompanied by a cover letter as described in Instructions for Authors
- Abstract should be a maximum of 125 words and include the heading “Abstract”
- The submission must include appropriate recognition of software and hardware manufacturers’ products by (a) inserting the ™ symbol in the first instance; and then (b) including either endnotes or, as appropriate, standard citation and reference information.
- Endnotes should appear at the end of the manuscript, not as footnotes embedded in the text;
- The submission must conform to the terminology policy of ISAAC and the Journal’s notational conventions for use of AAC (see below).
- The submission must include an acknowledgement when it is student paper (i.e., a study conducted as part of a master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation).
Manuscripts that do not conform to APA and AAC-specific submission requirements will be returned to the author for revisions prior to the start of the peer review process.
Prior to Formal Acceptance
Prior to acceptance for publication, authors must ensure that the manuscript conforms to the additional APA style requirements listed below (standard to scientific journals) if these have not been taken care of at submission or during the review process:
- Placement of punctuation (including references cited in the text and on the reference list);
- Use of italics, capitalization, hyphenation, seriation;
- Use the format years;months for reporting ages in which months as well as years are included (e.g., 6;5 to indicate 6 years, 5 months). At the first occurrence, write out in full, and use the numbers only in subsequent occurrences, that is, “The ages of the participants ranged from 6;5 (years;months) to 7;3.”It is not necessary to use this format for ages that are expressed in months only (e.g., “The ages of the participants ranged from 30 to 48 months.”) or years only (e.g., “The ages of the participants ranged from 21 to 45 years.”).
- References and citations, including for information obtained from Internet sites;
- Expression of results of statistical tests such as F, t, and p values (e.g., F(2, 63) = 13.02, p = .04); chi-squared (e.g., χ2 (2, N = 40) = 12.27, p = .01); and statistical symbols (e.g., N, SD, M); including appropriate use of italics, statistical symbols, and spacing (e.g., around “ = “);
- Expression of numbers (e.g., as figures versus numerals; when grouped for comparison, etc.);
- Metric conversions (e.g., inches to centimeters, feet to meters);
- Tables (including notes to table) and appendices (including references to in text); Note: tables should be created using the Table function in Word (tabbed tables are not acceptable); and
- Figures (including references to in text) and figure captions.
Terminology and Notational Conventions
AAC adopts the terminology policy of ISAAC and use of person-first language, for example:
- People with complex communication needs;
- People who use AAC (rather than AAC users, AAC consumers etc.);
- Listeners without disabilities (rather than typical or normal listeners);
- Children with typical development (rather than typically developing children);
- Participants (rather than subjects); and
- Participants in the control group or cohort (rather than controls).
Notational conventions
Many articles that are published in the AAC Journal contain excerpts from transcripts or examples of interactions involving AAC (e.g., two or more people who use AAC, or people who use AAC and natural speakers). Articles often also include descriptions and/or examples of graphic symbols, manual signs, or other representations such as the alphabet. The Journal has adopted a set of conventions to use for these transcripts, descriptions, and examples, in order to ensure consistency in how they appear in print. These were originally proposed by Consulting Editor Stephen von Tetzchner, and first appeared in print in the book, Augmentative and Alternative Communication: European Perspectives, co-authored by Stephen von Tetzchner* and Mogens Hygum Jensen in 1996. Authors who incorporate transcribed interaction excerpts in articles submitted to AAC are required to use these conventions to represent the mode(s) of communication used by the participants.
- Naturally spoken elements are italicized.
- ‘‘Words and sentences produced with digitized or synthesized speech’’ are italicized and placed in quotation marks.
- MANUAL SIGNS are in capital letters.
- GRAPHIC SIGNS and PICTURES are in capital letters and italicized.
- Some manual signs or graphic symbols need more than one word in translation. When the gloss of a sign or symbol contains two or more words, these are hyphenated; for example, YOU-AND-ME or SIT-DOWN.
- s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g is shown in lower case and underlined and has hyphens between letters.
- ‘Interpretations or translations or meaning’ are used for interpretation of manual sign or graphic symbol utterances and appear in single quotation marks. This format is used when giving the meaning of facial expressions, gestures, pointing, etc.; for example, ‘yes’ (nodding) or ‘no’ (shaking the head).
- { . . . } indicates simultaneous expressive forms; for example, speech and manual signs, or manual and graphic signs. For example, {GLAD I am glad} means that the manual sign GLAD is produced simultaneously with the spoken sentence I am glad.
* Adapted with permission from von Tetzchner, S. & Jensen, M.H. (1996). Augmentative and alternative communication: European perspectives. (Table 0.1.: Notations, p. 12). London: Whurr Publishers.
In addition, written whole words used for communication and that are selected as single units (e.g., on a word board) should be underlined. Do not underline the space between words in a sequence.
In order to improve ease of reading a sequence of spelled words, include 2 spaces, NOT underlined, between the words, for example: w-e w-e-n-t h-o-m-e (2 spaces between the words).
Applying the conventions
Conventions should be applied with a view to distinguishing between different types of communication used during interactions involving AAC. Accordingly, they should be applied throughout the body of the manuscript, and, as necessary, in Tables, Figures, and Appendices. However conventions are not always required.
- Apply the conventions to actual examples of communication interactions involving AAC and/or when there is a need to distinguish how or what is occurring during a communication exchange. For example:
a) Interviewer: How did you get here today? [natural speech]
Participant: “I came by bus” [voice output from a device]
Interviewer: what bus route do you take?
Participant: M-a-i-n s-t-r-e-e-t [pointing to letters on the display with no voice output]
Interviewer: oh the new route with the fancy buses...
Participant: YES [hand gesture]
b) The researcher first pointed to the symbol GRAPES and then asked the participant to Show me grapes. The participant pointed to GRAPES.
- In cases where the means used by the individual to compose the message differs from the means used to convey the message to the partner, the conventions represent how the message is transmitted to the receiver rather than how it is composed. For example,
a) Both participants used voice output devices. John, who spelled words on his device, reported “I really like it when I can make someone laugh.” Jane, who used graphic symbols on her voice output device, was more reserved and said “I like listen.”
- It is not necessary to apply the conventions when referring to symbols, manual signs, or words that are not part of actual communication unless a distinction is being made among different types of representation. For example:
a) The symbols for fist, hand, and arm were selected for the experiment.
b) The participant’s display contained the following items: COOKIES, MILK, please, like. In addition she used gestures for MORE and ALL-GONE.
- Do not apply the conventions to concepts, ideas, or terms; refer to the APA manual.
- Do not apply conventions to direct quotations taken from other studies, reports, etc. unless (a) conventions were used in the original communication, or (b) conventions were not applied in the original but there is a need to distinguish between the types of communication used. For example:
a) In an earlier study, the researchers reported that some children “…preferred LOUD MUSIC while others wanted to READ BOOK” (authors X and Y, 2000, page 152).
b) Original text: “One participant (John) communicated by pointing to pictures on a communication board and the second participant (Jane) used a letter board to spell words. When asked about their favorite sports, John replied “soccer” and Jane replied “skating.”
Citation with conventions added: “When asked about their favorite sports, John replied SOCCER and Jane replied
s-k-a-t-i-n-g.” (conventions added)
- In some cases, the way in which the message was communicated is not relevant to the points being made in the manuscript; for example, a study focusing on opinions expressed by participants who use AAC during interviews. Applying the conventions in every instance may become confusing or disruptive to the general flow, and may detract from the substance of the paper. In such cases, it may be more appropriate to use standard quotation formats as outlined in the APA manual and to document, either directly in the text or in a table, how each participant communicated and what procedures were used to ensure that the message reported reflects the intended message of the participant. The issue in these cases is authorship (i.e., that the participant using AAC wanted to say what has been attributed to him or her in the manuscript) rather than providing a detailed record of how the interaction proceeded.
- Similarly, email and other Internet-based communications (e.g., message boards, blogs, electronic mailing lists) by or with individuals who use AAC are typically represented by standard quotation marks, as per APA style for quotations within sentences or in block form. When possible, however, it is recommended that information be included concerning how the message was constructed by the individual using AAC (e.g., standard keyboard, on-screen keyboard with scanning), either directly in the text or in a table (as above). For example:
In an email report to other members of the focus group, one of the participants, who used an on-screen keyboard and scanning to access her AAC system, stated that she “found the focus group to be a very valuable tool for gathering information from people who use AAC.”
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