Aphasia, which is a language disorder that affects a person's ability to communicate, can present profound challenges in one's daily life. Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) technology can support people with aphasia (PWA) in navigating such challenges, but often overlooks personalized comunication needs. End-user programming, which allows a user to develop and use their own custom programs, presents a promising solution where people with aphasia can create their own solutions based on their personal communication needs. With the advent of generative AI such as large language models (LLMs) to augment PWA communication, my dissertation investigates how end-user programming can be designed so that PWA can create and customize AI-driven tools to support their communication. I center my research on two research goals. First, by conducting co-design workshops and semi-structured interviews, I will investigate how end-user programming can be accessible for PWA, and its usefulness in various communication settings grounded in PWA's lived experiences. Then, I aim to understand the feasibility of real-world designs by building and evaluating prototypes based on the knowledge gained from the first research goal. This research aims to understand how empowering PWA in creating their own tools can promote conversational agency in AI-driven communication tools.
Jong Ho Lee (Thu,) studied this question.