Moving beyond binary: shades of yes and no in embodied responses

People communicate using various modalities (e.g., spoken language, gestures, writing, and body movements), known as multimodal or embodied interaction. During in-person interactions, confirmations and rejections are often expressed in nuanced embodied ways through changes in tone, volume, or inflection. For individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), linguistic expression of these responses is often limited to binary "yes" and "no" selections delivered with flat affect using their speech generating devices. This study, part of a larger investigation of in-person interactions involving adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) who use AAC devices, centers on a young woman with IDD who lacked access to her AAC device during data collection. While completing as survey-based interaction task with a familiar communication partner, she relied on embodied movements to express confirmation and rejection. Whole-to-part, inductive analysis of recorded interactions led to the development of a coding scheme for these embodied responses. Microanalysis of selected segments revealed that despite communication and physical impairments and an inoperable AAC device, she coordinated body movements to deliver nuanced responses to binary questions. This study highlights the expressive power of embodied communication and offers implications for clinicians and communication partners of individuals who use AAC.