Key Dates

Related Announcements

• December 20, 2023 - NIDCD Research Opportunities for New Investigators to Promote Workforce Diversity (R01 Clinical Trial Optional). See NOFO RFA-DC-24-007
• October 20, 2023 - NIDCD Low Risk Clinical Trials in Communication Disorders (R01 Clinical Trial Required). See NOFO PAR-24-051.
• May 05, 2020 - NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See NOFO PA-20-185.

Issued by

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

Purpose

The purpose of this NOSI is to encourage those with expertise in communication disorders to pursue research in collaboration with users of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) using one of two approaches: (1) community-engaged research or (2) user-centered design. Both of these strategies include AAC users and their families/caregivers through the process. Applications are expected to lead to the development and evaluation of (1) valid and reliable measures of communication that can be used in research and clinical practice; and (2) evidence-based practices to improve effective communication between AAC users and their communication partners.

Background

Over 5 million people in the US with acquired, developmental, and degenerative communication disorders are not able to rely on spoken language as their primary means of communication some or all of the time. Restricted communication negatively affects participation and quality of life. These individuals have the potential to benefit from augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), either as a full-time or a part-time user. AAC is any tool that helps support spoken language or that is used instead of spoken language. AAC includes a wide array of multi-modal communication approaches, including gestures and facial expressions, manual signs, writing, drawing, spelling words by pointing at or typing letters, and pointing or electronically selecting photos, pictures, or written words. No-tech/low-tech (e.g., printed communication boards) and high-tech options (e.g., speech-generating devices) are currently available. Although there is strong potential benefit to communicating via AAC, there are numerous barriers to access and effective use.

Ideally, people with the potential to benefit from AAC would receive immediate and continuing access to a robust communication system soon after the identification of communication challenges. The goal would be establishing communication with a system that can be used effectively and efficiently to eventually support independent and rich communication. For those with developmental disabilities, research is needed across the lifespan to understand how to build, grow, and maintain a robust communication system that is effective and efficient as personal goals and needs change. For those with acquired disabilities, similar issues apply in terms of understanding how to meet the dynamic communication needs of the person as they recover, as their impairment progresses, or as their lives change in other ways.

To better understand the actions that are needed to accomplish this purpose, a 2-day virtual workshop was held on January 24-25, 2023 and a request for information was active between July 10 and September 15, 2023. Researchers, professionals, and people with lived experience contributed ideas through these opportunities. One of the key themes from the workshop was the need for research to improve measurement and evidence-based practice.

Improvements in measurement may involve development, evaluation, dissemination, and implementation of valid and reliable measures. These measures can be used to (1) accurately assess and track expressive communication, receptive language, literacy, social communication, and cognition in potential and/or active AAC users; (2) improve matching and tailoring of AAC options that meet the needs of each individual and the range of contexts in which they communicate; and (3) capture meaningful outcomes that are valued by the AAC user and their partners.

Improvements in evidence-based practice should involve effective communication between AAC users and their communication partners. Research plans should develop, evaluate, disseminate and/or implement evidence-based practices to support (1) the AAC user to effectively communicate via AAC; (2) communication partners to engage in successful interactions with an AAC user; (3) invested parties to set up, maintain, and adapt AAC to meet the AAC user’s needs; and (4) practitioners to select the best fitting option for a person’s needs.

For optimal design of measurements and treatment approaches, development should include the perspectives of various invested parties. These parties include but are not limited to: (1) people who are not able to rely on spoken language as their primary means of communication some or all of the time, (2) caregivers and other frequent communication partners, and (3) speech-language pathologists.

To obtain these various perspectives, researchers should use a community-engaged research or user-centered design approach. Both of these approaches involve stakeholders’ perspectives at multiple stages of design to ensure that the research results are beneficial to the larger community. No specific community engaged research approach is required, but please see the National Academy of Medicine’s Advancing Health Equity and Systems Transformation through Community Engagement strategy for assessing meaningful community engagement as a reference and to identify core principles to follow. For information on user-centered design, see Usability Starter Kit – Digital.gov.

As noted in the NIDCD Strategic Plan (Theme 6: Harness advanced technology to improve prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, Goal 2: Enhance augmentative and alternative communication capabilities) there is a need to accelerate AAC research to improve health-related outcomes for people who cannot rely on speech alone to be heard and understood. Evidence-based practices that will improve effective communication between AAC users and their communication partners must be developed in addition to valid and reliable measures of communication that can be used in research and clinical practice with these populations.

The list below includes representative, but not exhaustive, examples of topics that could be considered responsive to this NOSI:

AAC users and their families/caregivers need to be engaged throughout the research process in responsive applications. This is achieved by adopting either 1) a community-engaged research strategy or 2) user-centered design approach.

• Create precision measurement tools for assessing users’ AAC needs that incorporate potential AAC abilities, strengths, and needs while ensuring cultural and linguistic appropriateness.
• Design measurement tools that can be frequently administered to capture changing needs due to growth and development, progressive disease, or treatment/support/use of AAC.
• Construct and test an assessment that can be used to tailor AAC options to meet the needs of a user across ages, current literacy skills, cultures, languages, as well as the range of contexts in which they communicate.
• Develop and evaluate an assessment that determines and tracks meaningful outcomes for an individual AAC user over time to ensure the AAC option chosen continues to fit the user’s needs.
• Investigate current unmet communication needs of AAC users and caregivers. Develop effective treatment strategies to alleviate these unmet needs with adaptations for cultural and linguistic appropriateness.
• Develop and assess effective literacy instruction for AAC users to support growth in advanced literacy skills required for higher education and employment. Build an AAC system that supports this growth.
• Identify barriers limiting access to AAC through partnerships with agencies/clinicians providing treatment and users of AAC. Develop and evaluate effective implementation strategies based on these findings.
• Assess current unmet communication needs of AAC users and caregivers using mixed methods analysis. Develop and evaluate an effective training program for clinicians to use to address these unmet needs.

Applications Not Responsive to this NOSI:

• Applications unrelated to evidence-based practice and/or measurement in AAC.
• Applications that do not include 1) a community-engaged research strategy or 2) user-centered design approach.

Application and Submission Information

This notice applies to due dates on or after February 5, 2025 and subsequent receipt dates through February 4, 2028. 

Submit applications for this initiative using one of the following notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) or any reissues of these announcements through the expiration date of this notice.

• PAR-24-051 - NIDCD Low Risk Clinical Trials in Communication Disorders (R01 Clinical Trial Required)
• PA-20-185 - NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
• RFA-DC-24-007 - NIDCD Research Opportunities for New Investigators to Promote Workforce Diversity (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)

All instructions in the How to Apply - Application Guide and the notice of funding opportunity used for submission must be followed, with the following additions:

• For funding consideration, applicants must include “NOT-DC-24-041” (without quotation marks) in the Agency Routing Identifier field (box 4B) of the SF424 R&R form. Applications without this information in box 4B will not be considered for this initiative.

Applications nonresponsive to terms of this NOSI will not be considered for the NOSI initiative.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to the contacts in Section VII of the listed notice of funding opportunity with the following additions/substitutions:

Scientific/Research Contact(s)

Lisa M Kopf, Ph.D.
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Telephone: (240) 678-2544 
Email: [email protected]

Peer Review Contact(s)

Examine your eRA Commons account for review assignment and contact information (information appears two weeks after the submission due date).

Financial/Grants Management Contact(s)

Samantha Tempchin
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Telephone: 301-496-4222
Email: [email protected]