BRINGING CONVERSATIONS TO A CLOSE - THE MANAGEMENT OF CLOSINGS IN INTERACTIONS BETWEEN AAC USERS AND NATURAL SPEAKERS

Closings present particular difficulties in interactions between peopl e with cerebral palsy who use alternative and augmentative communicati on (AAC) systems, and 'natural' speakers. Using conversation analytic techniques this paper explores how closings proceed in video-recording s of such interactions. Four varieties of closings are identified, and their components described and exemplified. Features of these closing s are further illustrated and confirmed through interview and held-not e data containing participants' reports of their experiences of closin gs. Findings show that when the closing is initiated by the 'natural' speaker, the difficulty lies in ensuring the AAC user's collaboration. The closing is unilaterally accomplished, either by rushing through i t, or by explicitly seeking concurrence with the proposal to close fro m the AAC user. When the closing is initiated by the AAC user the diff iculty lies in making this understood to the 'natural' speaker. That i s, AAC users either initiate the closing with gesture, relying heavily on the 'natural' speaker being able to infer that such a gesture is c losing implicative, or they initiate the closing with their AAC system , in which case the closing appears abrupt. On the basis of these find ings, practical implications for AAC users, 'natural' speakers, speech and language therapists, and AAC system manufacturers are outlined.