We are pleased to announce that Maria Velegrinis, winner of the GWV Scholarship in 2022 and current member of GWV, has recently submitted her thesis. Here is some information from her describing her work:
"I have developed an interdisciplinary research program bridging linguistic anthropology and disability studies. My research analyses the communicative abilities and needs of people using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) methods. The thesis features a case study which explores the multimodal communication of a child, Matthew, who is a young boy with Cerebral Palsy and communicates via the Pragmatic Organisation Dynamic Display (PODD) language system. The study examines how Matthew, a non-speaking child with multiple impairments and complex communication needs, can use PODD to establish himself as an effective and capable interlocutor. The key interactional processes and the role of various modalities in Matthew and his interlocutors' joint meaning making are examined, with a particular focus on Matthew's smiles." We wish Maria all the best in her future endeavours.