Current technology provides new challenges to improve skills on people with special necessities. In fact, persons with communications needs can take advantage of new devices and mobile applications to interact and communicate easily and in the most straightforward way. Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems are oriented to users who cannot use natural language due to temporary or permanent impairments, providing an alternative to natural language for communication. In this paper, we present design guidelines for easy communication application (ECO), an AAC tool designed with a user-centered design approach to make functional communication easier for individuals with complex communication needs. ECO tool has two well-defined modules: the Communication User and the Communication Manager. The former is thought as an AAC tool, while the Communication Manager module provides a way to edit the content and fit the dynamics of use and application design to the user’s interests. In addition, we present an evaluation of the ECO tool from two different perspectives. On the one hand, we have achieved a heuristic-based expert evaluation in order to analyze the functionality corresponding to the Communication Manager module of the tool, in order to check main accessibility requirements and improve functionality accordingly. On the other hand, we have evaluated both the communication manager and communication user modules in a real context, carrying out a qualitative evaluation with final users and their therapists to check whether the tool is useful in concrete daily scenarios. Results corroborate research questions, demonstrating that ECO meets the most important accessibility requirements and it is highly valued by experts and end-users.

当前的技术为提高特殊需求人群的技能提出了新的挑战。实际上，有通信需求的人可以利用新设备和移动应用程序以最直接的方式轻松地进行交互和通信。增强和替代通信（AAC）系统面向因暂时或永久性障碍而无法使用自然语言的用户，从而为通信提供了自然语言的替代方法。在本文中，我们提出了易于沟通应用程序（ECO）的设计指南，这是一种以用户为中心的设计方法设计的AAC工具，可以使具有复杂沟通需求的个人更轻松地进行功能沟通。ECO工具具有两个定义明确的模块：通信用户和通信管理器。前者被认为是一种AAC工具，而Communication Manager模块提供了一种编辑内容并使用户和应用程序的使用动态适应用户兴趣的方法。此外，我们从两个不同的角度对ECO工具进行了评估。一方面，我们已经进行了基于启发式的专家评估，以便分析与该工具的Communication Manager模块相对应的功能，从而检查主要的可访问性要求并相应地改善功能。另一方面，我们已经在实际环境中评估了通讯管理器和通讯用户模块，并与最终用户及其治疗师进行了定性评估，以检查该工具在具体的日常情况下是否有用。结果证实了研究问题，