Abstract
The purpose of this feasibility study is to investigate the perspectives of parents of students on the autism spectrum who use high-tech augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) in schools. The study is the first to focus on children on the autism spectrum that receive special education services and use high-tech speech generating devices (SGDs) to communicate. A mixed methods design was chosen for the current study. Parametric and nonparametric statistics were utilized to determine the relationship between ease of use, ease of learning the AAC technology, device usefulness, and parent satisfaction. Quantitative data analyses revealed a strong positive correlation between ease of use and satisfaction, ease of learning and satisfaction, and usability and satisfaction. Transcripts from semi-structured interviews were manually coded, and three themes emerged: parents do not view themselves as being equal members of the IEP team, they act as self-advocates, and they have difficulty trusting the school team. Results of this feasibility study were used to develop an initial framework for successful implementation of AAC that can be further investigated by speech-language pathologists and multidisciplinary teams to increase parent satisfaction and decrease abandonment of their children’s AAC system.
Journal Title
Iowa Journal of Communication
Volume
54
Issue
1
First Page
92
Last Page
117
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Lake, Sheri and Brydon, Melissa
(2022)
"Preventing Abandonment of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Devices for Students on the Autism Spectrum: Parent Perspectives for Successful Implementation,"
Iowa Journal of Communication: Vol. 54:
No.
1, Article 7.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ijc/vol54/iss1/7
Copyright
©2022 Iowa Communication Association
