A meta-synthesis of team members’ voices: what we need and what we do to support students who use AAC

Abstract

The ultimate goal of AAC provision is to promote students’ active participation across settings through interactions involving a variety of partners and functions. To achieve such outcomes, educational teams must collaborate and consider the characteristics of students, their families, and relevant environments during AAC assessment and intervention. To date, AAC team collaboration has rarely been evaluated collectively outside intervention or case study research. In this investigation, a meta-synthesis was conducted to review qualitative studies of perspectives of team members on supporting students who used AAC, ranging in age from kindergarten to post-secondary, in public schools in the United States. Analyses yielded three primary themes necessary for effective AAC services; inputs, activities, and outcomes. Implications and recommendations for service providers and future researchers are described.

Keywords:

• Augmentative and alternative communication
• AAC services
• meta-synthesis
• school-aged children
• team collaboration

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Notes

1 DynaWrite is a registered trademark of Dynavox Technologies, located in Pittsburgh, PA.

2 NVivo is a registered trademark of QSR International, located in Victoria, Australia.