A survey of school-age children with highly unintelligible speech

Abstract

Prevalence studies in the AAC discipline are fundamental to establishing funding, instructional, and research priorities. These data inform policy-makers on the allocation of clinical and educational services, help prioritize AAC pre-service and in-service trainings, and support AAC research grant applications. A survey study was designed to (a) provide prevalence estimates of school-age students who have highly unintelligible speech, (b) describe the demographic makeup of these students, and (c) describe their access to AAC. Rigorous web-based survey development and distribution procedures were followed. Special education administrators in New Mexico, USA were recruited to distribute the surveys to speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in their respective school districts. The majority of school districts in the state participated, and the overall SLP response rate for participating districts was high (65%). Based on the results, the best estimate indicates that approximately 1 in 89 school-age students in New Mexico has severely unintelligible speech. SLPs averaged 5.4 students per caseload with severely unintelligible speech, with 86% of SLPs providing services to at least one of these students. Only 22% of students with highly unintelligible speech had been seen by an AAC specialist. The findings highlight the substantial number of school-age students with highly unintelligible speech and the ongoing need for high quality AAC service provision for these students.

Keywords:

• Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)
• demographics
• highly unintelligible speech
• school-age children
• survey

Acknowledgments

Preliminary results were presented at the 2016 Annual Convention of the American Speech–Language–Hearing Association in Philadelphia, PA.

The authors thank expert panel members Melinda Dolan, Maria Jaramillo, Jennifer Kent-Walsh, Sandra Nettleton, Annette O’Connor, and Diann Tator for their careful reviews of the survey; UNM AAC laboratory students Christie Duhigg, Jacqueline Garcia, Bryan Ho, Kelli Isakson, Lindsay Mansfield, Cayla Otero, and Kaethe Richter for their assistance; the dedicated special education administrators who helped distribute this survey; and the many school-based SLPs in New Mexico who took the time to complete the survey.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by funds from the UNM Research Allocation Committee.