Therapists’ perspectives: supporting children to use switches and technology for accessing their environment, leisure, and communication

ABSTRACT

Background: Many children with cerebral palsy learn to use technology to access their environments and communicate; however, minimal research informs practice.

Methods: A descriptive qualitative study with purposive sampling recruited 10 therapists (occupational, speech, and physiotherapists) from one early intervention service. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and were analyzed thematically.

Results: Four themes were derived: development of successful movement; positioning and equipment; access methodology and processes; and learning to communicate (“learning nonelectronic communication in parallel with electronic communication”).

Conclusion: Practitioners described a multitude of skills and expertise to facilitate switch use in play and electronic communication devices in early childhood.

KEYWORDS:

• Cerebral palsy
• switching
• AAC
• technology
• speech generating device