Augmentative and alternative communication services during the COVID-19 pandemic: impact on children, their families and service providers

Abstract

The closure of schools and healthcare facilities across the United States due to COVID-19 has dramatically changed the way that services are provided to children with disabilities. Little is known about how children who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), their families and their service providers have been impacted by these changes. This qualitative study sought to understand the perspectives of parents and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) on how COVID-19 has affected children, families, services providers and the delivery of AAC-related communication services. For the study, 25 parents and 25 SLPs of children who used aided AAC participated in semi-structured interviews, with data analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis. Parents and SLPs highlighted wide disparities in how children have been impacted, ranging from views of children making more progress with communication and language than before the pandemic to worries about regression. A complex system of factors and processes may explain these differences. COVID-19 will have lasting impacts on the lives of children with complex communication needs. This research highlights the crucial role of family-service provider partnerships and access to quality AAC services for children during the pandemic and into the future.

Keywords:

• Augmentative and alternative communication
• COVID-19
• impact
• parents
• perspectives
• speech-language pathology

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the efforts of Brianna Coltellino, Erica Emery and Abbie Allen in data collection and analysis for this project. The authors also thank the parents and SLPs who graciously shared their experiences with us.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

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Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by the Florida State University Council on Research and Creativity (CRC) under the COVID Collaborative Collision Grant.