Despite advances in the field of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), outcomes among children who require AAC remain discouraging. Practitioners may benefit from guidelines to aid decision-making in relation to supporting pre-linguistic communicators. We conducted an open-ended questionnaire of 30 AAC professionals to determine if consensus existed regarding the assessment information needed, the communication skills to teach, and the instructional strategies to employ to support AAC learning for pre-linguistic communicators. We analyzed the responses using qualitative content analysis in four iterative phases. We provide five statements that reflect areas of consensus and divergence among the participating AAC professionals. These findings provide important insights related to assessment, communicative competence, instructional strategies, decision-making, and communication partner instruction. Findings of this preliminary exploration indicate the need for ongoing and targeted research related to AAC decision-making guidance that attends to context (e.g., languages spoken, service structures) and pre- and in-service training in AAC decision-making.

中文翻译：

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支持使用 AAC 的儿童的专业人员的教学决策

尽管增强性和替代性沟通 (AAC) 领域取得了进展，但需要 AAC 的儿童的结果仍然令人沮丧。从业者可以从支持前语言传播者的指导方针中受益，以帮助做出决策。我们对 30 名 AAC 专业人士进行了一项开放式问卷调查，以确定在所需的评估信息、教学沟通技巧以及支持语言学前沟通者的 AAC 学习所采用的教学策略方面是否存在共识。我们在四个迭代阶段使用定性内容分析来分析响应。我们提供五项声明，反映参与的 AAC 专业人士之间的共识和分歧领域。这些发现提供了与评估、沟通能力、教学策略、决策和沟通伙伴指导相关的重要见解。这一初步探索的结果表明，需要进行与 AAC 决策指导相关的持续和有针对性的研究，关注 AAC 决策中的背景（例如，所使用的语言、服务结构）以及职前和在职培训。