AAC Implementation in Schools: Parent Perspectives

The following is a summary of the findings from my Masters research at Laurier. Next term will be my last term, and I will be preparing the information to submit the research for publication. I welcome your feedback and I'm happy to talk about this at length! ;)

Executive Summary of Findings

Overview
    This study investigated barriers to full participation and learning for students with complex communication needs in Ontario public schools from the point of view of their parents. To participate in school and to learn academics, students must have a way to communicate with each other and with their teachers and support staff. A review of recent literature revealed evidence about how to teach and engage students who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Yet, there is limited evidence of successful AAC implementation in schools. To learn more about this research-practice gap, stories were collected and interpreted using a qualitative interview technique and thematic analysis.
Results
    The six participants in this study were parents of students in Grades 2 - 9 in public schools in Ontario, Canada. Three of these students had a medical diagnosis of Rett syndrome and the other three had Angelman syndrome. None of these six students could rely on speech alone to be heard and understood. Each of the parents was able to describe experiences with barriers and facilitators to participation and learning in school for their children. 
    Five themes resulted from the qualitative analysis of the stories. The relative importance of these themes was analyzed based on the ways the stories were told. In the following diagram, these themes are represented along a Ramp of Equity where the ramp is a metaphor for providing access to participation and learning in school. The lower themes were shown to be relatively more important or foundational to the upper themes.

Literate Citizenship
The stories of literate citizenship call for a deeper understanding that all students can and should be learning in school. Stories revealed that students who use AAC are often not counted in system-wide equity plans, and several parents shared experiences with educators who did not understand that their children could learn what other students were learning. It should be cause for concern that all parents interviewed described lowering the bar of expectations over time, as a coping strategy, when faced with persistent experiences of ableism.
Growth Mindset
Educators with growth mindsets were more likely to find ways to overcome the challenges of providing access to participation for students who cannot speak, according to the parents interviewed. Parents prioritized teachers’ willingness to learn over any prior experience, training, or expertise. Individuals with growth mindsets were more open to parent input, and more likely to get to know the student, collaborate with the school team, and learn how to implement AAC in the classroom.
Knowing the Student
Parents stressed the importance of getting to know their children in order to figure out how best to teach them. This theme includes information typically found in student profiles, such as strengths, needs, interests, and accommodations. It also includes the need to ensure that everyone in the school knows about the student and how to be a good communication partner to enable participation. When peers were explicitly taught about the student, classroom communities became more inclusive.
Collaboration
Parents reported that communication between home and school was critical to school success. They explained how a child without speech cannot come home and tell them about the school day. All of the parents interviewed had children with large support teams within and outside of the school. The parents themselves had developed expertise on best practices for teaching and including their children. Parents want to see school teams that welcome collaboration among teachers, support staff, school administrators, parents, students, and speech, physical, and occupational therapists.
AAC Implementation    
None of the parents could recall an experience of a school team prepared to successfully implement AAC in school when their child arrived. The other four themes are relatively more important because they influence the school team’s ability to learn how to implement AAC. This theme incorporates policy and practice barriers, as well as the professional development needed to train communication partners. When everyone at the school becomes confident in facilitating participation and learning, the student who uses AAC can reach the top of the Ramp of Equity.