Reflections of Malaysian parents of children with developmental disabilities on their experiences with AAC

Abstract

Parents play an important role in the successful implementation of AAC. Previous research has indicated that parents in different countries have varying perceptions about the use of AAC and face different challenges in its implementation. To date, there is limited information about the use of AAC by children in Malaysia or parents' views about its use. The aim of this study was to explore Malaysian parents' perception of AAC and their experience when supporting their children who use AAC. For this study, 12 parents of children with autism spectrum disorder and cerebral palsy were involved in semi-structured individual interviews. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze interview data. Following analysis, three themes were identified: (a) impact of the use of AAC, (b) challenges faced, and (c) hopes and expectations. Participants reported that the use of AAC had a positive impact on their children, but that they faced challenges related to the child, the settings, and the system itself, as well as a lack of time and support. Findings from this study provide an insight for Malaysian speech therapists about the challenges faced by parents when supporting their children who use AAC, and how important it is to overcome these challenges to ensure successful implementation of AAC.

Innovations for Supporting Communication: Opportunities and Challenges for People with Complex Communication Needs

“…Even where aided communication has been provided for an individual, it may not be consistently accessible, for reasons related both to the individual user as well as to expectations and knowledge of key communication partners. Tablet technologies have enabled a degree of mainstreaming of aided communication, but concerns about the impact of using aided communication on speech development linger for many families [25]. Although high-tech aided communication is increasingly accepted [109], natural speech retains a privileged position as a mode of communication.…”

“…In one school-based study [23], students did not have access to their AAC system for almost half of all communication opportunities offered to them across a school day. Although tablet technologies have generally increased the aesthetic appeal of SGDs, acceptance of aided communication by key communication partners can still be difficult across a wide range of cultural groups [24, 25], and rates of device abandonment remain relatively high [26]. Finally, despite growing evidence to support effective use of aided communication, resources remain constrained in many contexts.…”

Intervención terapéutica y coordinación familiar en los inicios comunicativos de un caso de atención temprana

“…A estas mismas conclusiones se llega en otros estudios que, pese a no tratarse del mismo sistema (ya que no se han encontrado estudios que emplearan concretamente el programa de comunicación total en niños con parálisis cerebral), sí han utilizado otro SAAC en niños con necesidades educativas especiales (Branson & Demchak, 2009;Light & McNaughton, 2012). También se identifican valoraciones similares en Joginder et al (2017), en intervención en comunicación con niños y niñas con problemas motores. Además, algunos también obtienen, al igual que en nuestro estudio, mejoras tanto en expresión como en comprensión y se han incrementado el número de producciones orales naturales tras la introducción del SAAC (García-Martínez, 2017;Walker & Snell, 2013).…”

“…Por otra parte, en cuanto a los SAAC elegidos en la mayor parte de las intervenciones con niños y niñas con parálisis cerebral, aunque no en este caso, suelen ser sistemas basados en imágenes mediante soporte físico, en formato de libro o tablero de comunicación atendiendo a cada caso (Joginder et al, 2017;Johnson, Inglebret, Jones & Ray, 2016).…”

Multilingualism and augmentative and alternative communication in South Africa – Exploring the views of persons with complex communication needs

“…Even so, developments in AAC have historically focussed primarily on persons from monolingual and specifically English language backgrounds (Bridges 2004). Parents of children in need of AAC who come from non-English backgrounds have remarked on challenges in AAC service delivery related to multilingual aspects, including a lack of AAC systems that give access to languages other than English (Huer, Parette & Saenz 2001; Pickl 2011; Singh et al 2017).…”