Publication Date

Spring 2022

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Communicative Disorders and Sciences

Advisor

Wendy Quach

Subject Areas

Education; Speech therapy

Abstract

Parents and teaching professionals of children who use augmentative and/or alternative communication (AAC) systems within multilingual environments often face complicated decisions regarding their language choices and practices. Understanding parents’ and teaching professionals’ perceptions on this topic can assist AAC service providers in supporting them better during intervention. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of Filipino parents and teaching professionals regarding AAC and multilingualism. Specifically, this study sought to describe parents’ and teaching professionals’ language choices and practices when interacting with the AAC communicator and to describe the factors that influence their language choices and practices. This study followed a qualitative design employing focus group discussions. Six participants took part in the focus group discussions. Data from the focus groups were transcribed and analyzed thematically using an inductive approach to identify themes and subthemes. Seven themes were identified: (a) language exposure, (b) service delivery, (c) AAC device characteristics, (d) AAC user characteristics, (e) opportunity barriers, (f) language beliefs, and (g) multimodal AAC. Both parents and teaching professionals were found to take many factors into consideration when making language choices for AAC communicators. AAC service providers need to remain aware and mindful of these factors to understand and support parents’ and teaching professionals’ decision-making processes in a way that is respectful to their ideals and aligned to current research evidence.

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