BIO

Bianca is a senior at Florida State University pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Communication Science and Disorders with a minor in Psychology from Jacksonville, Florida. She plans to attend graduate school at Auburn University to obtain a Master of Science in Speech Language Pathology with a research focus on augmentative and alternative communication, caregiver perspectives, early intervention and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

AAC TELEPRACTICE SERVICES DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: CAREGIVER PERSPECTIVES ON THEIR ROLE IN SERVICE DELIVERY

Abstract

One of the most influential environments where young children develop is in their homes with their families or caregivers. Since children spend a significant amount of time with their family environment it is essential to understand this dynamic when providing early childhood education and intervention programs such as at home telepractice (Halgunseth, 2009; Epstein, 2001). While there are several studies about teletherapy feasibility, accessibility, and effectiveness and the SLP perspective, not many have focused on the perspectives of caregivers involved in AAC services (Coltellino, 2022; Barton-Hulsey et al., in print; Lincoln et al., 2014). Therefore the purpose of this study is to identify caregivers' opinions on service delivery, specific barriers they may be experiencing and what their beliefs are regarding their role in supporting AAC service delivery. The proposed study was conducted within a larger project focused on SLPs and caregivers of children who used aided AAC and their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.This descriptive qualitative study (Sandelowski, 2000, 2010) involved fifty semi-structured interviews and content analysis (Patton, 2015). The proposed study plans to analyze twenty five of the caregiver interviews that were coded as “caregiver beliefs” and use quantitative analysis to gain insight into caregiver perspectives. Consensus coding will be used to allow the results to be more reliable and valid. Although this study aims to give insight into the caregivers’ role in service delivery, there is still more to be known about caregiver perspectives, their beliefs and attitudes.

Keywords: Communication, AAC, Speech-pathology