The purpose of this study was to utilize focus groups and individual interviews to investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of augmentative and alternative (AAC) techniques in facilitating language in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as expressed by the opinions and attitudes of stakeholders involved in the process. ASD is a disorder that affects an individualu27s social and communication skills that usually surfaces within a childu27s first three years of life. There have been numerous studies conducted comparing different types of AAC intervention systems, but there is little information on stakeholdersu27 opinions. The current study utilized one focus group interview with five members. This group consisted of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who have had children with autism and who use AAC on their caseload. The researcher also conducted four additional interviews; two with teachers who classrooms contained children with autism who used AAC and two with parents of children with autism. Several trends were found in this study. Trends arose that indicated that there was a decrease in behavior problems with an increase in communication with the use of AAC. Another major trend that arose was the need for more support of AAC-use from parents and teachers in order to aid in the generalization process. There was also a need for more AAC training for SLPs.
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