An Investıgatıon Of Turkısh Speech And Language Therapısts’ Thoughts On Alternatıve And Augmentatıve Communıcatıon Systems

Objectives: Speech and language therapists (SLP) are the primary authorities for preparing and teaching alternative and augmentative communication systems (AAC). This study aims to find Turkish SLPs' thoughts about AAC systems. Materials and Methods: The research was carried out with a survey that, researchers developed called “Alternative and Augmentative Communication Knowledge Questionnaire (AACQ)”. AACQ contains three parts, a) Demographic questions, b) 17 items about AAC & and c) Two open-ended questions about the AAC. For this study, 45 SLPs participated. 33.3% of the participants have been working as SLPs for 2-3 years and 55.6% of them are working in a rehabilitation center. Results: AACQ scores differ statistically and significantly according to the group that uses AAC in clinical settings (p =,003 <,05). But did not differ statistically according to taking a lecture about AAC, taking courses about AAC and, their length of service as an SLP. It was observed that 80% of the participants were not comfortable using AAC. When the AAC examples of the same participants were analyzed, participants only gave five different examples. The example with the highest percentage and the majority of the rest of the examples were low-tech and un-aided AAC systems. Also observed that the largest proportion of the example is “Communication Board” with 32.94% percent which is low-tech device. 82.2% of the SLPs want to use AAC but a) lack of knowledge about AAC, b) insufficient material, c)families’ negative thoughts d) discomfort of SLPs while using the AACs were barriers to this process. Conclusion: Turkish SLPs need to become more aware of the AAC. The limited examples shows that AAC systems are not sufficiently known in Turkey. But they also have different barriers to using AAC. There is a need to develop materials compatible with Turkish culture and language. To improve that, it is important to conduct investigations into the AAC systems of the Turkish SLPs. In addition, there is a need to improve AAC education in undergraduate lectures in SLP education. With this development, it is thought that Turkish language-specific ADIS varieties can be kept up to date.