Augmentative and Alternative Communication

2020V - Lessons Learned From SLP Professional Practices With Bilingual Users of AAC

ON-DEMAND

Format: 1-Hour Seminar (Virtual)

Audience: Students, International Affiliates, Researchers, Related Professionals, Assistants, Early Career Professionals (under 5 years)

Keywords: augmentative & alternative communication (AAC), bilingual, cultural & linguistic diversity, professional practices, equity

Presenting Author(s)

Megan Gross

UMass Amherst

View Handouts
Marika King

Utah State University

Author Only (Not Presenting)(s)

Hannah Ward

Utah State University

Presenting Author(s)

Analise Castillo

University of Massachusetts Amherst
Johanna Salisbury-Ferguson

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Author Only (Not Presenting)(s)

Yu-kyong Choe

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Presenting Author(s)

Gloria Soto, PhD

Professor
SFSU

Guidelines for serving bilingual clients who use AAC represent a combination of best practices for monolingual users of AAC and for bilingual clients more broadly; there is limited work specifically exploring bilingual AAC practices. This session will examine the professional practices of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who work with bilingual users of AAC nationally and internationally. Presenters will share data from a broad national survey and in-depth interviews with SLPs in the United States. Interviews with SLPs in Catalunya, Spain, will explore AAC practices in an additive bilingual community where bilingualism is generally encouraged. An understanding of current practices, perspectives, and barriers encountered by practitioners is necessary to improve opportunities for AAC users to express their bilingual identities.

Learning Objectives:

Describe Describe key barriers and opportunities related to service provision with emergent bilinguals who use AAC
Discuss Discuss the role of practitioner identity in service provision with emergent Spanish/English bilinguals who use AAC
Describe Describe practices and perspectives of bilingual SLPs in Catalunya, a bilingual community, relative to those of SLPs in the United States