What is it about?

This project looked at how well speech-language pathology students are prepared to work with people who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), like communication devices or picture boards. The researchers focused on the opinions of the supervisors who oversee students during their clinical training. They asked 50 supervisors to complete a survey about how confident and skilled the students seemed when working with AAC. The survey also asked how much hands-on experience students had with AAC, what kinds of AAC activities they did during training, and how well their graduate education prepared them. The results showed that students’ skills and confidence in AAC varied a lot, but six main areas were highlighted where training could be improved. Most supervisors (78%) said that students lacked confidence when working with AAC during their clinical experiences. In short, the study found that speech-language pathology students need better training and more experience with AAC to feel confident and competent. More research is needed to fully understand how well students are being prepared across different settings and with a wider range of supervisors.

Why is it important?

The perspective of the supervising speech-language pathologist (SLP) is crucial because it offers a direct, real-world view of how graduate students perform with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) in clinical settings—an area that has historically lacked widespread attention in research. Supervisors are uniquely positioned to observe students’ hands-on skills, problem-solving abilities, and confidence levels with AAC, making their feedback vital for identifying gaps between academic preparation and clinical performance. By incorporating supervisors’ insights into AAC curricula and training, graduate programs can more effectively align coursework with the practical demands of clinical practice, ultimately improving student readiness and client outcomes.