Attitude matters: barriers to participation and learning for students who use AAC

Although current best practices of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) implementation have been established, some studies indicate that there is poor AAC implementation in schools. This qualitative study investigated the barriers to school participation and learning for students who use AAC in Ontario, Canada from the point of view of six parents. After semi-structured interviews were used to gather stories, inductive thematic analysis was used to develop five themes: potential to learn, growth mindset, knowing the student, collaboration, and AAC knowledgeable professionals. This study reinforces the existence of opportunity barriers in schools and extends previous research by identifying the predominance of attitude barriers.