'They Absolutely Love It, or They're Terrified of It'. The Self-Perceived Competence of Australian Speech-Language Pathologists in Augmentative and Alternative Communication.

These are clinicians' ratings of their own competence, not a measured test of it. The survey never defined what competence in AAC means, so two clinicians could answer the same question with different things in mind. The survey was voluntary and was distributed online, so the clinicians who answered may not represent the Australian workforce. Only 10 of the 203 respondents had caseloads that were 81 to 100 per cent AAC users, so the finding that this group rated themselves slightly lower than the 61 to 80 per cent group may come down to how few they were. Only 16 clinicians were interviewed, and every participant was Australian-trained, so nothing here speaks to internationally trained clinicians. The study did not examine post-professional training, so it says nothing about whether courses taken after graduation change competence. Eligibility was limited to clinicians with paediatric or mixed caseloads, so adult-only services are not described.

The authors declare no other conflicts of interest. The work was funded by the School of Graduate Research, Central Queensland University.

Do not read this as a verdict on how well Australian speech pathologists actually do AAC. The survey asked clinicians to rate their own competence and never defined what competence means, so a low rating could reflect limited exposure to particular devices, or a more demanding personal standard, rather than a real gap in skill.