TOPIC

AAC research

Everything we have read on aac. Each paper is summarised from the full article rather than its abstract, so the limitations are in there too, and the funding wherever the paper declares it.

79 PAPERS · PAGE 2 OF 2 · NEWEST FIRST

• SLPMeta-Analysis2025The Effect of Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions and Aided AAC on the Language Development of Children on the Autism Spectrum with Minimal Speech: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Journal of autism and developmental disordersNaturalistic interventions help children with autism speak, but adding aided AAC boosts language growth further. The benefit was small to medium in direct comparisons. Introduce AAC early rather than waiting for speech to emerge, and ensure the device fits the child's specific needs.
• OTSLPCase Report2025Visual ERP-based brain-computer interface use with severe physical, speech and eye movement impairments: case studies.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationFor seven people with severe speech, physical and eye movement impairments, a visual brain-computer interface worked best when they used their natural gaze. Forced central fixation often failed. Calibrating while they looked at targets helped some perform better.
• SLPSystematic Review2025Curricular integration of augmentative and alternative communication for students on the autism spectrum in inclusive-oriented schools: A scoping review.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceAAC is rarely integrated into inclusive school curricula for students with autism. Most instruction happens in brief, one-on-one sessions outside the classroom, often by researchers or peers rather than teachers. This isolates communication support from academic learning and classroom participation.
• SLPRCT2025Preliteracy Skills in Young Children Who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing: Secondary Analysis of the Technology-assisted Language Intervention Randomized Trials.Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics : JDBPPreliteracy skills in deaf/hard-of-hearing children with language delays improved significantly over 24 and 48 weeks. Growth was driven by improving language skills, not by the specific therapy type. Both intervention groups showed similar gains, suggesting language development itself supports early literacy.
• SLPSystematic Review2025Identifying and Describing Best Clinical Practices for Children and Adolescents With Complex Communication Needs: A Scoping Review of Healthcare-Based Interventions.Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDROnly eight studies met criteria for clinical communication interventions for children with complex needs. Multimodal approaches combining AAC with naturalistic and parent strategies showed promise, while speech-only interventions failed. Findings apply mainly to autism, not other disabilities.
• SLPOther2026Reimagining AAC designs for children during dynamic social situations by leveraging smart device design.Augmentative and alternative communication (Baltimore, Md. : 1985)This is a design forum about future AAC play features, not a study. It does not show that any approach works.
• SLPQualitative2026Identifying P300 brain-computer interface training strategies for AAC in children: a focus group study.Augmentative and alternative communication (Baltimore, Md. : 1985)Experts recommend adapting P300-BCI-AAC training to each child's development. Strategies include pre-teaching with real objects, using manual controls to boost confidence, simplifying visual arrays, and ensuring stable seating to protect signal quality.
• SLPPilot2026Visual-perceptual features of augmentative and alternative communication displays affect efficiency of motor reaching by individuals with Down syndrome: a pilot study.Augmentative and alternative communication (Baltimore, Md. : 1985)Distributed color placement in AAC arrays was associated with less accurate reaching than clustered placement, mainly in six participants with Down syndrome. Display layout is a practical variable to check when direct selection seems slow or inaccurate.
• SLPOther2026Considering whether brain-computer interfaces have prospective potential to support children who have the physical abilities for touch-based AAC access: a forum manuscript.Augmentative and alternative communication (Baltimore, Md. : 1985)This paper is a theoretical discussion about how brain-computer interfaces might one day help children with developmental disabilities who can already use touch-based AAC. It proposes ideas like detecting stress to change screen displays but reports no new data or tested outcomes.
• SLPSurvey2025'AAC Isn't a Take It or Leave It': The Augmentative and Alternative Communication Training Experiences of Australian Speech-Language Pathologists Working in Paediatrics.International journal of language & communication disordersAustralian paediatric speech pathologists rated university AAC training inadequate and wanted practical, face-to-face training. They said AAC is not optional because nearly all surveyed SLPs already support AAC users.
• SLPSystematic Review2025Identifying and describing school-age children who would benefit from AAC: A scoping review of survey tools.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsNo standardised tools exist to identify school-age children needing AAC. Existing surveys are custom-made, vary widely in definition and informants, and cannot be compared. Therapists must rely on clinical judgement and informal assessments until a validated tool is developed.
• SLPSystematic Review2026Self-Assessment Instruments Related to Functional Ability for People Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication-A Scoping Review.International journal of language & communication disordersMost self-assessment tools for people who use AAC focus on thoughts and beliefs, not feelings or goals. Many lack validation data and are English-only. Clinicians should adapt existing tools with symbols and plain language rather than assuming standard questionnaires are accessible.
• PTOTSLPSurvey2026Bringing the Computer-Based Instrument for Low Motor Language Testing to Canada: A Survey of Caregiver and Clinician Perspectives.International journal of language & communication disordersCanadian caregivers and clinicians say current language comprehension assessments for children with cerebral palsy lack accuracy, creating a critical gap. Both groups view the new C-BiLLT-CAN tool as highly promising, but flag that it currently lacks the response methods, like auditory access and specific switches, that many children need to actually complete the test.
• SLPProtocol2026Protocol for a Systematic Review of Interventions Not Delivered by Speech and Language Therapists for Children With Speech Sound Disorders.International journal of language & communication disordersThis paper outlines the plan for a future systematic review of non-speech-therapist-led interventions for children with speech sound disorders. It contains no results, data, or conclusions, so there is nothing here to change clinical practice.
• PTOTSLPOther2026Sub-groups of spoken language and broader communication skills in a large heterogenous cohort of minimally verbal school-age children: evidence of discrepant profiles.Molecular autismA cluster analysis of 181 minimally verbal school-age children identified two groups with strong comprehension but weak speech production. These children use AAC more often. Their profile suggests a speech-motor barrier rather than a lack of understanding, so therapy should target speech sounds and support alternative communication.
• SLPSystematic Review2026Digital Technologies for Children With Hearing Impairments to Support Language Learning: Scoping Review.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesMost digital tools for children with hearing loss are mobile apps, and most of those teach sign vocabulary. Only 12 of 45 studies reported any outcomes at all, and they were small and short, so nothing here shows these tools work.
• SLPQualitative2026What Influences Speech Pathology Practice for Children with Complex Communication Needs from Multilingual Families? An Australian Perspective.International journal of language & communication disordersFamilies often resisted AAC, asking when therapy would work on talking instead. English dominated both sessions and device choice, and speech pathologists lacked the time, funding and interpreters to build systems in home languages.
• SLPCase Report2026Communication development of a child with autism, the son of deaf parents, using alternative communication: a case report.CoDASOne non-speaking 5-year-old with autism, whose deaf parents use sign language, improved on a parent-completed behaviour checklist and a clinician-rated communication assessment over nine months of therapy with a picture book paired with sign language. One child cannot show a treatment works.
• SLPOther2026Visual Communication Supports for the Assessment of Swallowing and Somatosensation in Adults With Down Syndrome.Perspectives of the ASHA special interest groupsA clinical focus article, not a research study. A speech-language pathology team describes the visual and AAC supports it built to help 14 adults with Down syndrome take part in swallowing and oral sensation assessments. No data were collected on whether the supports worked.
• OTSLPSystematic Review2026Priorities and Perspectives Regarding Goals and Outcomes of Support for Autistic Children Under 12 Years: A Systematic Review.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceThe goals that autistic adults, families and professionals ranked highest for autistic children were communication, mental well-being, autonomy and community inclusion. Reducing autistic traits, neurotypical social skills training and academic targets ranked lowest. Professionals still leaned towards social skills and spoken language.
• SLPRCT2026Augmentative and Alternative Communication Generative Language Intervention: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHRPreschoolers with severely unintelligible speech built longer, correctly ordered symbol sequences on an iPad in twice-weekly sessions over four months, gaining about 0.26 symbols per utterance each month. Children given only the device and workshop made no significant gains. COVID left the trial underpowered.
• SLPSurvey2026'They Absolutely Love It, or They're Terrified of It'. The Self-Perceived Competence of Australian Speech-Language Pathologists in Augmentative and Alternative Communication.International journal of language & communication disordersAustralian speech pathologists rated themselves only somewhat competent in AAC, weakest at assessment and strongest at delivering therapy. Rural clinicians, those with few AAC users on their caseload, and those with little university training rated themselves lowest.
• SLPRCT2025The PD COMM Process Evaluation: Describing Interventions and Implementation in a UK Pragmatic Randomised Controlled Trial of Speech and Language Therapy for People With Parkinson's-Related Dysarthria.International journal of language & communication disordersLSVT was delivered close to protocol: 13 hours 17 minutes of direct therapy on average against 2 hours 44 minutes for standard NHS speech therapy, usually by two or more therapists. The authors say that dosage gap may itself explain the trial result.
• SLPRCT2023The effect of responsiveness to speech-generating device input on spoken language in children with autism spectrum disorder who are minimally verbal†.Augmentative and alternative communication (Baltimore, Md. : 1985)Adding a speech device to a behavioural programme did not make these children respond more to device input than to ordinary speech. But the children who did respond to the device early on made more spontaneous comments and used more different words. Exploratory, 31 children.
• SLPSystematic Review2026The Predominant Focus Is Still on Teaching Children to Make Requests: A Systematic Review of AAC for Autistic Adults and Children.International journal of language & communication disordersAcross 69 studies of AAC for autistic people, the research mostly teaches children to make simple requests. Only five participants were adults. Quality of life, participation, and broader communication skills are barely measured.
• SLPQualitative2026Voices from the classroom: Teachers' perspectives on collaboration with speech-language therapists in learners with special educational needs schools.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsTeachers in South African special-needs schools valued SLT support for communication and classroom guidance but reported SLTs were often stretched thin by extra duties and too few in number. They wanted clearer role training and more SLT time in classrooms.
• SLPQualitative2026Inclusive instructional communication in higher education: A comparative policy analysis of South Africa and Malawi.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsSouth African and Malawian higher education policies promise inclusion but never say how a lecture, assessment, or online course should be adapted for a student who is deaf, uses AAC, or has a language disorder. The gap is in the policy, not in the student.
• SLPOther2026Words for clinical use in speech-language pathology in Brazilian portuguese-speaking children: a focus on familiarity and representativeness from expert judges.CoDASTwenty-one judges rated 480 candidate words and 146 were kept for a word bank targeting Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children aged 18-36 months. It is a selection of words, not a test of whether using them changes a child's progress.
• SLPRCT2026Investigating the Effects of Adding Explicit Teaching and/or Signing to Story-Based Vocabulary Intervention for School-Aged Children With (Developmental) Language Disorder.International journal of language & communication disordersAdding explicit teaching or signing to story-based vocabulary lessons helped school-aged children with DLD learn more verbs and adjectives than stories alone. Combining both added no extra benefit and may have slightly hindered learning.