Tele-AAC: Augmentative and Alternative Communication through Telepractice

Tele-AAC: Augmentative and Alternative Communication Through Telepractice is the first comprehensive resource guide to Tele-AAC. Tele-AAC is the use of telepractice specifically for providing services to individuals using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). This text establishes Tele-AAC as a new service delivery model and promotes safe, efficacious, evidence-based, and ethical telepractice for patients who need AAC devices. The goal is to provide readers with fundamental information about policy and service delivery of AAC services via telepractice to enable clinical practice.

The text details the specific technical components unique to Tele-AAC service delivery, and how the technology, personnel, and service delivery practices may vary across settings and populations. It offers didactic and case-based content for speech-language pathologists across all levels, from introductory to advanced. Chapters are included that clarify and define the term Tele-AAC, highlight the procedures used while providing assessment and intervention via Tele-AAC, identify ethical and cultural considerations while providing Tele-AAC, and demonstrate its application in a variety of settings.

The content has been enriched by the input and knowledge offered by leaders from both telepractice and AAC disciplines, and offers readers the right combination of foundational information and principles to help form a base of understanding for practitioners engaging in Tele-AAC. The field of Tele-AAC is evolving and will transform as the technology changes and advances. This text provides a threshold of understanding from which the field and practitioners can grow.

Nerissa Hall, PhD, CCC-SLP, ATP, is co-founder of Comm nic re, LLC, a company that specializes in augmentative and alternative communication, assistive technology, telepractice, and tele-AAC working primarily with school-aged individuals, providing specialized, evidence-based intervention, assessment and consultation services. Jenifer Juengling-Sudkamp, PhD, CCC-SLP, is a speech-language pathologist at the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System/VA and adjunct professor in the Department of Orthopaedics at Tulane University School of Medicine. Michelle L. Gutmann, PhD, CCC-SLP, is a clinical professor at Purdue University Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, where she teaches a variety of graduate courses including AAC, Counseling in Communication Disorders, and Motor Speech Disorders. Ellen R. Cohn, PhD, CCC-SLP, ASHA-F, is a professor in the Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh. She teaches courses in cleft palate/craniofacial disorders, professional issues, culture, diversity and healthcare, and rhetoric and communication.