Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine confidence levels and identify predictors of increased confidence of school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) relative to different aspects of the augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) assessment process. Method Surveys were completed by 272 school-based SLPs. Questions were designed to capture demographic information and confidence in areas of assessment such as student capabilities, participation, and feature matching. Results There were variable levels of confidence across aspects of assessment. Respondents were less confident in tasks related to assessing students with severe physical impairments and incorporating aspects related to cultural and linguistic diversity in their assessment. SLPs were more confident assessing student participation and unaided communication. Additionally, respondents had less confidence in matching the features of high-tech speech-generating devices to their students. Self-identification as an AAC specialist, years of experience, percentage of caseload of students with complex communication needs, and length of longest continuing education experiences all contributed to predicting confidence in most areas of assessment. However, years of experience did not contribute to predicting confidence in feature matching. Conclusions Results from this study acknowledge that SLPs are likely to have varied degrees of confidence in aspects of assessment related to preparation, clinical experience, and self-identification of specialty. Findings from this study support increasing training opportunities in AAC assessment. As specialization was the strongest predictor of confidence, further research should investigate the characteristics and preparation of self-identified AAC specialists. This is an important first step in pinpointing ways to increase confidence in school-based SLPs.

中文翻译：

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基于学校的言语语言病理学家：对增强和替代交流评估的信心。

目的 本研究的目的是检查置信水平并确定学校语言病理学家 (SLP) 相对于辅助和替代交流 (AAC) 评估过程的不同方面的信心增加的预测因素。方法调查由 272 名以学校为基础的 SLP 完成。问题旨在捕捉人口统计信息和评估领域的信心，例如学生能力、参与和特征匹配。结果 评估的各个方面存在不同程度的置信度。受访者对评估有严重身体障碍的学生以及在评估中纳入与文化和语言多样性相关的方面的任务不太自信。SLP 更自信地评估学生参与和独立交流。此外，受访者对将高科技语音生成设备的功能与学生相匹配的信心较低。作为 AAC 专家的自我认同、多年的经验、有复杂沟通需求的学生的案件量百分比以及最长的继续教育经历的长度都有助于预测大多数评估领域的信心。然而，多年的经验并没有有助于预测特征匹配的置信度。结论 本研究的结果承认，SLP 可能对与准备、临床经验和专业自我认同相关的评估方面具有不同程度的信心。这项研究的结果支持增加 AAC 评估的培训机会。由于专业化是信心的最强预测指标，进一步的研究应该调查自我认定的 AAC 专家的特征和准备。这是确定提高对基于学校的 SLP 的信心的方法的重要第一步。