EMBRAACE: A Collaborative Framework Empowering Families of Color Navigating Augmentative and Alternative Communication Supports and Services

Speech and language impairment is the second most common disability category for which children are served in public schools under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004). Although the legislation supports children receiving appropriate services to support their communication needs, such as augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), many access barriers persist for children and their families, especially for Families of Color. This clinical focus article provides an overview of two widely used frameworks for assessing the communication needs of children who use AAC and their families: the Student, Environment, Tasks, and Tools Framework (Zabala, 1995) and the Participation Model (Beukelman & Mirenda, 2013). Although both frameworks offer structured approaches to identifying supports across contexts, there is still an outstanding need to address the socially, culturally, and historically situated experiences of Families of Color. To address these gaps, the authors propose a novel framework coined EMBRAACE, which supports collaboration with families, sustaining their cultural and linguistic needs while also addressing the many systemic inequities that they may face. Of particular significance is this framework's capacity to support families through a lens of intersectionality, addressing the structural, social, economic, and attitudinal barriers that impact how family's access and maintain AAC support for their children. We propose the EMBRAACE framework as a guiding model for practitioners advocating with families for AAC through practices that do not erase their cultures, values, and expertise in their children.