Strategies for involving parents in programs for young children using augmentative and alternative communication

A child with severe disabilities has a major impact on the family, which is even more complex when there is a severe communication disability. Professionals often recommend augmentative and alternative communication devices for these children and seek to involve parents in facilitating use of these techniques. Involving parents can become a challenging goal. This article seeks to help professionals in accomplishing this goal by increasing understanding of the impact of a disabled child on the family—particularly a child with severe communication disabilities—and by discussing how these issues might interfere with the parent-professional partnership. In addition, specific strategies are presented for increasing parent involvement and strengthening the parentprofessional relationship, including providing information, utilizing a systems approach, creating support networks, and advocating teamwork.