Caregiver-Implemented AAC Interventions for Children with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities: a Systematic Review

Many children with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities benefit from augmentative and alternative communication strategies (AAC) to increase their communicative competency. Furthermore, caregiver-implemented AAC interventions are an effective and efficient strategy to improve communication outcomes. We reviewed the caregiver-implemented AAC intervention literature to assess child and caregiver characteristics, what kind of interventions caregivers were taught, how caregivers were trained, and how studies evaluated caregiver implementation. We found that families from marginalized backgrounds were underrepresented. Most studies used functional behavioral interventions and various teaching strategies, and few included caregiver-dependent variables. We discuss our results in the context of improving future caregiver-implemented AAC interventions and, in turn, child communication outcomes.