Preparedness, Training, and Support for Augmentative and Alternative Communication Telepractice During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Purpose: The global COVID-19 pandemic brought about widespread use of telepractice to provide services to children with communication disorders, including students who use aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) such as speech-generating devices. This descriptive quantitative study utilized network analysis to investigate the nature of speech-language pathologists' (SLPs') professional resource networks during the pandemic, including what aspects of their professional networks were associated with their confidence to use telepractice to serve students who use aided AAC and whether there were differences for school-based compared to nonschool-based SLPs.

Method: Participants were 283 SLPs who responded to an online survey that consisted of closed- and open-ended survey items.