Prescribing Assistive Technology: Focus on Children With Complex Communication Needs: Clinical Report

Abstract

The primary care pediatrician and other pediatric physicians play a critical role in the interdisciplinary team effort to provide appropriate augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technology to children with absent or severely impaired verbal communication, recently recategorized as a complex communication need. This clinical report describes the different types of AAC technology, the device assessment process, and the training required for successful integration into a child's communication. The report further describes the role of the pediatrician in acquisition and appropriate utilization of this technology with a focus on key specialists and funding sources. Decades of research confirm that use of AAC promotes language development; therefore, primary care physicians can reassure families that AAC will likely help their child to learn to communicate more effectively. There is an important need for key resources for AAC to be identified in every community; the majority of relevant professional organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, recognize that these resources are a shared medical, educational, therapeutic, and family responsibility.