The purpose of the present study was to investigate factors that contribute to the use of AAC in the family context, focusing on communication boards. The survey was undertaken with 20 parents of AAC users at a school for special education in Curitiba, using interviews. Two groups of parents were defined: G1 group uses AAC at home and G2 doesn’t. Interviews were formulated in order to identify motives for using or not using AAC in the family context. From the analysis of the interviews, several favorable and unfavorable factors for using AAC in the family context were identified. Favorable conditions for using AAC in the family context included: parents school level and economic situation; frequency of training of parents for use of AAC; recognition of AAC as a linguistic resource; understanding that AAC helps develop oral skills; use of AAC for providing basic needs; use of AAC to broaden interactions in other social circles. Unfavorable conditions for using AAC consisted of the following factors: parents presume to know their child´s needs; AAC doesn´t apply to parents’ expectations; there is a lack of training and support for continuous use of AAC; motor skills hinder AAC use; lack of time to use the communication board. Results offer elements that could be meaningful for speech therapy intervention with families, where AAC could be seen as a linguistic resource, allowing new discursive elements and the establishment of dialogical relationships, which are basic to the constitution of social relations and of the subject.
Special Education; Augmentative and Alternative Communication; Language Disorders; Inclusion; Family
