Parents’ expectations and perceptions concerning the provision of communication aids by the Communication Aids Project (CAP)

This paper reports findings from part of an evaluation study of the Communication Aids Project (CAP), a government-funded project in England which provided communication aids to school-aged children. The paper focuses on parents’ views of the CAP process and the impact of the aid. Fourteen parents were interviewed twice over the telephone: once before or just as their children received communication aids and again six to eight weeks later. Parents expressed satisfaction with the impact of the aid on their children’s lives and showed they had realistic expectations concerning potential short-and long-term benefits. They raised two main concerns regarding the provision of aids, namely the timescale involved and access to accurate information and advice.

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