Abstract
Augmentative and Alternative Communication Systems are tools used to support individuals with complex communication needs. The process that is used in the researcher’s county office of education dedicate these systems to be used by individuals with complex communication needs is ineffective and can be frustrating to the student, the parent, the teacher, the service providers, and the staff in the classroom. Therefore, the researcher was led to ask the following: How can we advance the process of collaborative selection of augmentative and alternative communication systems, the practice period for the team to teach the student how to use the system, and the finalization of the system being dedicated to the student, in order to become more efficient in helping students who are nonverbal or minimally verbal gain access to a communication system as quickly and productively as possible? By using a narrative qualitative methodology, the researcher learned that the key stakeholders all valued the collaboration that came from the new process. This led to this researcher being successful, but further research needs to be conducted to see to if this protocol can be used by other speech and language pathologists and teachers in this county office, as well as in other school districts.