I Asked School-Based SLPs What’s Hardest About AAC Right Now. Here’s What They Said.

A few weeks ago, I asked our community of school-based SLPs one question:

What’s most challenging for you when it comes to AAC right now?

Over a hundred of you answered. The themes that came up again and again weren’t surprising. Here’s what you told us.

On carryover and team support:

“Getting everyone on the same page. The device only comes out when I’m in the room.”

“Para support. They want to help but they don’t know how. And I don’t have time to train them the way they deserve to be trained.”

“Teachers are overwhelmed. AAC feels like one more thing to manage and they shut down.”

“I’ve written the most beautiful carryover plans. I don’t think anyone has read them.”

On feeling underprepared:

“I graduated and realized I had maybe two hours of AAC content in my entire program. Two hours.”

“I’m often the most knowledgeable person in the building about AAC and I still feel like I don’t know enough.”

“I’m doing my best but I genuinely worry I’m not doing enough for my kids.”

On systems and advocacy:

“Funding. Fighting for devices. Rewriting denials. It takes so much time and energy that could go to actually supporting students.”

“Trying to write IEP goals that are meaningful AND will hold up in an IEP meeting AND translate to actual practice. It’s like writing in three languages at once.”

“My district has no AAC policy. Every decision is a battle.”

On families:

“Parents are scared of the devices. I don’t blame them - they’re complicated. But it means carryover home is almost nonexistent.”

“I have families who think AAC will stop their child from talking. I spend so much time on this myth.”

“No one taught me how to have the AAC conversation with families. I wing it every time.”

A few things stand out when I read these responses together.

The knowledge is there. The infrastructure isn’t. School-based SLPs are not failing their students. They are working inside systems that weren’t designed to support AAC at the level it requires. Thin para training. Packed caseloads. Families without on-ramps. That’s not an individual problem. It’s a field-wide one.

The emotional toll is real. The frustration in these responses isn’t just professional. It’s personal. These SLPs care deeply about their students, and caring deeply inside a broken system is exhausting in a particular way. That deserves to be named.

Practical tools matter. Almost every response pointed to the same gap: knowing what to do but not having the time, language, or resources to do it. Scripts. Templates. Training guides. Ready-to-use resources that reduce the friction between good intentions and actual implementation could be impactful.

That last one is exactly what this Substack series is built to address.

Why We’re Building This Series

When this many practitioners raise their hands around the same challenge, the right response isn’t a think piece. It’s tools.

This series exists because you told us what you need. Every post from the carryover plans, the scripts, the training guides, and the parent communication resources comes directly from what school-based SLPs said is hardest.

You’re not alone in this. You’re not behind. You are doing a genuinely difficult job in genuinely difficult conditions, and you deserve support that meets you where you actually are.

That’s what we’re here for.

What’s Coming Up

Next week (paid article):
How to Run a 20-Minute AAC Training for Teachers and Paras:
A complete guide with an agenda, three key messages, one hands-on activity, and a leave-behind that your team will actually keep.

If something in these responses resonated with you, or if there’s a challenge you didn’t see named here, we’d love to hear it in the comments.

Bright Ideas Media is a professional development community built for SLPs, educators, OTs, and caregivers. www.bethebrightest.com