Academic Experiences of Students With Complex Communication Needs

Students with complex communication needs (CCN) are guaranteed the right to a free and appropriate public education as well as the supports necessary to make progress in the general education curriculum. However, students with CCN are at risk of not receiving the support needed to fully participate in academic instruction. The purpose of this study was to investigate the academic experiences of students with CCN to understand how they participated in instruction and the supports educators implemented for them. We observed students with CCN across the United States and collected student and teacher demographic information from their educators. Sixty-nine students with CCN were included in the present analysis. Communication supports were infrequently implemented in all four educational placements, and 26% of students with CCN in our sample did not use speech, sign, symbols, or a speech-generating device and relied on gestures and/or vocalizations. Few students in segregated classrooms had access to speech-generating devices, and communication supports were only observed to be implemented in these settings during 12%–16% of observations. Implications for research are presented from the perspective of increasing the use of research-based supports for students with CCN to support their academic progress.