{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,4]],"date-time":"2026-08-04T11:47:05Z","timestamp":1785844025740,"version":"3.56.0"},"update-to":[{"DOI":"10.12688\/hrbopenres.14332.1","type":"new_version","label":"New version","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,4]],"date-time":"2026-08-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785801600000}}],"reference-count":30,"publisher":"F1000 Research Ltd","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,4]],"date-time":"2026-08-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785801600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["hrbopenresearch.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["HRB Open Res"],"abstract":"<ns5:p>\n                    Background Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) refers to a range of communication methods used by children or adults to enhance or replace oral communication. Studies show many children with communication needs who require AAC do not have access to appropriate supports, and that embedding AAC interventions in the classroom is challenging. This means many children who use AAC face barriers to meaningful participation, engagement, and independence. Understanding the experiences and perspectives of AAC users and those who support the use of AAC in the classroom can provide actionable knowledge to guide service improvement such that AAC users can be empowered to achieve and participate in school. Methods A comprehensive literature search of the following electronic databases will be completed: PubMed, CINAHL Complete, EMBASE, EBSCO and Scopus. A manual search of the grey literature will also be carried out. Qualitative studies and mixed-methods designs that include qualitative data on the perspectives and experiences of AAC users, their families, and educators and healthcare professionals who support AAC users in education settings for children 3\u201318\u00a0years will be analysed. Methodological quality of included papers will be appraised using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklist for qualitative research by two independent reviewers. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) - Confidence in the Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative research (CERQual) approach will be employed to assess how much confidence to place in the findings of the qualitative evidence synthesis. Qualitative content analysis will be undertaken using constructs from Normalisation Process Theory. Conclusion This qualitative evidence synthesis will summarise findings from the empirical international literature to provide a deeper understanding of the experiences of AAC use from a range of stakeholder perspectives. Findings will inform the development of pathways to support implementation of AAC for children with communication needs within schools.\n                    <ns5:bold>Prospero Registration No.<\/ns5:bold>\n                    CRD420251229480.\n                  <\/ns5:p>","DOI":"10.12688\/hrbopenres.14332.2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,4]],"date-time":"2026-08-04T11:29:10Z","timestamp":1785842950000},"page":"42","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.12688\/hrbopenres.crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Experiences of Augmentative and Alternative Communication use in School: A Qualitative Evidence Synthesis Protocol"],"prefix":"10.12688","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-6196-9290","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ciara","family":"Byrnes","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Allied Health Limerick County Limerick University of Limerick Faculty of Education and Health Sciences"},{"name":"Health Research Institute Limerick V94 T9PX University of Limerick"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-6614-7493","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Geraldine","family":"Moran","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Allied Health Limerick County Limerick University of Limerick Faculty of Education and Health Sciences"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michael T.","family":"Clarke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Communication Sciences and Disorders - CSD University Park Pennsylvania 16802 The Pennsylvania State University College of Health and Human Development"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8036-9921","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jessica","family":"Caron","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Communication Sciences and Disorders - CSD University Park Pennsylvania 16802 The Pennsylvania State University College of Health and Human Development"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Emma M.","family":"Smith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Allied Health Limerick County Limerick University of Limerick Faculty of Education and Health Sciences"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8171-224X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rose","family":"Galvin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Allied Health Limerick County Limerick University of Limerick Faculty of Education and Health Sciences"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9291-9361","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Aoife Lily","family":"Gallagher","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Allied Health Limerick County Limerick University of Limerick Faculty of Education and Health Sciences"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"2560","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"267-279","DOI":"10.1080\/07434618.2025.2508485","article-title":"External challenges for individuals who need or use AAC who are learning language: lived experiences, key research findings, and future directions.","volume":"41","author":"C Holyfield","year":"2025","journal-title":"Augment. 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J.]."},{"key":"ref38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.12688\/hrbopenres.14332.1","article-title":"Experiences of Augmentative and Alternative Communication use in School: Findings from a Qualitative Evidence Synthesis.","author":"C Byrnes","year":"2026"}],"container-title":["HRB Open Research"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/9-42\/v2\/xml","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/9-42\/v2\/pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/9-42\/v2\/iparadigms","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,4]],"date-time":"2026-08-04T11:29:12Z","timestamp":1785842952000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/9-42\/v2"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,4]]},"references-count":30,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.12688\/hrbopenres.14332.2","relation":{"has-version":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.12688\/hrbopenres.14332.1","asserted-by":"subject"}]},"ISSN":["2515-4826"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2515-4826","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,4]]},"assertion":[{"value":"Indexed","URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/9-42\/v2#article-reports","order":0,"name":"referee-status","label":"Referee status","group":{"name":"current-referee-status","label":"Current Referee Status"}},{"value":"10.21956\/hrbopenres.15783.r55907, Cristina Dumitru, The National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest, Pite\u0219ti University Centre, Pitesti, 29 Jun 2026, version 1, indexed","URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/9-42\/v1#referee-response-55907","order":0,"name":"referee-response-55907","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"<b>Ciara Byrnes<\/b>; \n<i>Posted: 14 Jul 2026<\/i>; Thank you so much for your time for considering this protocol. We have made amendments to reflect your very valuable feedback, see below:  Regarding your first point, we acknowledge that there are several theories and frameworks that could have been applied; NPT was chosen as a comprehensive theory with a specific focus on collective social action and collaboration, which we feel better supports research that examines implementing change within a school and classroom. We know that interprofessional collaboration has been explored in the literature and proven to be very challenging, therefore the collective action element of NPT is important in this context across health and education.  For point two, we have removed the English language criteria; thank you for raising this important issue with the protocol. This will ensure important publications in other languages and not overlooked.  Regarding point three, we have expanded the detail regarding grey literature searches as follows: when conducting grey literature searches a record will be kept including date of search, search terms and number of papers yielded. These will be added to the screening process and reported using the PRISMA guidelines. This will enhance replicability of grey literature searches.  Point four regarding the standardisation of terminology is now actioned throughout the manuscript. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.  In relation to point five regarding extraction: thank you for these helpful comments, we will add all bar barriers and facilitators, as we are conducting inductive coding of the papers informed by implementation science theory which will provide us with a more nuanced understanding of implementation factors.  Finally, thank you for sharing your study with us, we did not include this paper in the literature background as it is primarily outcome focused, however we have referenced your study in justifying the gap in the literature in the introduction.","URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/9-42\/v2#referee-comment-3946","order":1,"name":"referee-comment-3946","label":"Referee Comment","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"10.21956\/hrbopenres.15783.r55906, Jorge Eduardo Alfaro-Urrutia, Universidad San Sebasti\u00e1n, Puerto Montt, 06 Jul 2026, version 1, indexed","URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/9-42\/v1#referee-response-55906","order":2,"name":"referee-response-55906","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"<b>Ciara Byrnes<\/b>; \n<i>Posted: 14 Jul 2026<\/i>; Thank you so much for your time for considering our draft protocol. We hope that we have addressed your point comprehensively below.  We have amended the data extraction process to include data on implementation strategies which goes someways towards addressing this point. This will allow us to contextualise the experiences that we will synthesise inductively across the data set during the first level of coding.","URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/9-42\/v2#referee-comment-3945","order":3,"name":"referee-comment-3945","label":"Referee Comment","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"10.21956\/hrbopenres.15783.r55911, Sylwia Kazmierczak-Murray, Laura Gormley, Dublin City University Institute of Education, Dublin, Leinster, 22 Jul 2026, version 1, indexed","URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/9-42\/v1#referee-response-55911","order":4,"name":"referee-response-55911","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"The author(s) declared that no grants were involved in supporting this work","order":5,"name":"grant-information","label":"Grant Information"},{"value":"This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.","order":0,"name":"copyright-info","label":"Copyright"}]}}