Abstract
For adults with acquired communication impairment, particularly those who have communication disorders associated with stroke or neurodegenerative disease, communication partners play an important role in establishing and maintaining communicative competence. In this paper, we assemble some evidence on this topic and integrate it with current preferred practice patterns (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2004). Our goals are to help speech-language pathologists (SLPs) identify and describe partner-based communication strategies for adults with acquired impairment, implement evidence-based approaches for teaching strategies to communication partners, and employ a Personnel Framework (Binger et al., 2012) to clarify partners? roles in acquiring and supporting communication tools for individuals with acquired impairments. We offer specific guidance about AAC techniques and message selection for communication partners involved with chronic, degenerative, and end of life communication. We discuss research and provide examples of communication partner supports for person(s) with aphasia and person(s) with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis who have complex communication needs.