Beukelman and Ansel (1995)指出美國具嚴重口語溝通障礙者0.8%至1.2%，Blackstone (1990)也指出學童中佔0.2%至0.6%，依此推估，國人中具嚴重口語溝通障礙者近乎佔二十五萬人口，障礙類型含智障者、自閉症者、聽障者、無喉者、多障者、發展遲緩者與神經性語障者等各類身心障礙，而溝通輔具運用則為重要議題。溝通輔具種類含各類溝通版、各類符號系統與呈現方式、聽覺輔助器、人工發聲器等；溝通輔具介入人員眾多包括個案使用者、家屬、語言治療師等各類復健師、特教老師等教育人員、輔具的設計者等相關工程師。溝通輔具運用成效是當今治療、教育與科技成果檢定關鍵。國內醫療復健與教育體系缺乏溝通輔具的運用成果文獻，影響溝通障礙者甚鉅。本研究目的有四項訴求：(1)調查溝通輔具介入的醫療、特教、社會福利單位。(2)針對溝通輔具特色、功能、價格、規格、經費來源、個案類型及介入狀況進行調查。(3)溝通輔具使用成效則包括個案溝通品質、溝通效率與使用的狀況、學習能力的改善程度、生活品質的改變等及介入的瓶頸、障礙程度等調查。(4)提供理想的介入模式、個案篩選與介入成效評量方式。本研究採用電話訪問與問卷調查方法，針對溝通輔具使用的單位與人員進行調查。202份問卷回收樣本中，50份為語言治療師、67份為學校中特教老師、40份屬社會福利機構、28份是人工發聲器使用者、17份是聽障班學童。問卷結果包括溝通輔具運用現況、溝通限制、溝通障礙評量、溝通現況、使用績效與溝通成果進行結果分析。本研究結果可提供國內使用溝通輔具介入者對使用現況認知，並進一步提出溝通輔具更佳服務模式。 One quarter of million nonverbal handicapped populations may exist in Taiwan, but no data had been reported regarding to the augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) services in this population. Purposes: In this survey, four aims were explored: 1) The AAC application among the handicapped in the central Taiwan included Taiwan-made AAC products as well as the demographic data of users. 2) The AAC intervention process and related personnel were involved. 3) How is AAC intervention outcome regarding to communication efficiency and life quality improvement 4) What suggestions can be made to improve the current AAC intervention services Design: 85 users of locally designed AAC in the central Taiwan and 128 trainers including speech therapists, special education teachers and others were selected as subjects for this survey investigation. The survey data were analyzed by a descriptive statistics. Results: It showed that AAC services did provide alternative to improve verbal communication limitation but a long-term effectiveness remains a problem. Teachers of special education, speech therapist and user's family played major roles of the service, but the severity of the handicapped and user's family attitudes influenced effectiveness of AAC application significantly.
