"I was overwhelmed but happy… that he was communicating with me": How maternal emotions influenced acceptance of augmentative and alternative communication.

PURPOSE: This study explored how mothers' emotions influenced their psychological acceptance of aided augmentative and alternative communication for children with complex communication needs. METHOD: Five mothers reflected on their experiences following augmentative and alternative communication recommendations. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, then re-examined using the appraisal tendency framework to understand how emotions and associated cognitive appraisals shaped augmentative and alternative communication decisions. RESULT: When mothers viewed augmentative and alternative communication as supporting their goal for their child to communicate functionally, they felt hope, gratitude, joy, and pride; reducing worry and reinforcing acceptance of augmentative and alternative communication. Strong negative emotions, particularly grief, impeded acceptance. Interactions with practitioners, goal congruence, and emotion contagion influenced maternal trust in augmentative and alternative communication recommendations. CONCLUSION: Mothers' emotions reflect their cognitive appraisals of augmentative and alternative communication's relevance to their communication goals for their children. Speech-language pathologists recommending augmentative and alternative communication to children, therefore, should routinely explore mothers' emotional responses and tailor education, counselling, and intervention accordingly. Fostering hope, addressing uncertainty, engineering rewarding AAC experiences, and collaborating on goals all support augmentative and alternative communication acceptance. Future research should explore emotional journeys of parents who made different augmentative and alternative communication decisions.