The research symposium will focus on a topic, that of mental health of persons who use AAC, and a methodology, that of how to engage persons who use AAC in research, that is underrepresented in the AAC research field of today. The symposium will be a mixture of presentations and panel discussions, also allowing for active participation by the audience. In the presentation on mental health, the challenges when assessing mental health in the heterogeneous group of persons who use AAC, the knowledge gaps that exists about mental health interventions for the group, as well as Keyes’ two continua model of mental health will be presented. In the part focusing on methodology, ways to design qualitative research that can include a person who uses AAC as a primary participant, member-checking (i.e., the process where participants are asked to check the accuracy of the researcher’s account) and how it can be used in research, as well as co-design of research will be presented.