AAC Chapter Six Flashcards
Capability Assessment
●Process of gathering information about an individual’s capabilities in a variety of areas in order to determine appropriate AAC options
●Involves identifying an individual’s level of performance in critical areas that pertain to AAC intervention, such as motor control, cognition, language, and literacy
●Goal should result in a profile of the individual’s capabilities that can be matched to the operational requirements of various AAC options***
Assessment Approaches
- Criterion-referenced (What can they do relative to a task?)
- Feature matching (Do you know the features you’re matching to?)
3.Norm-referenced – “AAC assessment almost never requires that professionals administer norm-referenced tests in a
standardized manner…” Page 132
●Can be useful for obtaining general information related to the person’s capabilities (when administered with modifications)
Start with Criterion-Reference
●Administer carefully selected, criterion-referenced tasks that are designed to answer relevant questions
●Can individual access using direct selection?
●Language skills? Can we use the AAC Language Lab criteria? SHOW
●Literacy skills? Can we find out from teachers/parents?
●Sensory skills? Can we observe these?
What does a test of cognition tell us that another category does not?
Nothing really
Trials
●Answers to previous questions lead you to try selected AAC components
●Assumes at least one team member is familiar with AAC options (devices, techniques)
“demo” demonstrate devices (best practice is 3 devices) then decide which device works the best. Then do a 6 week trial to determine if the device WILL work before they buy it.
AT Act Amendments of 2004
●All 50 states and U.S. territories have AT centers whose mandate is to increase the availability and utilization of AT devices and services for individuals with disabilities
●In Oklahoma, that center is ABLE Tech!!
●Makes accessing AAC devices easy
●Page 132-133
Areas (Domains) to Assess
- Positioning/seating
- Motor capabilities
- Cognitive/linguistic
- Literacy
- Sensory/perceptual
ATP
Assistive technology professional
- Positioning and Seating
●Critical for individuals with a range of motor impairments
●May need to consult with OTs or PTs
●Most individuals with neuromotor impairments are likely to use their AAC devices while seated in a wheelchair, at a school or work desk, or at home
●MUST be properly positioned FIRST
Practice with chairs
Ergonomics
The same seating and positioning that is appropriate for a person in a wheelchair is appropriate for us!
Assessment of Positioning and Seating
●Implement temporary changes to improve the individual’s positioning
●Optimize positioning so that assessment of the motor skills necessary for AAC use can proceed
- Assessment of Motor Capabilities
●May involve OTs or PTs
●Two assessment concerns:
1.Identify a motor technique to be used during the assessment
2.Identify a motor technique to be used for long term
ID of Motor Skills for Assessment
●Individual needs a reliable and efficient way to answer
●Will need to be a direct selection technique
●Usually start with answering yes/no
●Questions should be appropriate
●Allow adequate time for responses
Dos and Don’ts of AAC
Do’ sand donts of AAC
*
ID of Long-Term Motor Skills
●Usually focuses first on direct selection
●Try scanning IF
●Inaccurate
●Very slow
●Fatiguing
●May need both direct selection and scanning
ID of Long-Term Motor Skills
●Assess in these stages:
•Hand/arm control
•Head/orofacial
•Foot/leg
●Assess range and accuracy of movement (reach for objects)
●Optimizing Control
●Size and number of items
●Additional supports/apparatus (like keyguards)
Assess Negative Impact
●Atypical reflexes
●Excessive muscle tone
●Atypical postures
●Excessive fatigue
Switch Assessment for Scanning
●Hand then head then feet, legs, knees
●Control a computer game or turn on a toy
Components of Switch Control
- Wait
- Activate
- Hold
- Release
- Wait
- Reactivate
Prompt with: Wait, don’t hit it yet; Okay, hit it now; Stop; Hit it again; etc.
Page 150 for handout
Scanning and Fatigu
●Automatic low level of fatigue
●Directed medium level of fatigue
●Step high level of fatigue
- Assess Cognitive/Linguistic Capabilities
●Awareness ●Communicative intent ●World Knowledge ●Memory ●Symbolic representation ●Metacognitive skills
See table on page 155 for help
Symbol Assessment
●Book details techniques for helping teams determine what types of symbols will meet current and future needs - Page 158
●Were you able to determine whether the individual understands the functional use of some objects?
●Were you able to determine whether the person can either recognize the verbal labels or match them to their referents?
If the answer is: NO to either question…***
●May start low tech to teach symbol-referent associations
●Use visual schedules
●Use talking switches
“Symbol sets that require extensive learning and practice may be excellent choices for the future.” – Page 164
The Next Step…
●Question and answer format – Can you show me the car?
●Requesting format – Touch the picture to tell me what you want.
Conclusions I can draw if individual can do these:
Individual could probably use more advanced symbols
Vision and Hearing
●What are the individual’s abilities?
●Can I observe their abilities?
●Have more formal screens been completed?
Is there a bottom line?
●Thank goodness this is a team effort!
●That’s a lot of assessing.
●Can we gather this information through observations?
●Can we interview teachers, parents, and friends for some of these answers?
●Can we present an AAC system to the individual and see how they do?
●What about those trials?
Work Smarter NOT Harder!
●prentrom.com
