Unaided AAC
Anything you can do with your body and no external help
- Sign languages
- Vocalizations
- Gestures / eye blink / facial expressions –>Culturally biased
Constraints to consider for AAC
- Individual preferences
- Costs / funding
- Attitudes toward using AAC
Capabilities (skills and abilities the individual needs to work around)
- Vision
- Hearing
- Motor
- Speech
- Literacy
- Cognition
Criterion-Referenced Assessment
Used to describe the individual’s performance with respect to specific domains to determine 1) strengths and 2) plan for intervention
Administering carefully selected tasks designated to answer specific questions; able to reasonably predict what systems would be most appropriate
What is a standardized ax most helpful for with respect to AAC?
Determining if there’s a “problem” in the first place
What are some strategic AAC goals?
- Repairing communication breakdowns
- Using most effective communication method and vocabulary
- Using compensatory strategies within AAC system
True/False: no standardized tests can directly identify the type of AAC system an individual requires
True
SLPs serving children who require AAC should (E,I,P,I,O):
- Provide language options that fulfill immediate needs and allow for further linguistic growth
- Allow the child to observe fluent AAC users
- Ensure that AAC is consistent with IEP goals
- Observe child’s peers to get a sense of what language they use
- ?
S-LPs serving adults who require AAC should:
- Explain new communication methods and how they can be of benefit
- Implement AAC in a way that is minimally disruptive to a client’s established patterns of behaviour + involve the client in decision-making as much as possible
- Anticipate and plan for changes in cognition/motor abilities (e.g. progressive)
- Make sure individuals with short-term needs still have AAC
