Testing / Assessment: Augmentative and Alternative Communication Evaluations
By: Scott Nair

Today’s schools are difficult enough for our students to navigate through; however, they are nearly impossible for students with communication disorders. When our students have communication needs, those difficulties are compounded. The job of our educators also becomes more difficult when they are challenged by the communication needs of students. 

In today’s technological age, there has been much advancement in order to aid individuals with significant communication needs. These devices consist of a wide variety of communication solutions, including simple buttons that play a short message all the way to devices that are controlled by eye gaze.

The first part of the process is deciding whether or not an individual’s communication is impaired enough that an augmentative communication device would improve their quality of life. If there is an inclination that it would, then a speech language pathologist should be contacted to assist in the process. 

One of the biggest hurdles in this procedure is deciding what device may be a good fit for the individual and how to obtain a hands-on evaluation with that device. There are a handful of manufacturers that produce and sell augmentative communication devices. Each of these manufacturers has regional consultants whose responsibilities include visiting schools, hospitals, clinics, etc. to demonstrate their products. Schools can contact these manufacturers and request that they make a visit to aid in an evaluative process with the device, typically at no charge. Once these appointments are set up, and it is encouraged to trial several different manufacturer devices, the evaluation process can begin. 

When the manufacturer comes out to the school for the evaluation, the speech language pathologist, parents, teachers, and anyone who will be helping in the decision process should be present. There are a few things that can help narrow down what type of device to request in the evaluation. To begin with, what is the user’s access method going to be? This refers to how they are going to activate the device.

Another piece of information that will aid in narrowing down what device to request is if the user is a symbol-based user; that is, if they require picture support or if they are a text-based user. For example, if a user is not capable of reading or understanding text, then a text-to-speech device would not be needed. These two pieces of information will help in communicating to the different consultants what types of devices they should bring out for the evaluation. 

Once you contact the various consultants and set up a time for them to come out, the next step is to compile a list of things that are of interest to the user. This will assist in creating situations that are fun and motivating for the user during the evaluation, giving the evaluator and user the best chance for success. For the evaluation days, it is best to conduct the evaluation at a time when the user is most alert and ready to work; for example, right before lunch or toward the end of the school day typically are not the best times for an evaluation. Also try to secure a room or spot to conduct the evaluation in a calm quite environment, void of any distractions. Given that everything is set up, the evaluation is ready to happen. 

During the evaluation, the speech language pathologist will most likely guide the evaluation alongside the augmentative communication consultant. Typically, the consultant will be the hands- on person on the device guiding the user through the different steps and setting up the device to meet the user’s needs. An example of an activity during an evaluation would be to have certain objects of interest on hand, such as music, juice, or a cookie. The communication device would be set up with pictures of those objects. If the user selects the picture of the juice, then they would receive the juice. When they are able to consistently perform this activity purposefully, then the next step would be to navigate through different boards. If they select the food button, it then goes into a food page and they then can select juice. 

After the evaluation team has trialed several different devices, the decision process begins.  Things to look at are whether the user understood cause and effect, if they aware of the communicative intent of the messages, which symbols worked best with them, whether they needed symbols or text.  Once these decisions are made, a clear picture will develop as to whether a device will help in this user’s academic and social life, and which device is most appropriate. The quest for an augmentative communication device can be a daunting one, but with the right assistance, it can be extremely beneficial and rewarding.

Scott Nair is a regional consultant for TobiiATI, a leading alternative augmentative communication manufacturer, www.tobiiati.com.