AAC DEVICE TRIALS We start device trials by discussing how to record data. Some SLPs color code consultant modeling and student responses, some type out how the trials progress, and some do not know where to start or what they are looking for. This is when all the components of the assessment come together. We discuss the findings they noted from the observations of multimodal com- munication skills, the TASP, parent/teacher interviews, intention- al choice making tasks, and literacy protocols. We talk about the comprehensive findings about the student, and begin the trials from there using feature matching.
plex communication needs. One protocol that is included is the intentional choice making task, which emphasizes communicat- ing by using a range of modalities (i.e., eye gaze, reaching, facial expressions, vocalizations, and pointing). It provides options for motivating materials (i.e., toys like balloons, food, paper, instru- ments, keys, perfume, etc.) to inspire SLPs to find any item the potential student with complex communication needs may like. When discussing the intentional choice making protocol with SLPs we discuss motivation, discrimination between objects, purposeful selection skills, emerging symbolic communication skills, and what modalities the student with complex communi- cation needs uses which we recommend that the SLP includes in their report. The Test of Aided Language Communication Symbol Perfor- mance (TASP) (Bruno, 2010) must be attempted for students, as it can help advise some systems that could benefit an student who uses AAC. This assessment examines the symbol size and number of icons on a page (i.e., grid size), grammatical encoding skills, categorization abilities, and syntactic performance. This can help with selecting appropriate devices to trial, and how to customize device selection. For example, if a student demon- strates strong motor planning skills during the TASP administra- tion I would likely trial LAMP Words for Life, and TD Snap with the Motor Planning page sets. If they demonstrate strong cat- egorization skills, I would want to include Proloquo2Go, Touch- Chat, and TD Snap with Core First page sets. Additionally, we have an informal literacy assessment proto- col to identify number, letter,and word recognition, as well as written description comprehension. Understanding a student’s abilities to use and understand written words can help imple- ment components of text to speech, or use of word prediction technology into the assessment. Using systems that integrate these literate components are important when students have mastered the cognitive skills to use them. Even the most robust device does not have every word that exists on it, so providing a person who uses AAC access to this technology can help them express their needs using THEIR words regardless on if it is al- ready programmed in the device. Although an attempt of administering the TASP is required in our AAC assessments, it is in no way a requirement to gain ac- cess to a high tech AAC system. Students frequently throw the assessment and shut down during the administration attempts. In these cases we document what happened during the assess- ment attempt, and discontinue the administration of the TASP. These student still can benefit from high tech AAC! One student that was assessed licked the TASP booklet before it was discon- tinued, and they now have access to LAMP Words for Life fol- lowing their AAC assessment. We emphasize in every case that there is no prerequisite to AAC (especially when including more structured assessment procedures).
Image 6 - AAC device trial data collection tool.
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