AAC evaluation part 1

AAC evals can be very daunting at first if you think of them as being something new and believe that you don’t have the skills to do it. As an SLP myself, I know every SLP has been trained to do a communication evaluation, take a language sample, observe the effectiveness of communication, determine functions of communication, etc. When it comes down to it, that is what you do during an AAC evaluation, however, you put an AAC system in place when you do this. Remember, you are not evaluating a device, you are evaluating communication with a device.

In my previous district, we trained the SLPs to be the building team leader for AT/AAC instead of having a separate AT/AAC team for the district. As the facilitator who oversaw AT/AAC, I was called in to support the teams. Every year I would get a few calls with a panicked SLP on the other end because an AAC eval needed to be done. If you don’t do these on a regular basis it is very overwhelming and there are hundreds of questions going around in your head. 

• What system do I try?
• How do I know if it works?
• What data do I take?
• How do I get a device to try?
• What training is needed?
• Do I have to program the device myself?
• And on and on

To start an evaluation, I always recommend using the SETT framework by Joy Zabala (http://www.joyzabala.com/). SETT stands for Student Environment Task Tool. Doing this helps get everyone involved with the student on the same page, allows everyone to be heard, and for the team to make a plan for the evaluation. This sets (no pun intended) the stage for the evaluation and allows the team to determine together what the evaluation question is, and what data you will take to make a decision. In coming up with a plan for data collection, I remind people that data makes the decision, not a person. We want to see a positive change in communication over time by putting a system in place. This could be a reduction of behaviors, an increase in different functions of communication, an increase in length of utterance, more independence for the student, the ability to attend to tasks longer, or all of the above. It is up to the team to determine based on the tasks (skills) identified in the SETT what data is useful in making a decision about which system will meet the needs of the student. Often the data taken does not have to be new data but may be data already being taken by the team.

Before the system is put in place, it is important to get baseline data on the determined tasks to see where you are starting. I like to do this via observation of the student within the school day. Depending on what are the identified evaluation areas, you can use current data which looks at that or take new data. I like to take a language sample of sorts and then evaluate it in the same way that we will look at the language when a system is in place. If we are looking at functions of language, then I break the utterances down by function. One time I did this for a baseline before a system was put in place and we found that while people in the environment felt that the student only requested items, this student was actually using a large variety of functions, just not frequently. Baseline data is so important because it allows you to do a comparison to see if a tool is making an impact on the communication of the student. Without it you are just guessing.

When taking baseline data my preference is to do it with another SLP and to observe someone else working directly with the student and we observe. This allows you to focus on data collection and see the little things that you miss when you are busy providing instruction. Doing this data collection with another SLP gives you the chance to talk through what you saw together after the observation, also often the SLP knows the student much better than I do and may be able to help interpret something that I misunderstood. It always amazes me how we see little things the other person missed or are able to discuss what we saw and agree that yes, the student did X that nobody had observed before. I have done many observations like this with other SLPs and every time we both walk away feeling we had the best possible “picture” of that student’s communication. 

AAC Evaluation part 2 – What system to try and why?