355 Search Results for assessment
July 8, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
Want to hear from a veteran SLP on AAC assessment? Check out this overview of AAC assessment principles and practices by SLP Pat Ourand. While anyone can view it, only ASHA members can earn free CEUs for the experience (available only during July 2015). You can register for this as a CEU course here. Kudos to ASHA for making this available in celebration of the 15th anniversary of their Professional Development unit. If you want ASHA to offer more professional development activities in AAC, let them know. They are very responsive to member feedback when planning future CEU activities. You can reach them at their Action Line (Members: 800-498-2071; Non-Members: 800-638-8255). You can view other CEU courses available for free this month on this ASHA webpage. The video is also available in non-CEU format via YouTube.
July 6, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
One of the things that I love most about where I live is the rich mix of cultural heritages and linguistic backgrounds in the clients we serve. It can be challenging to do a good assessment, though. Today, we hear from Lindsay Oesch who shares her thoughts on AAC assessments with children from bilingual environments. Don’t miss clicking through to get the parent questionnaires and other resources she shares in her post. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Beginning the AAC Assessment Process with Bilingual Children As a clinician in New York City, it is so exciting to be working with children ages 5-12 as a speech-language pathologist in one of the most culturally and linguistically dynamic places in the world. It has also remained a major challenge to assess and treat children with speech and language impairment/delay who speak more than one language, in order to accommodate their specific language needs. Assessment for a communication... [Read More...]
May 12, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
While the Index of Augmented Speech Comprehensibility in Children (I-ASCC) has been around for almost 20 years, few clinicians know and use it. In this post, we welcome back Matthew Baud and Jill Senner to talk about how they are using this assessment tool. Enjoy! AAC evaluations can be challenging, especially if there is disagreement among team members as to whether AAC is necessary or not. We frequently see disagreements about AAC arise when a student is able to speak. Let’s examine the following case. Mrs. Brown has had Johnny in her class for the last 2 years and she “understands everything” he is saying during their routine calendar time. The new SLP, who only sees Johnny once weekly for 30 minutes, tried to elicit information about his weekend at home and reported that she “didn’t understand anything.” What is going on here? How can two communication partners have such vastly... [Read More...]
March 24, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
You don’t have to do AAC work for very long before you become acutely aware that many of our prAACtical friends experience chronic pain. We can all relate to the ways in which pain impacts a person’s behavior and participation in life experiences. Even very low-level pain can be terribly distracting, highly annoying, and cause us to have difficulty concentrating. From GERD to muscle spasms to constipation, children with AAC needs often experience pain that goes undetected or inadequately treated. In today’s post we look at some resources for assessing pain in children with disabilities. Thanks to Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital for these fine resources. You can access their resources here and watch a brief video on pain in children with cerebral palsy here.
February 5, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
A truth: People with significant communication difficulties need and deserve high-quality AAC assessments by experienced professionals. Some other truths: We want to do a good job. It feels a lot better to go home at the end of the day when we feel like we’ve really, REALLY helped your loved one. For us, there isn’t much that tops that feeling. We may have had little or no training in this. Most SLPs in practice today didn’t have any coursework in this area when they were in their graduate programs. Even if they did, they had little to no mentorship in applying the information to real clients in a real world setting. And even those who did get some clinical experience in AAC might not have worked with people similiar to your family member. Any learning we do about this is usually on our own time and at our own expense. People... [Read More...]
October 30, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
One of the challenging things about teaching graduate student SLPs to do AAC assessments is that there is no single, comprehensive protocol to cover the needs of all types of clients. We’ve started a collection of forms and thought some of you might find them helpful. If you know of others, please get in touch so we can add to the list. That way we’ll have them all in one place. Intake and General AAC Assessment AAC Assessment Protocol: Gail Van Tatenhove AAC Checklist and Rubric: Tufte AAC Intervention Rubric: Angela Standridge, Texas Region 4 Education Service Center Adult Pre-Assessment (Acquired Disabilities): Gail Van Tatenhove Adult Pre-Assessment (Congenital Disabilities): Gail Van Tatenhove Bloom and Lahey-Early Communicative Forms and Functions: Exceptional Children Division, NC Department of Public Instruction Dynamic Assistive Technology Evaluation (DATE) Collaborative Worksheet: Texas AT Network Needs Assessment: Gail Van Tatenhove Pediatric Pre-Assessment: Gail Van Tatenhove Picture Assessment: Gail... [Read More...]
October 19, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
One of the most challenging parts of providing AAC services is to do a good assessment. Today, we turn to Dr. Rae Sonnenmier of the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire for thoughts on how to approach this important task. Link to the Communication Success Screening Tool Direct link to video: http://vimeo.com/88019903
August 27, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
It’s the beginning of a new semester for us, and that got us thinking about assessment for our new and returning clients with AAC needs. Here are some of the tools we’ll be thinking about over the next few weeks. AAC Profile: A Continuum of Learning (Kovach, 2009) Checklist of Communication Competencies, Revised (Bloomberg, West, Johnson, & Iacono, 2009) Functional Communication Profile, Revised (Kleiman, 2003) Social Networks: A Communication Inventory for Individuals with Complex Communication Needs and Their Partners (Blackstone & Hunt Berg, 2012) The Test of Aided-Communication Symbol Performance (TASP; Bruno, 2010) ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Blackstone, S., & Hunt Berg, M. (2012). Social Networks: A Communication Inventory for Individuals with Complex Communication Needs and Their Communication Partners. Verona, WI: Attainment. Bloomberg, K., West, D., Johnson, H., & Iacono, T. (2009). Triple C Manual and Checklists, Revised. SCOPE: Victoria. Bruno, J. (2010). Test of Aided-Communication Symbol Performance. Pittsburgh, PA: Dynavox Mayer Johnson. Kleiman,... [Read More...]
August 10, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
Allyson Robinson, SLP at the Oklahoma ABLE Tech Project, shares some thoughts on working as a team to conduct AT assessments that draw on the Quality Indicators for AT. Direct link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=s3r8M-lFQfs
July 31, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
We are so pleased to have a return visit by SLP Jeanne Tuthill. In this post, she shares an informal assessment activity based around a Book of Favorites. Enjoy! ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Greetings from Massachusetts! My work at the Collaborative for Educational Services is on a school-year contract so I’m currently on summer break with my three girls. We’ve been plenty busy with fun summer activities but my learning and growing as an AAC therapist isn’t tied to my contract dates. I’ve also been busy watching webinars, reading some great books (educational as well as pleasure-reading), and following the Facebook feeds of some of my favorite AAC peeps! I really wish I could have attended ISAAC in Lisbon, Portugal this year…I loved seeing everyone’s photos and posts from what looked to be a spectacular conference! In my last post on assessment I shared with you an ice-breaker activity that is low-stress for... [Read More...]