Device Assessments – AAC and Literacy

STUDENT ASSESSMENTS

screenshot of matrix: 8 row and 18 column chart with labels in each cell, some grayed out, some colored, most white with key in upper corner

The Communication Matrix

Charity Rowland and DesignToLearn

The Communication Matrix is an assessment tool designed to pinpoint exactly how an individual is communicating and to provide a framework for determining logical communication goals. It was designed primarily for speech-language pathologists and educators to use to document the expressive communication skills of children who have severe or multiple disabilities who are at the earliest stages of communication. Its concise online format is designed for rapid administration by persons familiar with the assessment, and yields a visual profile of the student’s information.

Matrix

The Pragmatics Profile of Everyday Communication in Children/Adults

Dewart, H. and Summers, S.

consists of informal interview with an open form of quesitoning
focuses on communication in daily life facilitates working with families/caregivers; their insights and knowledge are valued, and they are encouraged to contribute to intervention and to monitoring progress
provides a way of establishing a client’s own perceptions, placing value on people’s own insights into their experiences as communicators
yields qualitative, descriptive data which can provide an added dimension to other quantitative assessments
can help plan intervention that is relevant to everyday communicative need

Prolfile

Test form with space for user information at the top and a color-banded chart with skills down the left and ability across the top.

DAGG-3 Dynamic AAC Goals Grid (2023)

Tobii Dynavox with Vickie Clark

The DAGG-3 is the updated version of a goal and intervention guide distributed by the device vendor Tobii-Dynavox. The 21-page tool identifies sets of skills at five different levels of communication. The skills within each section represent the range of AAC abilities known as linguistic, operational, social, and strategic competencies. The student’s abilities are identified from within these sets and potential goals and intervention targets are selected with basic steps for monitoring progress included.

This tool can be helpful for thinking of the types of goals that are important to AAC users. The organized, color-coded sections make the complex process a little easier to navigate. The goals need to be individualized but getting some ideas on what to target can be really helpful for SLPs who do not have a lot of experience with writing those types of goals.

Tobii-Dynavox does require that you sign up to get access to their resources.

DAGG-3

Device Assessment Tools

graphic organizer showing title of four resources with a call to action in each

Assessing Students’ Needs for Assistive Technology

by Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative (WATI)

The WATI group has a long history of offering quality materials related to assistive technology (AT). The student assessment guide is divided up into chapters that include forms, checklists, and instructions. They provide a comprehensive look at the student across all areas that might be related to AT – sensory, motor, cognitive, communication, and more. The checklist format and details make it a nice tool for looking at the breadth of issues within and across a domain. The AAC section can be used as part of an AAC/AT evaluation.

WATI Assessment

Screenshot of rubric; title, introduction, chart with 6-columns of ratings, 4 questions on left side

Rubric for Evaluating the Language of Apps for AAC: RELAAACs

by Carole Zangari

This rubric is a user-friendly reference for considering the features of AAC apps as part of a comprehensive evaluation. Fifteen different app features are listed, related to communicative functions and language learning characteristics. The app being considered is rated from 1 (does not support) to 5 (fully supports) for each feature. The levels have a short description along with the number value, making it easier to determine where a particular app would fall. Calculating the total score across all the features is one way to compare apps. Looking at the descriptions associated with the higher ratings is a good reminder what we would expect to see (and use) in a robust communication system.

RelAACs Rubric