|
- Today, students can have their own customized augmentative and alternative communication devices (AAC) with specialized vocabularies that match their language needs.
- Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) forms one part of the broader field of assistive technology (AT).
- Assistive technology or AT as defined in the Assistive Technology Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-394) includes "any item, piece of equipment or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities."
- Augmentative and alternative communication is taken to mean any "other" form of communication (rather than speech) with which individuals express themselves, including a wide range of possibilities from simple gestures to sophisticated AAC voice output devices.
- Teachers of any subject or level may work with students who have disabilities and their assistive technology since students typically attend schools in their local communities.
- The characteristics of the different types of AAC devices may be called "no tech," "light tech" [or "low tech"], and "high tech."
- Musselwhite and St. Louis (1988) identified three types: unaided, aided, and voice output. Unaided AAC systems consist of a symbol system that does not require any aids or devices. Aided AAC systems refer to a symbol system that requires some type of external assistance for the symbols, either an aid or a device. Voice output systems require some type of external device for the symbols, except that the external device is a computer that speaks.
- AAC assessment is an ongoing process that does not end. It starts with evaluation of a student's needs. Then, a device or a system of devices is selected. Next, a vocabulary is customized to the student to go on the devices chosen. The AAC assessment goes on, in the short term, to evaluate the effectiveness of the augmentative and alternative communication in the various communicative environments. In the long term, teachers and clinicians keep reexamining and reevaluating the AAC user, the environment, tasks, and the tools.
- The AAC assessment team may consist of the IEP team members or it may have a different composition depending upon the needs and abilities of the student and the skills of the IEP team.
- Data-gathering models guide the decision-making process of selecting, acquiring, and using augmentative and alternative communications systems.
- Chambers' "Considerations: Flowchart of Primary Questions" (1997) guides the team to answer general and basic questions about the appropriateness of AAC/AT.
- Zabala (1997) created a question grid model, referred to as the SETT Framework, to address very specific information about four essential areas that have a major impact on the decisions made in AAC or AT: Students and their abilities and needs; Environment in which the students communicate; Tasks required for active participation in the activities of the environment; Tools needed complete the tasks.
- Six assessment areas lead to decision about an individual's AAC system: positioning and seating, cognitive skills, language skills, vision skills, motor skills, and communicative environments.
- Most AAC users need time and experience to fully master their devices and the vocabulary on it. The vocabulary must be either intrinsically or extrinsically motivating for the AAC user. Generic messages provide more opportunities for communication than specific messages. Vocabulary is dynamic and never static; keep adding and deleting vocabulary to the AAC system, customizing to the individual user's needs.
- The team responsible for developing the AAC vocabulary uses word lists, informant-based questionnaires, and the ecological survey or inventory.
- It is necessary to conduct an extended trial with the device precisely defining the criteria for success for the AAC system.
- Implementing AAC is a team effort and that no one person can or should do it in isolation.
- Access to AAC is not something that is earned. A student must have access to some types of AAC system at all times. Do not take an AAC system away from students as punishment.
- Functional language teaching methods provide the underpinnings of instruction for students with augmentative and alternative communication.
- Research shows that teaching AAC students involves not just helping them learn language. Instead, it involves the entire socialization system interwoven within language, communication, and the culture of the classroom (Beukelman & Mirenda, 1998; Bradsher, 1998; Cook, Hussey, & Cook, 1995).
- Both the students with disabilities and their non-disabled peers need chances to practice interacting with each other throughout their school years if they are to learn how to communicate in work settings once they are adults (Alliance for Technology Access, 2000a; Kaye, 1998; Kaye, 2000).
- AAC advocates consider the "classroom culture" to be the precursor to the workplace culture.
- The "State Tech Act" of 1988 (Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act, 1988) and "Technical Assistance Project," authorized under the Assistive Technology Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-394), built the architecture for a decade of successful "systems-changing" AAC/AT projects. These research and development agencies and projects serve 56 states and territories.
- RESNA stands for "Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America." It gives technical support to these agencies and projects. RESNA, in turn, is funded by a grant from the federal agency NIDRR-an acronym for National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). Together these entities have formed a lattice of "infrastructure" for assistive devices that transformed the lives of the people they serve.
- Additional major online databases about AAC and AT strengthen this infrastructure of information and services. They include AbleData (Belknap, 1998), Closing the Gap (2000), Trace Research and Development Center (2000), the Research Institute for Assistive and Training Technologies (RIATT, 2000), and the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDE, 2000).
- RESNA and CSUN host a training and credentialing program for assistive technology service providers.
|
