Presentation Type

Poster

Subjects

Internet in medicine -- Effectiveness, Medical telematics -- Applications to speech pathology, People with disabilities -- Means of communication, Communication devices for people with disabilities

Advisor

Brandon Eddy

Student Level

Masters

Abstract

Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) support individuals with communication disabilities who experience barriers to meeting all of their communication needs through spoken language. SLPs assess clients who may benefit from augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) which includes tools and strategies to support communication.

There are many barriers to effective AAC service delivery. Clinicians often receive limited training in AAC assessment or treatment, and external evidence regarding AAC assessment techniques and strategies is needed. Further, increased health risks associated with face-to-face interactions due to the COVID-19 pandemic forced many clinicians to transfer services to telepractice. This likely resulted in additional barriers to effective service delivery as there have been no protocols to date published regarding telepractice administration of an AAC assessment.

The purpose of this project was to develop a protocol for an AAC feature matching assessment to be administered via telepractice. Criterion-referenced measures were developed to assess clients using alternative access (e.g., scanning, head-pointing) in the areas of access methods, symbol set, display type, message organization, and additional features. Future research studies will evaluate the generalizability of the protocol to a diverse set of clients who may benefit from AAC.

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Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/35414

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A Feature Matching Protocol for Telepractice Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Evaluation

Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) support individuals with communication disabilities who experience barriers to meeting all of their communication needs through spoken language. SLPs assess clients who may benefit from augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) which includes tools and strategies to support communication.

There are many barriers to effective AAC service delivery. Clinicians often receive limited training in AAC assessment or treatment, and external evidence regarding AAC assessment techniques and strategies is needed. Further, increased health risks associated with face-to-face interactions due to the COVID-19 pandemic forced many clinicians to transfer services to telepractice. This likely resulted in additional barriers to effective service delivery as there have been no protocols to date published regarding telepractice administration of an AAC assessment.

The purpose of this project was to develop a protocol for an AAC feature matching assessment to be administered via telepractice. Criterion-referenced measures were developed to assess clients using alternative access (e.g., scanning, head-pointing) in the areas of access methods, symbol set, display type, message organization, and additional features. Future research studies will evaluate the generalizability of the protocol to a diverse set of clients who may benefit from AAC.