Part II: General Assessment Questions
Under Construction
Note to the AAC Professional:
It can be helpful to ask these questions before the actual in-person assessment. The questions are directed to the AAC user and their family/caregivers/communication partners.
Environment
How do you spend your average day?
- Are you at home?
- At work?
- Out and about in the community?
Why Ask About the Environment? (click tab to open)
- To get a better sense of the individual and how they spend their day.
- To help us think about the size of a communication board.
(It may not be feasible for a person to use a really large communication board while they are out in the community.)
Mobility
How do you get around?
- Are you ambulatory (i.e. able to walk)?
- Do you use a walker?
- A manual chair?
- A power chair?
Why ask about mobility? (click tab to open)
Content
Positioning
Where do you spend most of your day?
- Seated in a power chair?
- Seated in a push chair/manual wheelchair?
- Seated in a regular chair?
- In a lift chair?
- In bed?
Why ask about positioning?
- To think about the size of the communication board.
- To get a sense of how the individual is spending their day, and to see if they might need different communication systems for different environments. We want to make sure a person has a system which meets their needs, no matter where they are.
Physical Abilities (General)
Under Construction
Current Communication
How do you currently communicate?
- Speech?
- A low tech system? (If so, which system?)
- A high tech system? (If so, which system, and how do you access it?)
Could you show me how you say "yes"? Show me how you say "no"?
Why ask about current communication?
Why ask about the high tech system?
Communication Partners
Under Construction
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