My apologies for my absence last week. Like many of us this Winter, I finally succumbed to this miserable crud that is infecting so many. And I can't even blame it on having to shovel snow or scrape ice. I no longer do such frigid tasks, here in Southern California. But I'm back on track - mostly. Although my poor cat, who likes to sit on my lap, has become extremely distrustful. He's easily disturbed by loud noises, and my coughing and honking evidently count as such. But, he'll get over it, in exchange for some treats. So, on to this week's post. We tend to talk a lot about use of core vocabulary and expanding functions beyond requesting, but we don’t talk quite so much about social skills and pragmatics with AAC users. The Pragmatics Profile for People who use AAC was developed based upon the Pragmatics Profile of Everyday Communication Skills in Children (Dewart & Summers,1988), which the authors assert is useable by many populations, as it is descriptive rather than a measure of skills. The Profile allows clinicians to collect information to describe an individual’s communication skills functionally and usefully. While the original Profile was written for the preschool population, it soon extended to Elementary aged students, and then adults. The original authors suggested that the Profile could be used with a wide variety of students; including those with physical and other disabilities. This version for students who use AAC was adapted so that it is simple to administer to describe the pragmatic communication skills of students using, or who have used, AAC. The Profile provides a 5 point scale that includes “Does this,” “May do this,” “Does not do this,” “Not applicable,” and “Potential target.” Communication functions questions range from gaining attention to the full array of communication functions/intents and participation in various communication interaction types. There are example provided and space for narrative remarks. At the end is a summary chart, that can be used by teams to establish objectives and measure progress. The Profile can be accessed here And it was featured on the PrAACticalAAC blog here Until next week .........Keep on Talking!
