Aim
The aim of the current study was to explore AAC goal writing practices of speech-language pathologists. Based on the Communicative Competence Model discussed by Light (1997; 2003), the four primary skill domains that may be targeted when teaching children how to use AAC are linguistic, operational, social, and strategic skills. Additional domains may also include literacy, pre-writing skills, and self-advocacy.
Method
A national survey was initiated to explore AAC goal writing practices of SLPs. The survey was approved by the author’s institutional review board. A survey link was shared with members of the AAC Special Interest Group (SIG 12) through ASHA, on social media outlets, and among colleagues of the authors. Reminder emails were sent to increase participation and gain additional responses to the survey. The survey collected basic demographic information and responses to AAC Case studies. For the case studies, participants selected one of three cases and composed two AAC goals. Participants then answered questions regarding how important it was to target each of the competency domains. Finally, participants were provided a goal bank and responded once again to their case studies.
Results
Forty-nine individuals participated. Most participants were Caucasian females between the ages of 31-40. Most respondents resided in the Midwest United States (n = 38) and worked in outpatient clinics (n = 26). When asked how they generated goals for children using AAC, most respondents indicated writing goals from scratch (n = 27). Only 7 respondents noted using a goal bank. Participants rated goals related to linguistic competence, operational competence, and social competence as very important. The majority indicated that strategic competence was somewhat important (n= 11). For reading and writing, the majority indicated they were neutral. Interestingly some participants also indicated that receptive language goals were not important (n = 1), unimportant (n = 3) or remained neutral (n=6). In addition to responding to Likert scale questions, participants also wrote two goals for a case study they selected. The participants wrote their goals both without then with access to a goal bank. Almost all participants changed their goals after being provided access to the goal bank. Further analyses, including demographic influences on response differences, remain underway.
Conclusion
Participants indicated multiple goal domains were important to target but some were viewed as relatively lower priority (reading and writing in particular). Participants also changed the goals they wrote for cases after being provided a goal bank, suggesting the potential impact of such a resource.
References
Light, J. (1997). “Communication is the essence of human life”: Reflections on communicative competence. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 13, 61-70.
Light, J. (2003). Shattering the silence: development of communicative competence for individuals who use AAC. In Communicative Competence for Individuals who use AAC. From Research to Effective Practice (Eds.) Light, J. C., Beukelman, D. R., & Reichle, J. Baltimore, MD. Brookes Publishing Company.
