FULL ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY REPORT:
Are you a certified Speech Language Pathologist by profession?
In what location do you primarily work?
How many years of experience as a speech language pathologist do you have?
With what gender do you identify?
What is your age?
What factors are the most important when recommending and augmentative alternative
communication (AAC) tool or a speech generating device (SGD) to a patient?
PRICE
FEATURES
SIZE OF DEVICE
AVAILABILITY AS AN APP
MULTILINGUAL
OTHER
If you ranked ‘Other’, please specify to what you are referring
Patient's literacy skills
Patient skills
Ability to use across different devices.
Likelihood that the client will use it
Life and accommodating facility of AA device
Baseline data, population, parent involvement, environmental impacts
ease of programming and use
Ease of Maintenance
nothing; it made me click it.
accessories available
Client's ability to use it
Overlays/vocab/picture icons
Accessibility
client (user) preference
Suitability for the individual who will be using it
Effectiveness
Language learning supplemented
What features are most necessary in an AAC tool?
EYE TRACKING
CUSTOMIZABLE
MULTILINGUAL
TEXT-TO-SPEECH
ICON-BASED
OTHER
If you ranked ‘Other’, please specify to what feature you are referring
Photograph based
Added features
Idk
Data reporting
Flexibility and accommodation
Accssories
Client's ability
Nothing, it made me pick it.
Comment: what is necessary varies by the needs of the person using it. Someone who can
read doesn't need icon based, but a nonverbal, nonliterate child would require icons. If your
motor skills are good enough for a touchscreen or mouse, you don't need eye tracking. If you
have severe CP or advanced ALS, you need eye tracking. Same for multilingual software,
really.
visual scenes, photos
some of these are hardmultilingual or eye gaze may be imperative for 1 client but not necessary
for another
AACs & SGDs
When assessing the needs of your patient, how often are you able to acquire the resources
you need to best treat the patient?
What form of AAC tool do you recommend to your patients more?
AAC Recommendations
When it comes to an AAC device, what company do you most prominently recommend?
For the device you most prominently recommend, what feedback do you receive from your
patients?
What is the most common cause of negative feedback you receive from your patients about
their AAC device?
When it comes to an AAC application, what app do you most often recommend to your
patients?
For the application you most prominently recommend, what feedback do you receive from
your patients?
What is the most common cause of negative feedback you receive from your patients about
their SGD applications?
Do you agree with the following statements concerning AACs?
“There are one-size-fits-all AACs”
“There are AACs that are appropriate for both pediatric and adult use”
“Quality AACs are affordable and attainable”
Where do you discover new AACs to recommend to patients?
Optional: Please state at which conferences, schools, associations, etc. you discovered new
AAC tools
ASHA
ASHA, ATIA
ASHA, TSHA
ASHA
NY
ASHA, ASHA Schools, ATIA, Closing the Gap, AT Expo
ALS Association, Assistive Tech Listserv
Colleague at work
FAAST
ASHA, CPS
Closing the gap, MSHA
Communication matters, UK
Mid-Michigan AAC Conference, LAMP Conference (by PRC)
State Convention, ASHA
ATIA primarily, ISAAC or ASHA
What are some challenges your patients face that you feel are not adequately addressed
through current AAC tools and SGDs?
The major challenges with iPad apps are backing up and upgrading. The iPad is often
purchased and owned by the school district, so it is linked to their iTunes account, requiring the
IT department to get involved. This is time consuming and hard to arrange at times.
Often time use of an iPad with an AAC app is helpful for students because of the size and
ability to use the device as both a learning tool and a communication device. However,
because iPads are not dedicated devices they are not covered by medicaid or other forms of
insurance which puts the cost back in the hands of the user or their families.
TD Compass app is presented as an equal alternative to a dedicated device with limitations on
use outside of 1 to 1 in person communication. My patient cannot make a phone call, send a
text, etc, using the app and his caregiver is paying a subscription because in the short term,
that's affordable whereas the dedicated device is very expensive and there are more hoops to
jump through when he needs something NOW.
I think the biggest challenge is finding AAC specialists that can help families at home with
programming and use. Parents get thorough evaluations, but then have endless
recommendations that are overwhelming and challenging to implement without support.
Visual accessibility
Getting families to get on board. Using it at home.
Medicare requirements for AAC hinder my patients ability to be properly reimbursed in some
occasions
Lack of assessment geared toward whether it is an appropriate tool for a specific client.
I work mostly with bilingual Spanish/English children 2 1/215 years of age. It's difficult to find
AAC tools that have multilingual features and that "sound" appropriate.
Price and insurance costs
apps only work for so long when motor skills become progressively impaired, dedicated
devices are expensive and have other restrictions such as not as powerful or as fast for
multiuse including both communication and other applications for home management,
entertainment and written communication, off the shelf technology which is fast presents more
difficulty with durability and compatibility using multiple applications
Not enough time getting use to the device before purchasing it. It would be nice to have a "trial
period" for a couple weeks.
multimodal communication
Parent training that is convenient and available in Spanish
frustration over it taking to many hits to sequence basic phrases devices geared prominently
more for requesting (i.e. I want, I need) which means commenting (i.e. I see, I hear) requires
additional hits. Patients become proficient in requesting needs but lack more social
commenting skills.
Access to device for endstage pts who lack motor control. Devices are heavily reliant on
caregivers. Communication is slow, requires patience on the part of user and communication
partner Difficult to use in various situations in bed can be particularly difficult to position/use
Programming can be cumbersome and time consuming
Quality Training for families and staff
Carrying over skills in the classroom and home environment; teachers don't know how to
incorporate or use in classroom
Carryover and training for parents.
Many tools are difficult to program and customize for parents who prefer to be highly involved
in this process.
Bridge communication programmes for young children who are still learning to use symbols
Ability to take devices anywhere and use in a variety of settings
It's not made clear to them and their families/caregivers just how much training may be
necessary to use AAC/SGDs successfully.
Staff use: despite maximal training/education, staff do not assist pt in using (SNF setting)
1: Writing, there are some options through SGDs but they can be cumbersome, especially when
we're talking about kids at school relying on busy teachers or aides to set it up. Some more
general texttospeech SGDs and apps can be used for writing and speaking, but that doesn't
work for all my clients. 2: Picture symbols everyone complains about them either they're too
babyish or not transparent (although how certain words like "can" in the sense of "able to" can
be made into a clear pictures is understandably difficult), or too stick figureish, etc... 3:
Multilingual piece there are some devices and apps that do a decent job with Spanish for
picture symbol users, but I've run into problems with Vietnamese, Haitian Creole, Cape
Verdean Creole, Mandarin and Cantonese.