Effectiveness
In order to address the effectiveness of the AAC device for Sandra, two trial sessions were conducted, one in a spiritual center on The Pennsylvania State University’s campus and one via public transportation utilizing a typical developing female test subject who is also in her teenage years. The subject was told that she would not be able Within the spiritual center trial, the test subject engaged with one of the available receptionists to locate the chapel and whilst in the chapel, she engaged in small talk with another college student. During the public transportation trial session, the test subject went on the university’s shuttle bus system and rode in an Über. Both trial sessions took approximately twenty minutes each, for …show more content…
While observing the interaction between the test subject and the receptionist, it was clear that the receptionist was initially confused. However, as the subject used her introductory phrases “Hi”, “My name is Sandra” and “I point to symbols to communicate”, a look of understanding passed over the receptionist’s face as she waited patiently for the test subject to finish. Another strength that was noted is the option of a full keyboard on the screen, which the test subject particularly enjoyed due to convenience. She found it to be helpful when she was not sure if a word was programmed into the device or took too long to find it. When asked for feedback about the experience, the subject mentioned that she enjoyed the Harry Potter section within the activities folder as that is one of her interests. This supports the AAC team’s decision to include fringe vocabulary relating to Sandra’s interests as it would serve as a conversational topic. An additional strength was the ease of adding vocabulary within the application when a word she wanted to use was not readily …show more content…
The AAC team is responsible for ensuring that Sandra has learned skills both within the language code of her AAC system and in the native language, spoken and written, in the home and general social community. Alongside, they must also ensure that Sandra has obtained the skills needed to utilize her AAC system efficiently such as the ability to navigate and select relevant symbols. Social competence can be broken up into sociolinguistic and sociorelational skills. These include Sandra’s ability to turn-take appropriately, initiate and sustain conversational topics, and interact with partners effectively. Often clinicians will teach sociolinguistic skills neglecting to realize that sociorelational skills are a very important piece of the puzzle. It is not enough for Sandra to have the ability to initiate a conversation if she does not have the ability to differentiate the body language of an individual who does not want to be bothered. Finally, strategic competence is useful to have in order to get around any limitations within the other three domains. Having compensatory strategies ready to use can be beneficial if for example, Sandra’s AAC device were to stop working. Examples of such strategies to teach Sandra can include requesting partners to
In order to address the effectiveness of the AAC device for Sandra, two trial sessions were conducted, one in a spiritual center on The Pennsylvania State University’s campus and one via public transportation utilizing a typical developing female test subject who is also in her teenage years. The subject was told that she would not be able Within the spiritual center trial, the test subject engaged with one of the available receptionists to locate the chapel and whilst in the chapel, she engaged in small talk with another college student. During the public transportation trial session, the test subject went on the university’s shuttle bus system and rode in an Über. Both trial sessions took approximately twenty minutes each, for …show more content…
While observing the interaction between the test subject and the receptionist, it was clear that the receptionist was initially confused. However, as the subject used her introductory phrases “Hi”, “My name is Sandra” and “I point to symbols to communicate”, a look of understanding passed over the receptionist’s face as she waited patiently for the test subject to finish. Another strength that was noted is the option of a full keyboard on the screen, which the test subject particularly enjoyed due to convenience. She found it to be helpful when she was not sure if a word was programmed into the device or took too long to find it. When asked for feedback about the experience, the subject mentioned that she enjoyed the Harry Potter section within the activities folder as that is one of her interests. This supports the AAC team’s decision to include fringe vocabulary relating to Sandra’s interests as it would serve as a conversational topic. An additional strength was the ease of adding vocabulary within the application when a word she wanted to use was not readily …show more content…
The AAC team is responsible for ensuring that Sandra has learned skills both within the language code of her AAC system and in the native language, spoken and written, in the home and general social community. Alongside, they must also ensure that Sandra has obtained the skills needed to utilize her AAC system efficiently such as the ability to navigate and select relevant symbols. Social competence can be broken up into sociolinguistic and sociorelational skills. These include Sandra’s ability to turn-take appropriately, initiate and sustain conversational topics, and interact with partners effectively. Often clinicians will teach sociolinguistic skills neglecting to realize that sociorelational skills are a very important piece of the puzzle. It is not enough for Sandra to have the ability to initiate a conversation if she does not have the ability to differentiate the body language of an individual who does not want to be bothered. Finally, strategic competence is useful to have in order to get around any limitations within the other three domains. Having compensatory strategies ready to use can be beneficial if for example, Sandra’s AAC device were to stop working. Examples of such strategies to teach Sandra can include requesting partners to