Key Elements of Screening Checklists for Needs of Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Wansiya Kamonsitichai

doi:10.33165/rmj.2023.46.3.263780

Authors

Wansiya Kamonsitichai Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33165/rmj.2023.46.3.263780

Keywords:

Augmentative and alternative communication, Complex communication needs, Speech-language pathologists, Screening checklist

Abstract

With the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), people with complex communication needs could participate in social situations even if they had severe speech impairments. Even though speech-language therapists in Thailand are aware of AAC, they still mainly teach young children with complex communication needs to mainly use speech as a means to communicate. This could lead to fewer opportunities for people with complex communication needs to use AAC systems. Therefore, this article aimed to analyze and classify the items related to communication success, as a guideline to generate a screening checklist for determining whether individuals with a communication impairment would benefit from using AAC. Three previously available screening checklists pertaining to communication success were analyzed to identify the 3 domains: 1) verbal communication intelligibility, 2) verbal functional communication, and 3) verbal communication comprehension. These 3 domains were divided into 2 aspects: 1) familiar/unfamiliar communication partners, and 2) familiar/unfamiliar settings. To create a standard screening checklist that speech-language pathologists in Thailand could utilize, more research would need to be done in the future.

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