Lately, there has been increased discussion of coaching communication partners, and collecting data to track the effectiveness and frequency of modeling. For example, PrAACtical AAC posted a sample data collection form this week. As an AAC Specialist working in a school district, I'd like to share how I use Percentally Pro 2 - my iOS app for data collection - to track the progress of communication partners (e.g., staff, parents, peers) modeling with aided language stimulation. When coaching communication partners such as special education staff, I assess modeling across a variety of communicative functions: ask a question, comment, protest, request, and share information. In Percentally Pro 2, I start by enabling zeroes for measurements (More > Options > Include Zeroes ON (as indi[...]

This school year, I have spent a fair amount of intervention time with students who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). I have also spent a good amount of time with the communication partners (teachers, parents, paraprofessionals) of those students. Throughout this time, I focused my energy on modeling for the students to learn how to use their AAC system, but also for the communication partners to implement modeling. Now that we're months into the school year, I have noticed the communication partners doing some modeling, but it could be done more frequently and more effectively. My first thought on how to solve this problem was to provide the communication partners with a self-assessment form, which I think is a fairly nonintrusive way for people to make a change. So[...]