Melanie Nelson Communication Assessment Interview Information from Teacher (Lindsay): How does JC communicate messages, wants, preferences,

dislikes, emotions, or needs? JC is really good at expressing his needs, especially when he needs to use the bathroom or if he is in need of food. He is good with high desired wants like asking if they are going bowling that day. If JC uses his IPad to communicate, it gets confusing. I think that JC is good at using his IPad to occasionally express his needs, but he usually just presses buttons in the Hi/Bye section to hear the words. We work on using his IPad in the community like when he goes out to eat. Summer is still changing and editing his Proloquo2go, so I think he gets confused. He uses about 10 verbal words interchangeably, like they can have dual meanings to express his wants or ask questions. What modes of communication are understood best by JC? Tell me about his receptive communication. JC can follow one step prompts very easily. For example, he knows and understands things like be quiet or turn around. He has a lot of trouble with less concrete things like, do you need anything? He doesnt always need choices to understand or provide answers; he will communicate what he wants if he understands. He doesnt have a good grasp on feelings yet because they are not very concrete. The modes of communication that JC excels with are verbal or gestural prompts. Most of the time, verbal is all that is needed. How well does JC initiate, maintain, and terminate conversations?

JC is social, but mostly in inappropriate ways. He does a lot of grabbing and kissing instead of saying things like I like you or I want to talk to you. He does not use manners with burping or farting, so that makes other students in the program hesitant of talking with JC. He does not use personal space as well.

Tell me about JCs use of his Proloquo2go when communicating. JC knows how to use his device and has proved that, but it is definitely not his preferred way of communicating. He is also still working with Summer on how to use it correctly. He uses Proloquo2go as a game a lot, and plays on it. He doesnt typically use it to communicate unless prompted to do so, and even so, it usually isnt meaningful. There have been times where he has been spontaneous in using his device in meaningful ways. Interview Information from Speech Pathologist (Summer): How does JC communicate messages, wants, preferences, dislikes, emotions, or needs? JC is one of the only students on my caseload who is good at expressing his needs without prompting. If he really desires something, he will find a way to get the message across to someone. We are working on organizing Proloquo2go and essentially deleting a lot of words and phrases he doesnt use. His emotions are something that we are working on to get him to verbally or use his AT device to communicate rather than with inappropriate touching. What modes of communication are understood best by JC? Tell me about his receptive communication.

JC does very well with verbal language. He understands what you want him to do very well. His receptive communication far surpasses his expressive communication. JC does very well with one and generally two step directions. Complex prompts are hard for JC to understand.

How well does JC initiate, maintain, and terminate conversations? JC wants to initiate conversations and be social with his peers and adults. He does not have developed social skills when wishing to initiate a conversation, however. He does a lot of touching and grabbing to initiate conversations. After the conversations is initiated, he does not maintain the conversations with his partner, and therefore, the conversation is typically terminated. Tell me about JCs use of his Proloquo2go when communicating. JC has goals on using his Proloquo2go. I am still working on cleaning it up a bit because there were so many phrases in it that were in a very confusing order. A lot of the words he did not use as well. JC works best with his AT when he is in a calm mood. He still needs a lot of prompting to use his device. Direct Observations: Observations about usage of Proloquo2go under assistive technology and visual supports section. Behaviors Communicative Intent (expressive) Observed at the gym, breakfast, and lunch To request To reject or To provide Comments avoid information x x Says things like

Uses Speech

Uses Signs or Gestures Uses Graphic Systems Uses Object System Looks at Target

hel for help, hi, bye, ie for ice, pee for using the bathroom Not observed x x Uses picture schedule and refers to it Not observed Looks while talking to someone, stares at people

Looks Away from Target Leads a Person to Target Taps or Grabs Another Individual

X Not observed x Likes to grab peoples arm to request attention. Likes to hug and kiss and handshake During lunch, to get peoples attention Walks towards his ball he likes, gets very close to people he likes Not observed Not observed x Runs away from dogs, specifically a seeing eye dog at Parkland Vocalizes needs

Grabs Target or Reaches Toward Target Moves Toward Target, Object, or Person

Charges another Person Pushes a Target Away Runs Away from Person/Target

Emits Vocalizations (word approx.,

sounds, etc.) Cries/Fusses Tantrums Throws Objects

Aggresses toward Others Aggresses toward self

Not observed Not observed Throws his wristband or towel to avoid walking on the treadmill at times Not observed Not observed

Receptive Communication- Observed before school and at work (Family Information Center) Never Sometimes Most of the Comments/Examples time Responds to X Almost always simple (one responds to simple step) direction things like Get off Verbal Only the bus or Get your pass Verbal x Sometimes only direction + needs a gestural cue Gestural Cue Verbal X Picture schedule direction + visual aide Responds to a X Typically does well two-step with two-step direction directions, better Verbal only with simple and routine based directions Verbal X direction + gestural cue Verbal X direction + visual aide Responds to X Depends on the Complex (more context and if he than 2 steps) knows the general direction routine

Verbal Only Verbal Direction + Gestural Cue Verbal Direction + Visual Aide Every day objectShredderresponding to Bin Full MTD Bus

Knows to stop, needs verbal cue to take out the paper, mostly for permission Always shows his pass when asked for it on the bus

Social Skills- Observed at lunch and at the grocery store Never Sometimes Very Often Controls temper in x conflict situations with peers Introduces himself to x new people without being told Says nice things x about himself or herself when appropriate Invites others to join x activities Uses free time in an x acceptable way Makes friends easily X Controls temper in X conflict situations with adults Initiates conversation X with peers Gives compliments X to peers Follows your X directions Cooperates with X peers without

prompting Joins ongoing activity or group without being told to do so Easily makes transitions from one activity to another Gets along with people who are different Is easily distracted Likes to be alone Uses time appropriately while waiting for help Acts impulsively

X X X

Preference Assessment: Date: 10/310/5 1. 2. Items: Trial 1

order of choices made

Trial 2
order of choices made

Trial 3
order of choices made

Trial 4
order of choices made

Total

Average Rank

3. 4. 5.

Bowling on IPad Sitting on Big Red Yoga Ball Vanilla Wafers Sun Chips Listening to Music

1 4

3 4

1 4

1 4

6 16

6/4 or 1.5 16/4 or 4

1 4

3 2 5

2 1 5

3 2 5

3 2 5

11 7 20

11/4 or 2.75 7/4 or 1.75 20/4 or 5

3 2 5

Results: Bowling on IPad

Preference Hierarchy: 1

Eating Sun Chips Eating Vanilla Wafers Taking a Break on Red Yoga Ball Listening to Music

2 3 4 5

NonPreferences include: dogs, small animals, anything that makes loud noises, and exercise. This information was retrieved from asking his mom and his special education teacher. The preference assessment was done over the course of three days. On the last day, 10/5, I did two preference assessments on the same day. One of the assessments was administered in the morning and the other assessment was done right before lunch. The other two preference assessments were administered about 10:30 in the afternoon. I laid out two cookies on a napkin, three sun chips on a napkin, his IPod, and his IPad with his bowling game pulled up spaced equally apart on a table. The big red yoga ball was next to the table, and I had the symbol for taking a break on his ball that he uses on his picture schedules on the edge of the table next to the ball. This is because the ball was too big to fit onto the table so it was positioned next to the table. I would position JC in a chair in the middle and say, Pick which one you want to eat or play with or eat. I would then say, Your choices are taking a break on your ball, using your Ipod, eating vanilla wafers, bowling on your IPad, and eating sun chips. I then stepped back and let him choose. He would reach for something and then stop and look at me unsure that what he was doing was ok. He was very hesitant at first. Once he chose bowling, for example, I would say, You have one minute to bowl on your IPad. You can use it until the timer goes off. Once the timer went off, I would say, Now pick which one you want to eat or play with. I did not list the activities again because he already knew them.

During the assessment, I found out that JC prefers to play bowling on his IPad over any of the other foods or activities. This was surprising because he carries his IPad with him everywhere and when he has down time on the bus or between activities, he is never discouraged from getting out his IPad and bowling. I would have thought that JC would choose the food first, especially because most of the assessments were kind of close to lunch time. He chose the food second (sun chips then vanilla wafers) second and third every time except for once when he chose them first. These two foods are foods that he prefers because his mom sends him with Garden Salsa Sun Chips and Vanilla Wafers to school every day to supplement his school lunch. JC always eats them really quickly and first in his lunch during lunch time, so I was surprised when they were picked second and third. Taking a break and sitting and rolling slightly back and forth on his big red yoga ball is his activity that he does as a break working in the special education office. He has one at home and it is a preferred activity at home. He chose this fourth every time of all the objects and activities. Finally, he chose listening to his IPod last. This was kind of expected because he gets to listen to it all morning while he works out, and he listens to it when he is in the car with his mom or on the bus at school. After talking to his mom and the special education teacher, I was able to figure out his nonpreferences. I knew that he did not like dogs because we encounter a student at Parkland when we go to work out in the mornings with a seeing-eye dog. JC has a social story to stay calm and with his teacher during these times. Along with not liking dogs, his mom expressed that he does not like small animals as well. He has had difficulty with encountering squirrels or other animals outside. His family also stresses that he does not like to exercise, even though they try to get him to. He works out by walking on a treadmill every day at school, but according to his mother, he does not like to do any other forms at home. Finally, his special education teacher

says that he has had a history of anxiety or aggressive behaviors in noisy places or around noisy activities. He does not like to be around loud noises. I conclude that JCs best preferences to use for communication is access to time playing bowling on his IPad or small amounts of vanilla wafers or sun chips. These were the top three in the hierarchy of his preference assessment. Direct Interaction with Student Notes: Directly went through his content in Proloquo2go. The notes are in the assistive technology and visual supports section. o Presses buttons multiple times to initiate a conversation Example: How are you? How are you? How are you? In these situations, stop his hand from pressing it and respond something like Im fine, thanks for asking, how are you? Only once did he respond in a meaningful way to my answer to his question. Will repetitively hit buttons to hear the sounds.

I interacted with JC at the gym when he was going to work out. I used verbal, gestural, and manual prompts. To understand his receptive language, I used a three step verbal prompt of, Take off your coat, put it on the bench, and get on the treadmill. JC took off his coat, put it on the floor, and got on the treadmill. I then tried another three step verbal prompt, Use the clip to clip to your shirt, press quick start once (gestured to the quick start button), and press walk. JC clipped the clip to his shirt and stood there. I made a gestural prompt to the quick start button and said Press. He tapped it many times, so I

took his hand and did hand-over-hand for pressing the quick start button. Then he stood there again and I said while gesturing to the button, Walk. He pressed the button numerous times causing it not to work, so I did hand-over-hand to get him to press the button once. I interact with JC every morning when he comes to the adult program. He always walks in and says hi to me and either extends a hand to shake, grabs and squeezes my forearm, tries to hug me, or grabs my head to kiss me on the forehead. He does this throughout the day at random times when we are on the MTD bus, at work, or at lunch. His speech pathologist says he uses that to communicate that he likes someone. He does this to several other staff members as well. When asking JC how are you? he will respond with goo meaning good. At work he shreds paper. I was interacting by taking turns with him. He put too much paper in and it got jammed. He said, hel me meaning help me. He also asked for help that same day to put the bag back into the bottom of the shredder when he was having a difficult time. Assistive Technology and Visual Supports: I went through the content of his Proloquo2go and also documented all of the times I saw him using each word or phrase. This is indicated by an x next to the word or phrase. I observed JC using Proloquo2go with his teacher during a 10 minute break between activities. The bolded items are within the homepage screen on Proloquo2go. The items below the homepage items are within each of the homepage sections. I want o I need Help More

Sleep Something o To use the bathroom o To play ball o I want to bowl o Steak n Shake o To see my mom o Music o I want to do a puzzle o Spongebob o Dora the Explorer o To watch TV o To go to work o To throw a rag Hi, Bye o Hello o How are you? x x x x x x o Good x x o Bad x x x o Good morning o Good night o Whats your name? x x x x o My name is JC x o I like you o Have a good day x x o Thats good o Thank you o Not much o Feelings x I feel Afraid Bad Crazy Embarrassed x x x x x Excited Frustrated Good Happy x Hurt Mad Pain Sad Scared Sick Sleepy Tired

Upset o I need Help More Sleep Something o Haha thats funny x x o Wanna bowl? o No o Yes Bowling Conversation o Good job o Im done o My turn o Size 10 please o Strike o Thank you o Your turn o My name is JC Something is wrong o Call mom, I feel sick o Call mom, I want to go home o I am tired o I have to go to the bathroom o Something hurts Feelings o Be quiet please o Go away o Im mad o Im tired o Im very happy Lunch o Nothing is under the page lunch Restaurant Conversations o What did you order? o Allen o Gillian o How does it taste? o Good o Not so good o Fries o Hash brown o Ketchup o Napkin please o Water o Sausage and egg biscuit with hash browns

o More please o Im finished Social Conversations o Hi x o How are you? x x x x x x o How is your day? o Good morning o Good x x o Not good o Questions x What is your favorite pop? x I like caffeine free diet coke. x x What is your favorite sport? x I like bowling and football. x Whats your favorite TV show? x I like Shrek and Finding Nemo. x x x What is your favorite food? I like tacos. What are you doing after school? Watching television. o Wanna hear a joke? When does it rain money? When there is a change in weather. How do you get a peanut to laugh? You crack it up. How do you fix a tomato? With tomato paste. o Goodbye Behavior Response Script o JC, you need to stay calm. Go home Stay in school Be calm Sit down

List and Explanation of all Assessment Tools/Methods Used: I used several assessment tools and methods to do this communication assessment. I interviewed JCs case manager and his speech pathologist to get information about his expressive communication, receptive communication, social skills, and use of assistive technology. I also did some direct observation of the student. I observed him in many situations across his school day to see him interacting with his peers, strangers, and teachers. Based on the

data sheets given in class, I made my own version of them to fit my student. I did direct observations and then filled them out. Along with direct observations, I also interacted with the student myself. I used verbal communication, gestures, hand-over-hand if needed, and his communication device. This way, I had first-hand experience as to how the student interacts with me as his teacher/peer. Finally, I did a multiple stimulus without replacement preference assessment over the course of three days. This helped me to find out the things that he prefers and in what order. To find out what he does not prefer, I asked his case manager and e-mailed his mom. Summary of Results: Description of Student: JC is 18 years old. He is an adult male with Autism in the Champaign Young Adult Program. He follows a functional life skills curriculum. JC speaks in one or two syllable utterances. He also has an IPad with Proloquo2go downloaded. He is independent in areas like toileting, eating, and some indoor recreation activities. He is currently working on skills that might help him be more independent in the future like shedding paper, cleaning windows, exercising, and ordering when going out to eat. His goals usually require partial participation in the activity. Current Expressive Communication Skills (needs and strengths): JC is very strong in expressing himself when it comes to his needs. He will use any form of communication to get his message cross. He usually expresses his needs in an appropriate manner either with gestures, vocalizations, or the use of his IPad. His preferred method of communication is vocalizations. He is very good at using multiple words in different contexts

for different meaning. For example, he uses the word hel for help whenever he needs help. He could use the word when he needs help putting the bag back into the shredder and he can also use it when he needs help peeling his orange at lunch. JC still is working on expressing his emotions, frustrations, or dislikes. He does not have a large verbal vocabulary, so the use of expressing himself with his IPad using Proloquo2go would be very beneficial. It would expand his vocabulary immensely. He needs to continue to develop his skills using his communication device to express himself to others. Current Receptive Communication Skills (needs and strengths): JC is very strong when it comes to the receptive part of his communication skills. He can follow one and two step directions with almost 100% accuracy. He is very good with concrete prompts and ideas. He understands verbal language very well and often doesnt need verbal language accompanied by gestural prompts to receive a message. On the other hand, he doesnt always need verbal prompts, but will also respond to just gestural prompts in a variety of situations. When observing, none of the tasks done throughout his day were new to him. This being said, he probably has heard these directions before. However, he responded consistently well with one and two step directions. He responds to objects predictably making this a strength of his. For receptive communication, JC should continue to work on following multi step complex directions as well as understanding less concrete ideas or questions. If there are more than two steps to a direction, JC begins to get confused. Processing these verbal prompts in a different way may help JC to be more successful. He could possibly try to have a picture schedule when dealing with more complex directions. This could serve as a reminder of the

steps. It would also be beneficial to be able to respond to more abstract questions. The specific one his case manager used was do you need anything? This is not a direction telling him what to do; it is more of an abstract thing that makes him think about his own wants and needs. Using his AT device to potentially have options of different things or the option of nothing could be useful in this case to keep JCs receptive skills growing. Current Social and Interaction Skills (needs and strengths): JC desires to be a social person, something that is not very typical of a person with the diagnosis of Autism. He always is making attempts to initiate conversations with his peers and other adults. He is very good about not interacting in inappropriate ways with strangers. He has shown interest in initiating conversations with people that he is familiar with. JC is very good about stranger danger and when to keep to himself and when to socialize. During my interactions, observations, and interviews, it became apparent that JC is not maintaining or terminating conversations with his peers. He is quick to initiate conversations, but does not know how to maintain them beyond a handshake or the word hi. He will interrupt conversations in order to communicate with the person that he desires to communicate with. Often people will say, JC how are you? and he will reply goo for good. Beyond that, he does not ask questions or make comments to maintain the conversation. This being said, the conversation is typically terminated if the other person involved does not ask any more yes/no questions for him to answer. It would be in his best interest to work on waiting his turn to initiate a conversation with someone who is busy, maintaining, and terminating conversations. JC does not have the spoken ability to maintain conversations by commenting or asking new questions that are not one or two syllables. He rarely voluntarily uses his IPad to have

social conversations, but could greatly benefit by doing so. This could help him work on appropriate initiations and limit some of the touching, hugging, and kissing. His case manager and speech pathologist think the function of his behavior is to tell someone that he likes them since he does not have the verbal language to communicate that. He has a button on his Proloquo2go that says I like you. Continuing to work on using that when he encounters someone he likes could eliminate some of the problem behaviors and continue JCs social skills growth. Current Assistive Technology Usage: JC enjoys using his IPad. He knows how to open the app Proloquo2go. He also has been known to occasionally use it spontaneously. He uses his IPad with prompting while bowling or ordering at a restaurant. JC will use his IPad if he cannot get his needs met with his verbal language. JC could benefit from continuing to work on using his IPad for a communicative intent. He presses the buttons repetitively to listen to the words or phrases over and over. Usually, he does not have intent to communicate with another person while using his AT device. Working with his speech pathologist can help to know what words and phrases are in each section of Proloquo2go. Familiarizing himself with each section can make him more comfortable using it when trying to communicate with others. Familiarizing himself with Proloquo2go and using it for communicative intent are two skills for JC to work on. Current Preferences and NonPreferences: Five known items and activities that JC prefers are bowling on his IPad, eating sun chips, eating vanilla wafers, taking a break on a big red yoga ball, and listening to music. He prefers

those five things in that order. JCs non-preferred items and activities are dogs, small animals, anything that makes loud noises, and exercise. These five preferred things are important to know for teaching communication skills because they could potentially be used as reinforcers. When teaching him a skill for communicating his effort and work should be reinforced in some way. Since I now know which one he prefers in order, I will try to see if time bowling on his IPad, for example, works as a reinforcer making the communicative behavior more likely to happen in the future. Another benefit from knowing what JC prefers is it could give us preferred topics for him to communicate about. For example, he likes bowling on his IPad. He may be working on the social skill of maintaining a conversation. This could be the topic of the conversation that he and a partner are maintaining. JC will be more likely to want to maintain a conversation about topics that he prefers rather than random topics. Two Important Communication Skills That I Think Should Be Addressed: Based on this communication assessment, I have chosen two communication skills that I think should be addressed for JC. The two skills are maintaining a conversation and using his IPad to tell someone that he likes them. First, JC could work on maintaining a conversation. Based on the data from these assessments, he will go up to peers and say hi or shake their hand. After that, he never maintains a conversation. Almost all of his conversations are verbal, and he does not prefer to use his IPad when communicating. His IPad is a way of maintaining a conversation. He has social conversations and questions and comments all in Proloquo2go. If he worked on using this device as a supplemental device to his verbal speech, he could have the tools to maintain the

conversation that he started. The expressive and social communication data collected from observation, and my own interaction with the student identified this skill as a priority. JC so desires to be social and I think this could help him do so. Finally, JC has inappropriate social interactions with peers and familiar adults in which he grabs, hugs, and kisses them. Based on the interview with the speech pathologist and the case manager where they identified the function of that behavior to be that he wants to tell someone that he likes them, he could use his IPad as an alternative and appropriate solution to serve that same function. JC is an adult and his behaviors to tell others that he likes them are inappropriate. Based on observations and my own interactions where he tries to grab, kiss, and hug me, it is a common event that can be solved by learning the skill of using his IPad. He has a phrase in Proloquo2go that says I like you. Learning to use this instead of the other behaviors would be a more age appropriate and socially appropriate social interaction.