Practical Approaches and Socially Valid Assessment Considerations for Learners with Emergent Communication and Severe Intellectual Disability

Abstract  

Objectives

Assessment strategies for communication in learners with severe ID who are at the emergent stage of language development have evolved since first applied from speech act theory over 50 years ago. These efforts have resulted in measures that have increasingly been able to document the wide range of communicative abilities of learners with severe ID to inform intervention planning. In this paper, we indicate how assessment strategies for communication in learners with severe ID who are at the emergent stage of language development have evolved.

Methods

We review literature from speech act theory over 50 years ago and consider measures that have increasingly been able to document the wide range of communicative abilities of learners with severe ID to inform intervention planning.

Results

Emergent communication has been described as serving a number of functions and may include a number of forms, such as nonintentional behaviors interpreted by others (perlocutionary communication), purposeful nonsymbolic signals (illocutionary), or representational symbol forms (locutionary). This knowledge has motivated and informed a variety of clinical practices for learners who use emergent communication and furthered developments in systematic assessment procedures to observe and document this range of communication ability. As a result, the abilities of learners with severe ID have been realized and supported through intervention planning.

Conclusions

To continue to optimize opportunities for communication development, it is proposed that comprehensive assessment practices moving forward should be grounded in an identity-focused and interprofessional framework. A number of practical strategies that target family interviews, observation and sampling across contexts, formal test administration, and new technologies for assessment could be used for learners regardless of their ability to communicate with intention. These strategies, when grounded in an identity-focused framework with the support of an interprofessional team may best ensure socially valid data is collected for intervention planning.