Looking for a clear, structured way to observe and document AAC skills during an evaluation, trial, or therapy-based assessment? The AAC Communication and Skills Assessment Manual is a guided observation tool designed to help SLPs, AAC specialists, and school teams collect meaningful information about how a student uses AAC across real communication opportunities. Rather than relying on isolated “show me” tasks, this protocol supports dynamic assessment through motivating activities, partner interaction, modeling, prompting, and functional communication practice. This manual helps teams look closely at the AAC skills that matter most for system selection, instructional planning, and implementation support. Skills addressed include: Early screen access and cause/effect skills
Targeting and visual attention
Single-symbol understanding and use
Choice-making with noun symbols
Core word use for requesting, commenting, and controlling activities
Use of pre-stored phrases and topic-based messages
AAC navigation by noun categories, grammatical categories, multi-meaning icons, and organizational tools
Multi-symbol phrase generation
Syntax and morphology using Brown’s Stages as a guide
Message window/text box management
Spelling and text-to-speech skills
AAC feature recommendations, teaching methods, and partner training needs
What’s Included: Administration guidance
Prompting level descriptions
AAC trial and observation considerations
Step-by-step directions for each assessment section
Data collection forms
Recommendation planning page
Sample completed pages for reference
This resource is especially helpful when completing AAC evaluations, extended AAC trials, classroom observations, therapy-based assessments, or progress monitoring for students who use or may benefit from AAC. Designed for practical use in real school and clinical settings, this manual supports thoughtful decision-making about access method, screen size, software, pageset organization, teaching supports, and communication partner training. Please note: This tool is intended for use by qualified professionals as part of a comprehensive AAC assessment process. It is not a standardized test. © 2025 Dynamic Therapy Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Not for redistribution, copying, or adaptation.
