Evaluating the effectiveness of AAC programs for persons with severe handicaps

A technological base now exists from which a variety of devices and techniques can be applied to the special augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) needs of individuals with severe handicaps. Accompanying this growing inventory of resources, however, are continued accounts of these individuals' inabilities to use their newly acquired communication systems outside of contrived environments, such as the clinical setting. This position paper begins with a review of attempts to promote functional uses of AAC systems by persons with severe handicaps. The author then calls for a more rigorous validation of the usefulness of these systems for such individuals and their conversational partners. Practitioners are urged to adopt more functional orientations when selecting the content and evaluating the effectiveness of AAC programs.