VCU Autism Center



Introduction to the Expressive and Receptive Communication Inventory for Emerging Language LearnersDetermining appropriate communication goals is one of the most important aspects of an educational program for a student with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The Expressive and Receptive Communication Inventory for Emerging Language Learners will assist educators in determining needs related to expanding the communication abilities of a student with ASD. It is designed to identify potential goals and determine priority areas for expansion of expressive and receptive communication skills in an effective and efficient manner so instruction may begin immediately. With Whom Should the Inventory be Used? The Expressive and Receptive Inventory is to be used with students who are considered to be beginning or emerging communicators. This can include those who are non-verbal, have limited verbal communication, have limited communication through an alternative modality, and those who demonstrate rudimentary skills and need to expand expressive and/or receptive communication.Who Should Implement the Inventory? It is recommended the Inventory be implemented by an educational team consisting of at least the student, his or her parents/guardians, teacher, and speech language pathologist. Other team members such as an occupational therapist, paraprofessional, administrator, or anyone else familiar with the student may also participate. Since building communication skills is a responsibility of all team members, implementation of the Inventory can be initiated and led by the student’s teacher or the speech language pathologist. It is important to note, however, that this individual must have a basic understanding of the purpose and functions of communication. Regardless of who leads the implementation, a team approach is required for completion of the Inventory to ensure accuracy and input from individuals who may see the student in different settings.When Should the Inventory be Used? The Expressive and Receptive Communication Inventory for Emerging Language Learners can be completed informally and at any time. It is not designed to replace formal language and/or communication evaluations. It is not intended to be used for diagnostic purposes or to determine student eligibility for special education services. The Inventory is to be used throughout a student’s educational career to guide communication programming. For some students, further information may need to be gathered through formal or informal assessment measures, including curriculum-based assessments, interviews, and/or data collection to develop appropriate IEP goals related to receptive and expressive communication. Use of additional measures to identify IEP goals is to be determined on an individual basis by the IEP team. What is Reviewed in the Inventory? The Expressive and Receptive Communication Inventory for Emerging Language Learners is designed to review functional expressive and receptive communication skills. The Inventory begins with early expressive and receptive skills and moves towards more complex communication. The skills included are successive and outline the progression of skills a student should learn as he or she expands communication. For example, skills such as requesting and following directions are critical early skills and contribute to the independence and success of the student in the school and other environments. The skills included in the Inventory were based on the following resources:Kleiman, L. I. (2003). The Functional Communication Profile – Revised:? Assessing Communication Effectiveness in Clients with Developmental Delays, LinguiSystems, Inc.: East Moline, IL.Mattes, L. J. (2006). Functional Language Assessment and Intervention Sourcebook,?Academic Communication Associates: Oceanside, CA.How is the Inventory Implemented? To gain an accurate picture of the student’s abilities and needs, both the Expressive and Receptive sections of the Inventory should be completed. The two sections are not intended to be used independently since communication consists of both expressive and receptive components. While team members familiar with the student may be tempted to forego one of the sections, completion of both is strongly advised to ensure a more comprehensive assessment of the student’s needs and communication priorities. The Receptive and Expressive Inventory contains an individualized set of directions to be followed for each of the two sections. The Inventory can be completed in a classroom, home, or community. It is important to consider the student’s skills across environments to ensure he/she can perform the skill effectively across settings. There are no time limits for administration. The skills can be tested in any order; however, many tasks build on each other and become increasingly more difficult. When scoring a skill, it is critical to only score it as correct if the student can perform it effectively AND independently. Caution must be taken to ensure inadvertent prompting is not delivered. Since the Receptive and Expressive Inventory is an informal tool, the team will utilize a variety of strategies to complete it. It may be beneficial to review the results of previous formal and informal assessments, including those completed during eligibility. Other strategies include direct observation of the student as well as interviewing parents/guardians and other individuals familiar with the student. What Should be Done After the Inventory is Completed? Once the results are gathered it is time to determine goals and priorities for expressive and receptive communication instruction. Answering these guiding questions after completing the Inventory will help the team determine next steps:Does the team believe they have enough information from the Inventory to proceed to instruction?If the team believes they have enough information, the IEP team should proceed to developing communication goals for the student.If additional information is not needed, determine goals and begin instruction.If additional resources are needed, determine what resources are required and where to obtain them.If the team believes further assessment is needed, how will they ensure effective and efficient completion of an assessment? The team is to determine in which areas more information is needed.The team is to determine who will conduct the assessment.The team is to determine the assessment to be completed.The team is to determine when the assessment is to be completed. The team is to obtain required permissions if needed.Does the team know what mode(s) of communication will be targeted for instruction?If the student has a current mode(s) that is effective for him/her, the team may determine that mode(s) is appropriate.If the student does not have a current mode(s) that is effective for him/her or the current mode(s) is still emerging, the team may determine to look at augmentative and alternative communication as an option for the student.Expressive and Receptive Communication InventoryStudent’s Name:Date:Date of Birth:Age:Teacher:ID #:Name/Parent, Guardians:___________________________________________________________________Name/Classroom Teacher or Case Manager:___________________________________________________Name/Speech Language Pathologist:__________________________________________________________Other Team Members:_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Present Communication Modalities:It is important to begin by determining the current mode of communication for the student. Students have a variety of modes they can use to communicate. These can include gestures; facial expressions and eye gaze; sign language; icon exchange; speech generating devices; and use of verbal modes including word approximations, words, and sentences. Many students use more than one mode of communication. When working with students, it is important to encourage multi-modal communication, or the use of more than one modality.Describe how the student currently communicates: _________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Has a reinforcement survey been completed recently for the student?*Remember students are more likely to communicate for items and actions that they prefer, especially for early communicators.Date of survey: _____________Type of survey: (home, school, student): _________________________________________________________List student preferences:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________The following information is to be completed AFTER the Expressive and Receptive Communication Inventory is rmation from the Inventory:Once the Inventory is complete, the team is to determine areas of priority for instruction and appropriate expressive and receptive communication goals. As noted previously, the skills listed are sequential moving from early skills to more complex. Therefore, preference should be given to any skills the student cannot perform or cannot perform consistently that are listed earlier in the inventory. It is possible the team has made a decision to begin work with the student on a more basic form of communication and will move to more sophisticated levels of communication as the student gains skills. For example, if a student is only using gestures and making few verbalizations, the team may not yet want to target using sentences but may instead focus on using words or word approximations for the moment. Below are guidelines that may assist the team in using the Inventory results to identify priority areas and goals. Priority areas are those areas identified from the Inventory that will be targeted for communication instruction. Review each of the following items. As the team reads through each of the following questions, look at the completed Inventory to determine whether the tasks in the Inventory should be chosen as priority areas. The student engages in undesired behaviors in order to communicate instead of using the appropriate skill. *Example: John hits his teacher to communicate he is tired of an activity and would like a different one. The student is missing critical skills and/or skills that need to be mastered before working on the chosen communication skill. *Example: Todd’s team wants to work on his ability to request items using pictures. However, Todd is not able to discriminate pictures to identify items that he wants. The team will teach him how to discriminate pictures before using a picture exchange system. Jake’s team wants him to follow multiple step directions but he needs to work on following one-step directions.The student does not communicate the chosen emerging skill using any modality including verbalizations, gestures, picture exchange, or other modalities. *Example: Sally cannot open her milk at lunch and so she sits at her table and waits until someone comes over and opens it for her. Amy cannot identify actions in pictures or by performing them.The student uses a modality for communicating the priority area but it is not effective for the student or is understood by a limited audience. *Davon uses verbal approximations to request “juice” and “cookie” and a few other items, but only his mother and speech therapist understand his verbal approximations. Davon gets frustrated when he makes his approximations and others do not understand him.The student uses a single modality to communicate the area, but the team believes an additional modality would be beneficial for the student. *Example: Eli, who is eighteen years old, takes staff to what he wants and then points to the item. This is effective, however, the team believes it is important for him to also use a picture exchange to communicate his wants. The team believes enhancing and increasing the chosen communication skill will increase the student’s independence. *Example: Payton is able to use sign approximations to request items, but these signs are not conventional and only the people who know her well are able to understand them. Adam is able to refuse an item when asked by someone familiar but not when asked by someone unfamiliar to him.The team believes enhancing and increasing the communication skill would lead to more meaningful participation in their environment. *Example: Jason is able to answer questions when asked by an adult but not by his peers. The team wants him to be able to participate in small group activities and engages with his peers. Faith has difficulty with spatial concepts and so has difficulty following directions in her worksite. Date Skills Were Chosen:Expressive Priority Skills:Receptive Priority Skills:Expressive Communication SectionStudent’s Name:Date:Date of Birth:Age:Teacher:ID #:SLP:The Expressive Communication section targets expressive communication skills such as making requests, commenting, making choices, among others. To use this Inventory, place an X in the box or boxes that best describes the way the student currently accomplishes the task listed in the first column on the far left. If the student does not effectively use a modality to communicate, leave the box blank. It is possible for multiple boxes to be marked in each row as students may use more than one mode to communicate. The last column at the far right should be marked if the student uses undesired behaviors to accomplish the task, such as hitting, whining, screaming, crying, grabbing, biting, scratching, or running from the room. There may be other applicable undesired behaviors that are used by the student as well. The columns are arranged from more basic forms to more sophisticated forms of communication. When scoring a skill, it is critical to only score it as correct if the student can perform it effectively AND independently. The student can:Use gestures and/or pointUse sign languageUse verbalizations and/or word approximationsUse wordsUse AACUse sentencesUse undesired behaviorsChoose an item when presented with 2 itemsChoose an item when presented with 3 or more items Ask for an object/action when it is being offeredAsk for an object/action when it is being used by another personAsk for an object/action when it is in sightAsk for an object/action when asked, “What do you want?”Ask for an object/action when it is out of sightAsk for helpIdentify an object/action when it’s being used by another personThe student can:Use gestures and/or pointUse sign languageUse verbalizations and/or word approximationsUse wordsUse AACUse sentencesUse undesired behaviorsIdentify an object/action when it is in sightIdentify an object/action when it is out of sightGreet or say good-bye to a personGet a person’s attentionStop an activityAsk to continue an activityShow an item to a personReject an item or action*Ask for information*Answer “wh” questions in the environment*Answer “wh” questions about a story*Tell a familiar story*Comment or ask questions about someone else’s story or information*Advanced skills – prior skills will need to be taught before these skills can be ments: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Receptive Communication SectionThe Receptive Communication section targets receptive communication skills including how well the student understands language. In the table below, notice there are three different colored areas, purple, pink, and blue. These areas are shaded to indicate pairs of tasks. Start in the left hand column and read the descriptor of the skill. Move to the next column and place an “X” in the box if it describes how the student demonstrates the skill. If it does not, leave the box blank. Continue this process going across the top row, then proceed to the next skill. It is possible there will be multiple boxes marked in each row as these areas do not necessarily build upon each other. When scoring a skill, it is critical to only score it as correct if the student can perform it effectively AND independently.The student can:When given vocal instructionsWhen given picture or written instructionsWhen presented specifically to studentWhen presented to a groupWhen instruction is part of a routineWhen instruction is not part of a routineAccept an item Refuse an item Identify items that are presentedObtain objects when requested that are visible Obtain objects when requested that are not visibleIdentify actions Follow one step directionsFollow two step directionsFollow instructions containing spatial concepts (i.e. in. on, under, over, next, to, etc.)Stop an activity when askedAttend to another person when askedSequence the events of a storyListen while another person shows an item/actionNANAThe student can:When given vocal instructionsWhen given picture or written instructionsWhen presented specifically to studentWhen presented to a groupWhen instruction is part of a routineWhen instruction is not part of a routineSit one to one for ____ minutes while a story is being read out loudNANANANASit in a group for ____ minutes while a story is being read out loudNANANANAComments: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________If a student is receiving services under IDEA, decisions about assessment and the student’splan must be made by the IEP team and must follow all applicable special education laws and regulations.5568367634367740015114300The contents were developed under a contract from the Virginia Department of Education, contract number 881-61172-H027A100107. Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Education and Depart-ment of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation is an equal opportunity/ affirmative action institution providing access to education and employment without regard to age, race, color, national origin, gender, religion, sexual orientation, veteran’s status, political affiliation, or disability. If special accommodations are needed, please contact Vicki Brooke at (804) 828-1851 VOICE or (804) 828-2494 TTY. 7968615659003079686156590030 ................
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