AAC Assessments AAC Assessments Must Consider All of the Barriers to Successful Communication by Barbara Mintz, M.A., CCC-SLP One key component in the evaluation process which goes beyond assessing skill levels is the assessment of current and anticipated barriers to successful use of an augmentative device. Barriers to communication are evident in communication interactions between highly competent communicators. Examples could include too many people speaking at the same time, wanting to speak in a very quiet setting as in a theater, being told by a professor that she will not accept questions until the last ten minutes, asking directions in a foreign country, etc. Opportunity Barriers Opportunity Barriers can be both external and internal.
Laws set by states and school policies can provide opportunity barriers.
If a district insists that a piece of equipment cannot go home because they paid for it, there will be reduced opportunity. Many of these barriers are not the direct result of actual laws however, but they are perceived to be the law since that is how it has always been done. Internally, even within the AAC team itself, barriers may be present which minimize opportunity. Someone who is fearful of the technology may avoid it in the same way that the person who considers himself computer illiterate avoids new tasks on the computer. If team members do not feel that they have the skills and competencies to deal with the new equipment, they are likely to foster opportunity barriers.