1. Background/Overview   CareShore is the city based community organisation you work for and it provides adult Disability Support services to a wide range of people across Supported Accommodation, Day Services and Respite Services. The mix of people being supported is ethnically and culturally diverse You are a Disability Support Worker employed on a part-time basis at CareShore and you have been working in the job for the last 9 months. You love working in this support role and have developed rewarding professional relationships with the people you support. One of the people you support with community access is Emma. Emma is a 47 year old female person who receives support from CareShore and you work with her on a regular basis. She is from Denmark originally and English is her second language which she speaks quite well but, at times she does have trouble with a limited English vocabulary. Emma has progressive multiple sclerosis, uses an electric wheelchair and her ability to speak is decreasing noticeably. At times it is hard to understand what she is trying to say and she gets frustrated at this. Recently she has noticed that as it is more difficult for her to access the community on her own, she has fewer opportunities to catch up with friends and when she does, chatting with them is harder now. She sometimes feels isolated and would like more opportunities to catch up with her friends. Your support work with Emma is mostly to facilitate community based day activities for her Peter is 64 and has been working as an engineer until recently. He had a stroke three months ago and was left with weakness on his left side. He has only recently come to CareShore for leisure activities to give his wife respite as she battles to adjust to Peter’s changed circumstances. As a result of his stroke, Peter’s speech has been significantly affected.   2. Brief     At various places in this assessment you will be required to work from scenarios and case notes. Draw on the information above as necessary to work through each of the assessment tasks.

Deliverables Please submit this assessment in Word doc format.   To do list: Write your name and student ID at the top of this page. Read the background/overview and brief sections of this document.Complete Parts A, B, C & D. Collate your written answers into one Word document.Save the Word document using the naming convention: your student number_assessment number.doc. For example: “12345678_31135_01.doc.”Upload your document in Open Space using the relevant Assessment Upload link in this Module.

3. Assessment tasks:

Part A – The role of the support worker in identifying communication capacity and individual needs

In your own words, respond to the following questions, making sure that you observe the word counts and that you provide sufficient detail in your answers so that your assessor can gauge your understanding of the topic.

Question 1: Describe what the general principles and practices of augmentative and alternative communication are (50 words)

Question 2:  Describe what tools are used to assess people with complex communication needs at your organisation for the potential use of augmentative and alternative communication? (50 words)

Question 3: Complete the following form. List three forms of documentation you might use in the process of identifying a person’s communication ability and their communication needs. Explain the purpose of each piece of documentation.

Documentation	Purpose

Question 4:  What can cause communication impairment in a person with a disability? (50 words)

Question 5: Communication assistance can occur at two basic levels – unaided and aided. Describe the differences between them. (30 words)

Question 6:  Provide an example of how you would vary your communication style when interacting with a person with a different cultural background to your own. (50 words)

Question 7: Describe what role and function might a speech pathologist have in the development, implementation and maintenance of augmentative and alternative communication strategies and devices for Emma (50 words)

Question 8: Describe what you see as your role when supporting a person who uses augmentative and/or alternative communication? (50 words)

Question 9: How does your work in supporting a person to use a suitable communication system, add to their independence? (50 words)

Question 10: Provide 3 examples of causes and conditions that are associated with communication impairment, including stroke and ABI (30-50 words)

Question 11: Describe the basic steps in an AAC assessment (75-100 words)

Question 12: Provide 2 reasons as to why you may need to refer difficulties to another professional. Outline the documentation that would need to be provided to a supervisor. (75-100 words)

PART B: The role of the support worker in developing effective AAC strategies

In your own words, respond to the following questions, making sure that you observe the word counts and that you provide sufficient detail in your answers so that your assessor can gauge your understanding of the topic.

Question 13:  Describe what a communication board is and how it is used correctly (50 words)

Question 14: How can you ensure that augmentative and alternative communication strategies are correct for the person’s level of communication? (50 words)

Question 15: What adjustments could be made to an aided AAC device to meet individual needs considering that this device is going to require long term effort and motivation? (30-50 words)

Question 16: Without using spoken word, written word or sign language, how would you assist Emma to communicate a message to staff e.g. “my medication is making me feel sick”, “I want to talk to my sister”? (50 words)

Question 17: Lack of understanding of cultural influences will make communication with the person with disability more difficult (e.g. a person who comes from a culture where hand gestures are not used very often may interpret the behaviour of a person who uses their hands a lot when communicating as indicating nervousness, or even aggression.) What could you do to overcome this situation (50 words)

Question 18: Describe a different communication strategy you could use with each of the groups of people below. What other professionals could you consult with in each of these groups?(30 words each): People with a hearing impairment       People with a sight impairment       People who have dementia       People who do not speak English

Question 19: Demonstrate how you could assist a person to use one of their AAC tools. Below is:-

• An example of a service participant profile for Raoul  who is a non-verbal person you support
• An example of a Community Request Card for Raoul to use at a restaurant
• Example instructions for the use of the card.

Example Profile:  Raoul has an Indian background and likes to eat spicy food. He goes out once a week to his favourite Indian restaurant and likes to order the same dish each time. Raoul cannot communicate verbally and has a moderate level of intellectual disability.

Example Community Request Card for Raoul   I would like one bowl of Chicken Curry with rice and a glass of lemonade please.

Example Instructions For Use of Community Request Card: Raoul puts the Community Request Card in wallet prior to leaving home.Support worker drives Raoul to the Arjun Indian Restaurant on Main St, and park in the car park behind.Raoul and support staff member enter the restaurant with Raoul taking the lead.Raoul approaches the front desk and gives his card to the restaurant staff.The restaurant staff person asks Raoul if he would like the special bread of the day with that. Raoul nods or shakes his head to answer the question.Raoul gives the restaurant staff the money for the meal and accepts the change. Raoul and staff member take a seat. Raoul likes to sit near the front window overlooking Main St.Meal and drinks arrive.TROUBLE SHOOTING: Raoul to take the communication lead. If restaurant staff ask support worker what Raoul wants, support worker to refer back to Raoul, e.g., “Raoul can answer that question himself.” Or “What do you think about that Raoul?”  There may be times when the support worker does need to answer the question, however this should be minimised as much as possible, and Raoul should always be included in the conversation.

NOW DO THIS:

Create a community request card and instructions for the card’s use for Emma, for any activity you choose to support her in. Ensure this is relevant to Emma’s needs.

INSERT YOR WORK BELOW

PART C: The role of the support worker in implementing an AAC strategy

In the spaces provided, describe how you might assist with the following communication barriers.  

Scenario	How can you support and assist effective communication in each scenario? (30-50 words each)
Yousef has immigrated to Australia 5 months ago. He can speak English but has a strong accent. His co-worker, Shane, finds it hard to understand Yousef. They are often misunderstanding one another and getting into conflicts regarding who said what.
A support worker is talking the person with disability through the steps of cooking dinner. When the support worker says something that the person does not understand, the person says repeatedly “I can’t. I can’t.”
The person with disability has a moderate level of intellectual disability and communication difficulties. The other support worker is not sure where the person would like to go in the community, and hence guesses that perhaps the person might like to go to the museum. At the museum, the person with disability looks unhappy.
Bill has a hearing impairment. As this has been a recent issue for him, he has not yet learnt to use sign language.

PART D: Monitoring, reporting and reviewing communication strategies

In your own words, respond to the following questions or tasks, making sure that you observe the word counts and that you provide sufficient detail in your answers so that your assessor can gauge your understanding of the topic.

Question 20:  Describe what opportunities a formal review of a person’s AAC strategy provides (30-50 words)

Question 21: Why is it important to complete reports within the identified timeframe? What can go wrong if reports are completed late? Provide an example to illustrate your answer.  (30-50 words)

Read the following scenario, and then complete the tasks that follow.

Refer to the original case scenario of Peter at the beginning of this assessment.

Update to the scenario: Peter is now also being supported by an out- patients support service as well as CareShore so exchanging information from one service to the other is important.

Here are extracts from Peter’s case notes, written by his Co-ordinator at CareShore.

Case Notes:   10/8/15: Peter met with speech therapist. Since the stroke his speech is slurred and he has trouble finding words. Peter has not been back to work yet. Peter appears motivated and is working hard at physiotherapy. He is concerned his speech is slurred and even his friends find it hard to understand him. He is frustrated and he says he sometimes vents at his wife. Speech therapist gave Peter list of speech exercises.   15/8/15: Report from speech therapist received.   19/8/15: Peter said his speech had improved slightly but not to the point that people understood him. Peter often has trouble finding words and says he keeps forgetting what he is doing. Peter said he is not back at work yet and not really doing anything. He said he tries to clean the house and have dinner ready for his wife but he forgets what to do next. He continues to do his vocal exercises but hasn’t been back to the speech therapist. He would like to go back to work but his boss said to stay home till he’s better. Peter said the only people he sees are his wife and the physiotherapist.   26/8/15: Peter was very quiet today. He spoke little although his speech appears clearer. He seemed very dispirited and said there wasn’t much to say: he never sees anyone, he never does anything.

Question 22:  Study Peter’s case notes and list:   What is working? (30-50 words)           What are the barriers and what is not working? (50-100 words)

Question 23: What are three key strategies a support worker could develop to assist Peter to participate more? (50 words)

Question 24: How could the support worker help Peter to increase his vocabulary? Remember his age. (30-50 words)

Question 25: List the records that would be generated for Peter and explain how these should be maintained. (50-100 words)

4. Assessment Rubric

Below is a rubric that determines whether your answers and knowledge is satisfactory or not yet satisfactory.

To pass the assessment, you must complete ALL the requirements for the column that is titled ‘satisfactory’.

It is advisable to read the rubric before attempting the assessments to help you attain the correct submission standard.

Criteria	Satisfactory	Not yet satisfactory
Part A
Defines the general principles and practices of AAC	Defines the 4 broad aims of AAC and 3 or more practices that support AAC	Unable to define the 4 broad aims of AAC and/or 3 or more practices that support AAC
Describes tools used to assess communication needs, including AAC	Describes 3 tools that can be used to assess communication capacity. Explains how AAC needs are identified	Incorrectly describes 3 of the tools that can be used to assess communication capacity and/or incorrectly explains how ACC needs are identified
Identifies documentation used in the process of identifying communication capacity	Lists and explains 3 forms of documentation that can be used to identify communication ability and needs	Lists 3 forms of documentation that can be used to identify communication ability and needs
Uses different strategies and devices in AAC	Describes the difference between aided and unaided communication	Unable to describe the difference between aided and unaided communication
Explains cross cultural communication protocols	Provides an example of how own communication style would vary when interacting with a person from a different culture	Example provided does not explain how own communication style would vary when interacting with a person from a different culture
Consult with additional people to identify communication capacity	Describes the role and function of a speech pathologist in developing and implementing AAC devices for Emma	Partially describes the role and function of a speech pathologist in developing and implementing AAC devices for Emma
Describes the causes and conditions associated with communication impairment	Provides 3 examples of causes and conditions associated with communication impairment including stoke and ABI	Unable to provide 3 examples of causes and conditions associated with communication impairment including stoke and ABI
Basic steps in the process for assessing an individual’s needs rot the use of AAC	Describes the basic steps in an AAC assessment. Provides 2 reasons when referrals to professionals are required and outlines the documentation needed for a supervisor	Inadequate description of the basic steps in an AAC assessment. Unable to provide 2 reasons as to why referrals to professionals are required/ the relevant documentation needed for a supervisor
Part B
Develops communication strategies to meet individual needs	Describes what a communication board is. Explains correct alignment of AAC strategies with a person’s level of communication	Describes what a communication board is. Insufficient explanation of the alignment needed between AAC strategies and a person’s level of communication
Adjust available tools and programs to address individual needs	Explains at least 2 adjustments that could be made to an unaided AAC device to address individual needs, including motivation/ long term effort	Explains at least 2 adjustments that could be made to an unaided AAC device without reference to individual needs, including motivation/ long term effort
Use appropriate support’s to aid the person’s current communication capacity	Explains how Emma could be assisted to get a message across to the staff at CareShore that does not involve spoken or written word, or sign language	Incorrectly explains how Emma could be assisted to get a message across to the staff at CareShore that does not involve spoken or written word, or sign language
Develop effective communication strategies to meet individual needs	Describes a different communication strategy relevant to particular groups of people and identifies where a professional could be consulted	Describes a communication strategy relevant to different groups of people and/or identifies where a professional could be consulted
Develop effective communication strategies to meet individual needs	Creates a community request card with instructions for use which is relevant to Emma’s needs	Creates a community request card with instructions without reference to Emma’s needs
Part C
Identifies barriers and solutions in achieving effective communication	Outlines a supportive communication strategy that could be employed to meet and assist the needs of each person in the scenarios provided	Outlines a communication strategy without reference to the individual needs outlined in each of the scenarios
Part D
Set up and maintain reporting and recording system to assist with monitoring and review	Describes at least 2 opportunities that are provided by engaging with a formal review of a person’s AAC strategy	Unable to describe at least 2 opportunities that are provided by engaging with a formal review of a person’s AAC strategy
Review reporting and recordings to monitor success of communication strategies and make changes as required in consultation with senior staff/professionals	Explains the importance of completing reports within an identified timeframe. Provides an example highlighting what can go wrong when this doesn’t occur	Explains the importance of completing reports within an identified timeframe, without providing an example highlighting what can go wrong when this doesn’t occur
Identify opportunities to increase communication vocabulary	Explains 3 key strategies which are age appropriate, that a support worker could develop to assist Peter participate more and increase his vocab	Provides less than 3 key strategies a support worker could develop to assist Peter participate more and increase his vocab/ strategies not age appropriate
Maintain accurate written records according to established directions and within organisation protocols	Lists the records that would be generated for Peter from his case notes. Outlines how these should be maintained	Partially lists the records that would be generated for Peter from his case notes/Outlines how these records should be maintained
Overall assessment expectations
Word counts	As per tasks.
Plagiarism	All the student’s work is original and sourced where appropriate.
Referencing	Appropriate referencing conventions are used.

5. Units of Competency

This assessment contributes to the overall competencies for the following units of competency:

CHCCDIS004 Communicate using augmentative and alternative communication strategies

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