A Speech-Language Pathologist Talks About Measuring Genuine Communication of AAC Users from Susan Berkowitz

Too often we write IEP objectives in a way that states that the students will say or do something for a given number or percentage of trials (with a specified degree of accuracy, for a specified period of time). 
 The problem, however, with writing objectives in this way for our AAC users is that we presume what the student is going to want to say, or that (s)he is going to want to use a certain message a specified number of times in a day. 

When our IEP goals are written based on preconceived notions of what the child will want to say in a given opportunity we lose sight of the fact that our real objective for the student is genuine communication.  This only happens through his generating messages based on what he wants to say. 
What if he doesn't need or want to ask for help 3 times per day for 3 consecutive days?
We need to consider more carefully how we write objectives for students to communicate effectively a variety of messages for a variety of functions, without telling him what he should say.

Here is a free handout that offers some alternatives: 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/IEP-Objectives-for-AAC-Users-Measuring-Genuine-Communication-1571972

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