6e. Providing Feedback and Evaluation as ongoing Processes

Updated by Global Symbols with UNICEF ECARO

surveys

  • The project should establish public channels of communication for questions and answers, and the Global Symbol website is certainly one of the possible places to do so.
  • Queries are regularly answered via the Global Symbols contact page and many of answers appear anonymised under the sections in the Knowledge Base.
  • Evaluations can be carried out using localised surveys when reviewing the different parts of the system, but if the review is related to AAC user progression then it is advised to use standardised assessments.

PIADS

Evaluating the impact of the AAC intervention will be important both to gauge the success of the investment of time and energy and in helping to plan future actions. In measuring the impact of providing access to AAC to a child, it is possible to measure their utterances, but additional insight can be provided by exploring the impact the intervention has on their confidence and capability

  • The Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Devices Scale (PIADS) is a 26-item self-report questionnaire designed to assess the effects of an assistive device on functional independence, well-being, and quality of life. PIADS was researched and developed to fill the need for a reliable, valid, and economical measure that is generically applicable across all major categories of assistive technology.
  • Parents, carers, teachers and therapists and other regular communication partners can be asked to complete the questionnaire on behalf of the child using AAC at different times during the support and training.
  • Research has established that PIADS has good internal consistency, reliability, and construct validity. It is a responsive measure and sensitive to important variables such as the user’s clinical condition, device stigma, and functional features of the device. It has been shown to accurately reflect the self-described experiences of people who use assistive devices.
  • Investigations also suggest that PIADS has good validity for predicting device use and discontinuance and can be used reliably by caregivers to give proxy ratings of device impact, and produces valid results when translated into languages other than English.

See Also