An Applied Model of Interprofessional Collaboration-Assessment (AMIC-A): A Process-Based Approach to Augmentative and Alternative Communication.

Speech-language pathologists and board-certified behavior analysts both provide important support services to children who are candidates for augmentative and alternative communication. Current assessment practices neglect critical socioecological factors that are necessary to inform communication-based interventions. By leveraging the unique knowledge, research, and expertise of both disciplines, an interprofessional approach to assessment may help realize individualized or precision interventions and personalized supports that address the unique communication needs of each person. The purpose of this article is to introduce a process-based approach to assessment called the "Applied Model of Interprofessional Collaboration-Assessment (AMIC-A)." The AMIC-A will be defined and detailed including the rationale for development, a description of the approach, and recommendations for implementation. A case study example is provided to illustrate implementation of the AMIC-A.

An Interprofessional Graduate Student and Family Coaching Program in Naturalistic Communication Techniques.

Researchers implemented a short-term cascading coaching model focusing on naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention with three participant triads. Triads consisted of a graduate student clinician, a minimally verbal child with autism spectrum disorder, and the child's parent. Coaching and intervention occurred during an interprofessional summer clinic that included graduate student clinicians from special education and speech and hearing sciences departments. The efficacy of short-term instruction, researcher coaching for student clinicians, and student clinician coaching of parents was evaluated using a multiple baseline across participants' design. The dependent variables were student clinician's and parent's use of elicitation techniques (creating communication temptations, waiting, and prompting) and response techniques (naturally reinforcing children's communication and providing spoken language models). Following coaching, parents and student clinicians from all triads increased their use of elicitation and response techniques, with very large effect sizes across all variables. Visual analysis findings suggest individualized differences and variability across triads. Implications for graduate education and parent coaching programs are discussed.