Hi-

(I’m going to email this post in a few separate parts, to make it a little easier to digest.)

 

I was recently asked what kind of formal evaluation procedure and documentation should occur when an SLP evaluates someone for an eye gaze system.  (i.e. What exactly should the SLP trial and document in order to justify eye gaze, or to justify a particular system?)

 

I was thinking along the lines of, if you were mentoring a newbie SLP, who had never done an evaluation before, what kind of information would you ask them to gather?

 

I started  making up a list, and I wanted to run it past folks on the listserv. (Being able to get feedback and ideas from different people on the list has been invaluable!)

 

Here is what I’ve come up with so far- (I’m basing part of this on a email I got from Amy Roman.)

 

(Note- this only covers the physical access portion of the eye gaze evaluation, not all the other language and needs aspects of the evaluation.)

 

The main things I have:

 

1.       % Accuracy

2.       Communication Rate

3.       Rationale for eye gaze

 

ACCURACY

 Ideally, it would be best practices if the SLP took real measures…

(for example- “On a page set with 70 buttons (10 x 7),  patient had a 90% accuracy rate… On a page set with 120 buttons,  (12 x 10), patient had an accuracy rate of 72%.)

 

As I’m writing this, a couple of things come to mind-

 

a.       A newbie might need help even knowing how to measure accuracy… maybe some step directions need to be given. (and some protocols- i.e. let the individual practice and become familiar with the layout of the letters, before testing for accuracy.)

b.      Realistically, there were times in the past where I provided a more informal eval- (i.e. a person had success with one eye gaze system, and couldn’t use another at all. In that case, I might do more of an informal measure, since it was pretty clear what the outcome would be.)

c.       Medicare doesn’t really require measures of accuracy, rate etc. Rather, it requires an explanation of the rationale why a particular device was chosen.  (Although it would be best practices to document these measures…)

 

OK, I’ll stop talking, and start listening  ;-)

 

I would love to hear other folks thoughts on what exactly should be documented (and I’ll write more on communication rate, and rational for eye gaze in a separate letter….

 

Margaret Cotts, MA, ATP

DynaVox Technologies & Mayer-Johnson