Reviewing an NHS Service Development Project: Assessment and outcomes criteria for LAMP

Session

3.7

Tutorial

• • Helen Robinson (Bradford SLT Service)

Summary

A review of an NHS service development project which aimed to devise a set of criteria for children who are most likely to show successful use of a communication aid using the LAMP approach.

Method/Activities/Techniques

Eight children with autism and less than ten functional words attended six twenty-minute assessment sessions over two weeks. Information about each child was collected, including sensory needs, comprehsion and current communciation behaviours and used to draw conclusions about indicators of succes with a communication aid.

Results/Findings

Children most likely to be successful at using a communication aid will have: at least single word level comprehension; persistence to get a desired outcome; social engagement at the ‘involvement’ stage of the intensive interaction framework; ability to look at a screen. A high level of sensory processing difficulty may indicate difficulty in extending the use of LAMP, but is not a reason not to trial LAMP if these criteria are met.

Conclusions

Non-verbal children with autism may benefit from using a communication aid. We have developed a set of criteria for assessment and outcome measures. We presented our project to NHS comissioners and are currently carrying out a further year-long LAMP pilot project.

Level of Session

Specialist

Age Group

Child

Interest

Primary school
Secondary school
Special school