Table 1.
Glossary of Assistive Communication Strategies
| Strategy | Description/Purpose |
|---|---|
|
Gaining attention & making eye contact (Light and Binger, 1998) |
Ensuring patient and nurse focus on each other’s faces and messages |
|
Confirming all patient messages (Beukelman and Mirenda, 2005; Hemsley et al., 2001) |
Validating that messages are understood by repeating message or understanding of message |
|
Establishing clear YES/NO signal (Beukelman and Mirenda, 2005; Hemsley et al., 2001) |
Ensuring that signal for YES-NO can be consistently executed and remembered by patient, and understood by others |
|
Patient gesture or signal dictionaries (Beukelman and Mirenda, 2005; Connolly, 1992) |
Displayed list of frequently used patient-specific gestures or signals and their meanings |
|
Pause time (Basil, 1992; Calculator, 1988; Light and Binger, 1998) |
Allowing increased time between communication exchanges to facilitate patient thought processing |
|
Partner-assisted scanning (Beukelman et al., 2007; Beukelman and Mirenda, 2005) |
Patient confirms correct row of, and then actual letter/word/picture on a communication board, as CP announces it aloud |
|
Written choice strategy (Garrett and Beukelman, 1992, 1995; Garrett and Huth, 2002) |
CP asks questions, writes possible answers using key words in large print, reviews the choices aloud while pointing to them, and instructs the patient to point or signal YES/NO to the most accurate answer |
|
Tagged YES/NO strategy (Beukelman and Mirenda, 2005; Binger and Light, 2007) |
CP asks a question and tags the end with “Yes…or No?,” alerting patient to response choices |
|
Messaging strategy (Beukelman and Mirenda, 2005; Garrett et al., 2007) |
Patient composes written message in advance, for CP to read upon return to room, conserving HCP time and patient energy |
|
Eye gaze board (Beukelman and Mirenda, 2005; Garrett et al., 2007) |
An eye gaze communication board is a vertically held/ mounted board, made of Plexiglas or sturdy paper with a window cut in the middle. A person with severe speech and motor impairments communicates by focusing their gaze on selected items (symbols, words or letters) displayed in quadrants or sections of the board. |
CP=communication partner; HCP=healthcare provider