Teaching · Speech and Language

Coach the people
who talk with them most.

A planner for SLPs training communication partners: pick a few strategies for each parent, para or peer, run a teach, model, coach and review session, tally fidelity as you watch, and see each partner's progress over time.

Open the plannerWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Speech & Language toolkit, $79 for 72 items.

The planner

The worked example is a made-up learner, S-12, who uses a speech-generating app, and three partners: a parent, a paraprofessional and a peer. Your plan saves in this browser.

Loading the planner. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Teaching · Speech & Language$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
For each partner: up to three target strategies, a timed session plan adjusted to their role, a printable fidelity checklist, a tally that turns what you observed into a fidelity percentage, and a coaching log with a progress chart.
Who it is for
Speech-language pathologists and SLP assistants, AAC specialists, and special education teachers who coach parents, paraprofessionals, peers and colleagues.
Format
Browser tool. Prints the session plan, a blank fidelity checklist and the coaching log; downloads the log as a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file to move between devices.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Speech & Language toolkit ($79) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Speech & Language space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Load the worked example, or start blank with a learner code and the learner's communication system.
  2. Add each partner by code and role, name the routine where you will coach, and pick up to three target strategies.
  3. Print the session plan. Its four parts are timed to your session length and adjusted for the partner's role.
  4. During coaching, tap a chance each time the partner has an opportunity to use a strategy and a use when they do. Save the session.
  5. Read each partner's chart in the coaching log, and decide when to fade coaching or add a strategy.

Open the planner

How the planner works

The training sequence, the strategies and the fidelity number.

Teach, model, coach, review

Communication partner training works best when partners do more than listen to an explanation. The session plan follows the sequence used in caregiver coaching research: teach the strategy and why it helps, model it with the learner while the partner watches, coach the partner as they use it in a real routine with brief, specific feedback, and review together and agree on practice. Most of the time goes to coaching. Plans for peers are shorter and use a picture cue card.

The ten strategies are described in our own words. Expectant waiting, aided language modeling, expansion, responding to every attempt and least-to-most prompting are among the partner strategies most often taught in AAC and early language intervention.

The fidelity number

For each strategy you count the chances the partner had to use it and the uses. Fidelity for a strategy is uses divided by chances; fidelity for the session adds the uses across strategies and divides by all chances. In the worked example, P-01's last session had 25 uses in 29 chances: 86 percent.

The log flags a partner at or above 80 percent in the last two sessions as ready to fade coaching or add a strategy. Eighty percent is a common working criterion, not a research standard; set expectations with each partner and the team.

Sources

  1. Kent-Walsh, J., Murza, K. A., Malani, M. D., and Binger, C. (2015). Effects of communication partner instruction on the communication of individuals using AAC: A meta-analysis. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 31(4), 271 to 284.
  2. Kent-Walsh, J., and McNaughton, D. (2005). Communication partner instruction in AAC: Present practices and future directions. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 21(3), 195 to 204.
  3. Roberts, M. Y., Kaiser, A. P., Wolfe, C. E., Bryant, J. D., and Spidalieri, A. M. (2014). Effects of the Teach-Model-Coach-Review instructional approach on caregiver use of language support strategies and children's expressive language skills. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 57(5), 1851 to 1869.
  4. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Augmentative and Alternative Communication (Practice Portal). Partner training as part of AAC intervention.

The worked example is made up. The planner supports a licensed SLP's plan; it does not choose goals or replace clinical judgment. Use codes, not names. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.