Abstract
Researchers and practitioners have used adaptive communication devices (ACD) in interviewing individuals with communication impairments as well as persons with concurrent developmental disabilities (Cohen & Jones, 1990; Mirenda & Locke, 1989; Musselwhite & Ruscello, 1984; Sigelman & Budd, 1986). The current study assessed the criterion validity of the photographic ACD used in Oklahoma to interview those receiving services from the Developmental Disabilities Services Division. This ACD consists of color photographic representations for each of the 24 questions created for interviewing the consumers. A back-translation methodology was used, asking participants to view the photographs and respond with the question that each picture was designed to represent. The average percentage of participants correctly identifying the question across 24 pictures was 69.9%. Several photographs were frequently incorrectly identified, and two photographs presented problems to all respondents. The photographs were then revised in accordance with information obtained from the research, and a post-test was performed with five verbal individuals with developmental disabilities. The post-test revealed that all but two of the problematic questions became apparent after the revision.
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