Family Impact of Assistive Technology Scale for Augmentative and Alternative Communication Systems (FIATS-AAC)

The Family Impact of Assistive Technology Scale for Augmentative and Alternative Communication Systems (FIATS-AAC) scale is a sound, parent-reported questionnaire designed to detect the functional effects of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) interventions on the lives of children and youth, ages 3 to 18 years, and their families.

The FIATS-AAC scale has 89 items assigned to one of 13 dimensions to measure both the overall and domain-specific impacts of AAC system use. The dimensions include seven child-related factors (behaviour, communication, contentment, doing activities, education, self-reliance, social versatility) and six parent- and family-related factors (caregiver relief, energy, family roles, finances, security, supervision).

The FIATS-AAC38 scale is a shortened version of the FIATS-AAC that offers a reliable, expedient way to measure parent-perceived child and family functioning in seven core domains.The Face-to-Face Communication (F2FC) scale is a reliable, single-factor measure of face-to-face communicative performance.

The F2FC scale is derived from the FIATS-AAC.The FIATS-AAC administration manual details the measurement properties of the FIATS-AAC, FIATS-AAC38, and F2FC scales. The manual provides administration and scoring guidelines for clinical, program evaluation, and research applications.A clinical scoring workbook automates calculations for total scale, dimension scores, and change scores for all three measures. The workbook also generates an outcomes report for clinical service applications.