VIDBE-Q Volume 65 Issue 2
36
Data Analysis
The CM was chosen because it was developed to measure the functional
communication of individuals who have multiple disabilities including
deafblindness and seeks to evaluate communication development progress (from
"not used" to "emerging" to "mastered" to "surpassed" (Rowland, 2011). After the
evaluation is complete, a communication profile is created (see Figure 1 for an
example). Important to note is that the communication skills included on the CM
are skills that typically developing children acquire and master and/or surpass by
24 months of age
(Rowland, 2011). When assessing the growth trajectory on the
CM profiles, one desires to see a decrease of the number of skills in the "not used"
category while the remaining three categories increase. The ultimate objective is
for the CM profile to display at least a "mastery" of communication skills
(Probst,
2017). As each communication skill reaches mastery level, fewer skills should be
listed as "not used." Using the profiles created by the CM, professionals can
observe the communication development of individuals who attain these skills at a
diminished rate
(Probst, 2017).
