Holistic Communication Profiles

Holistic communication profiles are tools that provide teams with a way to comprehensively assess a learner's current level of communication performance and other areas of development that influence communication achievement.

NCDB is pleased to host two documents on this topic by Susan Bruce, PhD, a professor at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College.

Holistic Communication Profile (2021)
This structured profile can be used by teams working with learners who are deaf-blind or have other disabilities to guide the collection and recording of observational data on communication skills and other milestones.

Introduction to the Holistic Communication Profile: Integrating Pivotal Social and Cognitive Milestones in Communication Programming (2010)
This document includes a brief introduction to the topic of holistic communication profiles, an earlier version of the profile linked above, and a sample of a completed profile for a child with CHARGE Syndrome. Teams should use the profile linked above for collecting data, but will find the sample profile in this article helpful for understanding how to best use the tool.