Instructions
1. Observe this person and yourself and your interactions while you are assisting this person with a task such as getting dressed, eating, taking a bath or shower, or visiting.
2. Ask YOURSELF the following questions. DO NOT ask the questions to the person you are observing.
3. The questions assume you are the care partner (that is, caregiver) assisting and communicating with this person. (So you are observing yourself while you assist.) If someone else is assisting instead, then you will observe whoever is assisting and ask yourself the questions about whoever is assisting and communicating with this person.
4. Answer each question by selecting a response number from 1 - 4 (or a response of “Yes” or “No” in the Yes/No Response Format) that most closely matches your observations during the entire time of the task. If you don’t know the answer to a question, then try using the intervention strategies identified for that question in the “CAIS Communication Intervention Strategies”. They can help you better understand the question. These intervention strategies suggest ways you can communicate more easily with this person, even if you and this person communicate well with each other.
A response number of “3” or “4” (or a response of “Yes” in the Yes/No Response Format) suggests your communication strategies may be supporting this person and their desires and meeting, or nearly meeting their cognitive strengths and needs with respect to this question.
A response number of “1” or “2” (or a response of “No” in the Yes/No Response Format) alerts you to ways you can help this person understand and respond to you more easily, by directing you to the “CAIS Communication Intervention Strategies” where options of specific practical intervention strategies are identified for each question in this “CAIS Communication Questions to Ask-Four Point Response Format (and in the Yes/No Response Format)”. These strategies suggest ways you can adapt your communication with this person to support their cognitive abilities and needs. They can also help you understand and respond to this person more easily and in a way that helps you and this person enjoy your interactions and time together.
KEY: 1 = Rarely or Never 2 = Sometimes 3 = Often 4 = Usually or Always