Martina Celizić
Mali dom Community Services Centre
Martina Celizić, mag. rehab. educ., graduated from the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Zagreb. Since 2004 she has been employed at the Mali dom Community Services Centre, where her work focuses on supporting children and young people with sensory and complex disabilities, as well as developing educational programmes and communication approaches.
She pursued professional development in the education of children with visual impairments and additional disabilities through the MDVI Euronet network, and in 2008 attended the Perkins School for the Blind (USA) where she completed a nine-month Educational Leadership Program focused on curriculum development for children with multiple disabilities.
Since 2018 she has led the Mali dom Education Centre, coordinating professional development programmes and developing training in augmentative and alternative communication and the individualisation of educational programmes. As a Perkins International consultant, she participates in delivering numerous international training programmes including the Perkins International Academy.
Alongside her coordination of the Education Centre, she works in the assessment and counselling programme through educational-rehabilitation and assistive technology assessment. She is the author of the handbook "Multimodal Approach to Interaction and Communication of Persons with Sensory and Other Complex/Multiple Disabilities".
She is President of the Assistive Technology Working Group at the Croatian Chamber of Educational Rehabilitators and a member of the National Council for the Development of Social Policies. She also actively participates in the work of the international association Deafblind International.
MY SESSIONS
ATypical Assessment – How to Find the Right Communication System for Every Child?
This presentation addresses AT assessment (assistive technology assessment) with the goal of finding the most appropriate communication system for a child with complex, multiple developmental disabilities. The emphasis is on supporting parents and professionals in understanding the child's needs and selecting strategies that enable easier learning, greater independence in play and daily activities, and better involvement in communication and social interaction.
The importance of dynamic assessment is highlighted, as standard tests often fail to capture the complexity of profiles of children with multiple disabilities. Such tests can be insufficiently sensitive to sensory, motor and communication specificities, and are often conducted in artificial conditions that do not reflect the child's real abilities — creating a risk that the child's potential is underestimated, particularly if the child cannot respond in the way the test requires.
Assessment covers multiple areas of functioning: communication, motor, sensory, and modes of exploration and learning. In children with complex communication needs, communication is often achieved through eye gaze, body movement, gestures and vocalisation. Motor abilities, body positioning, object manipulation, and visual and auditory functions are also analysed for their impact on access to communication systems.
The presentation emphasises that successful AT assessment is an individualised and interdisciplinary process that must take into account the child's overall functioning and their everyday environment, with the goal of finding a communication system that enables more active participation in learning, play and daily life.
Through case studies, the session examines the specifics of assessment and the challenges professionals face in selecting an appropriate AAC device for a child with multiple disabilities — covering the process, components of assessment, implementation challenges, and possibilities for improving assessment models to ensure effective support for the child and family.