AUGMENTATIVE COMMUNICATION FOR STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN ALTERNATE ASSESSMENT JENNIFER NINCI (jninci@hawaii.edu) PATRICIA SHEEHEY (sheehey@hawaii.edu) MIN OK (okmin@hawaii.edu) MARY JO NOONAN (noonan@hawaii.edu) Department of Special Education University of Hawaii at Manoa
AGENDA • Developing individualized augmentative/alternative communication systems • Establishing reliable responses • Using technology for reliable responses • Using technology for assessment and intervention with academic, social/play, and functional skills • Case study applications
INTRODUCTION • How many of us use portable technology? • How do you use them? • How do your kids/students use them?
BENEFITS OF TECHNOLOGY FOR STUDENTS • Academic • Organizational • Play/leisure • Communication • Social • Sharing common interests • Behavior management • Functional • Fine motor/gross motor
SUPPORT THROUGH ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY LAW/POLICIES PL 100-407: AT is “Any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially or off the shelf, modified or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities.”
AT INCLUDES SERVICES AT Service: Any service that directly assists an individual with a disability in the selection, acquisition, or use of an AT device.
COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE • What is communication? Conveying meaning (talking, nonverbal) Can be intentional or unintentional • What is language? System, rules • What is speech? Sound formation and production
FORMS/MODES OF COMMUNICATION NONSYMBOLIC SYMBOLIC • Verbal • Vocal • Sign language • Affect • Photographs and pictures • Tactual • Representational objects • Body movement • Graphic system • Gestural • Physiological • Visual
COMMUNICATION BILL OF RIGHTS 1. The right to interact socially, maintain social closeness, and build relationships 2. The right to request desired objects, actions, events, and people 3. The right to refuse or reject undesired objects, actions, events, or choices 4. The right to express personal preferences and feelings 5. The right to make choices from meaningful alternatives 6. The right to make comments and share opinions 7. The right to ask for and give information, including information about changes in routine and environment 8. The right to be informed about people and events in one’s life … (Brady et al., 2016)
COMMUNICATION BILL OF RIGHTS, cont. 9. The right to access interventions and supports that improve communication 10. The right to have communication acts acknowledged and responded to even when the desired outcome cannot be realized 11. The right to have access to functioning AAC and other AT services and devices at all times 12. The right to access environmental contexts, interactions, and opportunities that promote participation as full communication partners with other people, including peers 13. The right to be treated with dignity and addressed with respect and courtesy 14. The right to be addressed directly and not be spoken for or talked about in the third person while present 15. The right to have clear, meaningful, and culturally and linguistically appropriate communications (Brady et al., 2016)
DEVELOPING INDIVIDUALIZED AAC SYSTEMS AAC = Augmentative & Alternative Communication
FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNICATION (PRAGMATICS) • Requesting (get or remove an object, activity, or person) • Protesting • Terminating interaction • Commenting/Labeling (social reciprocity) • Answering questions or filling in the blank (providing information or conversation reciprocity) • Repeating someone else (basic skill demonstration) • Adding descriptions (providing clarity or adding information) • Understanding language (receptive language; behaviors of the listener to convey skills, demonstrate understanding, or comply)
EARLY COMMUNICATION DEVELOPMENT • Prelinguistic communication • Crying, smiling, looking, reaching, joint attention, cooing, laughing, babbling • Emerging single word vocabulary • Between 12 and 15 mo (typically developing kids) • Successive single word • Words relate but are not correctly structured (syntax) • Multiword utterance • Agent action (me go) • Agent object (mommy sock) • Action object (kiss baby)
SELECTING GOALS AND VOCABULARY • Based on assessments, IEP goals, and family and self-identified needs • Observe within the typical daily routine as a guide to potential communication opportunities, necessary communicative functions, & vocabulary • If school-aged, include curriculum vocabulary • Program new vocabulary into the AAC device, organized by context (Ganz et al., 2014)
SETT FRAMEWORK Retrieved from www.zoyzabala.com
AAC ASSESSMENT (SETT FRAMEWORK) 1. Student: What are the student’s abilities and difficulties related to the area of communication? • Communication, motor, vision, sensory, cognitive ability & difficulties • Preferences, interests 2. Environments: What environmental considerations impact the student’s communication? • Communication partners, daily schedule, vocabulary to support environment, other challenges/concerns 3. Tasks: What communication skills do you want the student to do? • Initiating, commenting, requesting, exchanging information, etc. 4. Tools: What communication devices will best meet the student’s need and demands of the environments & tasks?
OTHER ISSUES • Audience • Portability • Cost • Team collaboration & training • Vocabulary & design • Access
AAC SYSTEMS
FEATURES OF AAC DEVICES • Low Tech – High Tech • Dynamic – Static Display • Output Voices • Symbol Sets • Vocabulary Size • Access
LOW VS. MID VS. HIGH TECH Cheaper More Expensive Simpler Functions Advanced Functions
STATIC VS. DYNAMIC DISPLAY VS. No Change Display is changed if students presses symbols
DIGITIZED VS. SYNTHESIZED VOICE VS. Record and use human voice Device reads out
SYMBOL SETS Objects Letters Pictures Consideration: Symbol Size, Color, how many symbol per page
VOCABULARY SIZE Tiny Vocabulary (<15 items) Small Vocabulary (16-99 items) Midrange Vocabulary (100-259 items) Extensive Vocabulary (>250 items) Consideration: Vocabulary organization
ACCESS Direct Selection Indirect selection (Eye gaze & Switch)
LOW TECH
1. CONCRETE REPRESENTATIONS Students pick, point, or exchange real tangible objects to communicate
2. COMMUNICATION SYSTEM WITH PICTURES, SYMBOLS, LETTERS AND/OR WORDS • Eye Gaze Board A student looks or gazes at symbols (pictures, letters and/or words) to communicate to a partner that symbols’ meaning Idaho Assistive Technology Project (Nora Jehn)
2. COMMUNICATION SYSTEM WITH PICTURES, SYMBOLS, LETTERS AND/OR WORDS • Communication Books or Boards A student exchanges, moves or points symbols to communicate
MID TECH
3. SIMPLE SPEECH GENERATING DEVICES • Usually one button, delivering one message or a sequence of messages • Example Devices: Single message: BIGmack A sequence of messages: Step by Step • Students press the switch; it delivers recorded messages. Wati.org
4. SPEECH GENERATING DEVICE WITH LEVELS • Capable of storing several layers of messages & delivering many messages, requires physical manipulation to change levels • Example Devices: • Go Talk • Tech Talk • Capable of changing symbols (picture and/or vocabulary) & Recording a message for each symbol • Student presses each symbol to communicate using recorded messages Wati.org
HIGH TECH
5. SPEECH GENERATING DEVICE WITH A DYNAMIC DISPLAY • Pictures, words, or symbols are represented on a screen, capable of touch or switch activation • The devices automatically change the picture displays and corresponding messages • Students need to navigate to different pages to communicate about different topics Wati.org
6. TEXT-BASED DEVICES WITH SPEECH SYNTHESIS • Anything the student types can be spoken by the device • Requires good literacy skills including grammar, spelling, and punctuation • Most have supplementary features such as word/phrase prediction, abbreviation expansion, pre-stored messages Wati.org
MOBILE DEVICE AAC APPS • Many AAC applications for mobile devices • Apps often much cheaper than the existing AAC devices
VIDEO EXAMPLES • Low to high tech devices • http://tinyurl.com/jevjxvy
ESTABLISHING RELIABLE RESPONSES
IDENTIFYING INITIAL COMMUNICATION RESPONSE TO TEACH • Use common communication gesture if possible • Point, head nod, etc. • If motor impairments present, consider shaping reflexive response • Head turn, arm extension/contraction (ATNR) reflex • Teach movement for switch activation • Teach sustained eye-gaze/eye-point • Difficult to establish reliable response
A B C • A ____________: events that precede behavior in time. ntecedents • B _______ : the activity of a living organism. ehavior • C _____________: events that follow a behavior onsequences
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