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Visual Strategies to Support Communication

Visual Strategies to Support Communication. February 7, 2009 Presented by Marjorie Gell, M.A., CCC-SLP Assistive Technology Exchange Center. Goodwill Industries of Orange County Assistive Technology Exchange Center (ATEC) Assistive Technology (AT)

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Visual Strategies to Support Communication

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  1. Visual Strategies to Support Communication February 7, 2009 Presented by Marjorie Gell, M.A., CCC-SLP Assistive Technology Exchange Center

  2. Goodwill Industries of Orange County Assistive Technology Exchange Center (ATEC) • Assistive Technology (AT) • Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)

  3. Intake • Evaluation • Trial period/ Training • Loan Library • Delivery/ Set-up of Equipment • Training/ Support • Workshops

  4. Assistive Technology • Definition • “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.” • Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals With Disabilities ACT of 1998, Law 100-407.

  5. Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) • Definition According to the American Speech Language and Hearing Association (ASHA). • “AAC is, foremost, a set of procedures and processes by which an individual's communication skills (i.e., production as well as comprehension) can be maximized for functional and effective communication. It involves supplementing or replacing natural speech and/or writing with aided (e.g., picture communication symbols, line drawings, Blissymbols, and tangible objects) and/or unaided symbols (e.g., manual signs, gestures, and finger spelling).”

  6. Objectives of Presentation • Better understand Visual Support Strategies and how they support communication. • What are visual support strategies? • Why they are useful? • Who do they benefit? • How to incorporate visual strategies into everyday life?

  7. Your Objectives • What do you hope to learn from this presentation?

  8. What is Communication? • Different Functions: expressing wants and needs, socializing, commenting, seeking information, clarifying information, protesting • Nonverbal and Verbal Communication • Is individual’s communication effective?

  9. Communication Involves: • Establishing and maintaining attention • Taking in information- different sensory systems • Processing that information • Sending out information • Maintaining Interaction

  10. Communication: • Form/ Type • Function • Pragmatics

  11. Forms of Communication • Vocalization • Speech • Sign Language • Gestures • Facial Expression/ Body Language • Object Use • Pictures • Written Language • Behaviors

  12. Functions of Communication • Requesting • Protesting • Labeling • Greeting • Answering Questions • Asking Questions • Seeking/Clarifying Information • Commenting • Social Interaction

  13. Pragmatics- The bigger picture of Communication • Joint Attention • Initiation • Responding to other’s initiation • Turn-taking • Maintaining Interaction • Maintaining Topic • Repairing Communication Breakdowns • Body Language/ Facial expression • Terminating Interaction Appropriately

  14. Receptive Language • How much and what is being comprehended? • Routines, environmental cues, gestures, visual support • Communication Disorder- often have receptive language deficits • May have difficulty taking in a lot of information through auditory means • Visual supports (pictures, writing, visual outlines) can significantly aid in comprehension of information

  15. Expressive Language • How much and what is being expressed? • How effective is the communication? • Communication Disorder • Difficulty with: • Speech/ articulation • Expressive Vocabulary • Expressive Syntax • Language formulation • Social language

  16. Visual Learners • Many individuals are visual learners • Visual Learner: an individual who takes in information most successfully through a visual modality

  17. Visual Learners • Require small amounts of auditory information at a time • Visual information • concrete • meaningful • static • permanent

  18. Who can benefit from Visual supports and strategies? • Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders • Individuals with: • Language delays • Developmental delay • auditory processing disorders • learning disabilities • ADD • Other communication disorders

  19. Why use Visual Support? • “Evidence supports that the use of visual systems enhance the likelihood of the development of improvement of oral speech.” (Silverman, 1996) • Hodge (1995) reports that people with Autism need additional time to process language. Visual cues help because they are static and stay in place longer.” • Quill’s research (1995) has shown that people with Autism tend to have problems with abstract thinking, social cognition, communication and attention. These skills are associated with the ability to acquire oral language. Strengths for the child with Autism tend to include concrete thinking, rote memorization and visual/ spatial skills. Using a visually based program supports these strengths.

  20. “PECS” • Picture Exchange Communication System (by Pyramid Educational Consultants, Inc.) • Type of AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) • Communication system • Uses visual information to teach communication • Need to be implemented by trained professionals • Complex, intensive program- 6 phases • Individual should be evaluated by Speech and Language Pathologist

  21. More “PECS” • Who does it benefit? • Developed for children with Autism • Can be used with children and adults • Can be used with individuals with variety of communication disorders

  22. Does Picture Communication impede verbal language? • No evidence that visual communication systems impede oral language development • Evidence shows that visually based communication systems tend to facilitate language development

  23. Visual Supports and Strategies • Gives concrete visual information • Pictures • Objects • Written language • Environmental cues • Gestures • Body movements

  24. Receptive and Expressive Language • Visual Information supports both: • Comprehension: what to expect, what is happening, where am I going, what’s next • Expression: that’s what I want, that’s where I want to go, that’s who I want to see

  25. Examples of Visual Supports: • Visual schedules • Visual calendars • Visual choice boards • First-Then boards • Step- Sequencing • Direction following • Routines

  26. Visual Tools Give Information • Comprehension of Information • Transitioning • What is going to happen? • When it is going to happen? • What are the choices? • What is changing? • Who is coming? • When do I get a break?

  27. Visual Schedules and Calendars • Support Comprehension • Support Expression • Concrete What is happening What is the sequence of events What is the same What is changing or different • Help with transitioning • Behavior Support: Visually show breaks, rewards, preferred activities

  28. Visual Tools Give Directions • Following Directions • Following steps of an activity • Predictable order and sequence

  29. Help Follow Routine • Hang up coat • Put away backpack • Take out books • Sit at desk • Take out homework

  30. Support Expression • Visuals can support: • Making Requests • Making Choices • Expressive Vocabulary • Describing • Sequence of language • Turn-taking • Answering Questions • Retelling information • Retelling sequence of steps

  31. How to Create Visual Tools • Use a form the individual understands quickly and easily • Internet: Google Images, ClipArt • Camera- take photographs • Coupons • Magazines • Logos from containers • Software Programs

  32. Making Visual Tools • Create tools that are universally understood • Be consistent • Keep symbols simple and concrete • Use written labels as well • Supports written language development • Supports literacy/ reading skills

  33. Why use Visual Strategies? • Increase independence • Organization tools • Support Comprehension and Expression • Can be modified over time • Age-appropriate • Change modalities (pictures  written) • Appropriate to environment

  34. Activity • Think of three visual support strategies to promote communication at home.

  35. Questions? Any questions?

  36. References and Resources: • Linda A. Hodgdon, M.Ed., CCC-SLP • www.usevisualstrategies.com • www.autismstuff.com • Book: Visual Strategies for Improving Communication • DVD’s, CD’s for making visuals • Barbara Bloomfield • www.icontalk.com • Pyramid Educational Products, Inc. • www.pyramidproducts.com • A Pictures Worth: PECS and Other Visual Communication Strategies in Autism, by Andy Bondy, Ph.D. and Lori Frost, M.S., CCC-SLP • Different Roads to Learning • www.difflearn.com

  37. Referral Process for ATEC Services • Contact ATEC Service Coordinator • Submit completed referral packet • Determine funding source • Appointments scheduled • Comprehensive Report which includes: • Equipment and training recommendations • Trial period recommendations • Vendor and price information • Delivery, set-up, training • Maintenance and follow-up support

  38. ATEC’s Information Assistive Technology Exchange Center A Division of Goodwill of Orange County 1601 East St. Andrew Place Santa Ana, CA92705 voice: 714.361-6200 tty/tdd: 714.543-1873 fax: 714.361-6220 www.atec-oc.org www.ocgoodwill.org

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