Moving beyond requesting: D EVELOPING communicative competence- Day 2

1. Moving beyond requesting:DEVELOPING communicative competence- Day 2 April 24, 2013 Jayna Greenfield, Assistive Technology Consultant ARIN IU 28

2. Today’s Schedule • Opening activity • Briefly review last session’s big ideas • Case Studies • More on Core • Strategies for teaching core and examples • Planning/ Work time

3. Opening Activity: 4 Corners • Which song best describes your feelings towards AAC/ Core Vocabulary?

4. About Today: Our Rules • Maintain Confidentiality • Respect Others’ Perspectives • Keep What’s Most Important (CHILDREN) our First Priority

5. Presume Competence • Viewing students through the lens of a disability label may increase the likelihood of misjudging capabilities and barring some students from opportunities to learn what other students their age are learning.(Jorgensen, McSheehan & Sonnenmeier, 2007)

6. And…Make the Least Dangerous Assumption “…educational decisions ought to be based on assumptions, which if incorrect will have the least dangerous effect…we should assume that poor performance is due to instructional inadequacy rather than to student deficits…” (Anne DonnellanPh.D, University of San Diego)

7. Since last time… Yay!!!!

8. What you want to learn about today…survey says: • Apps to help with core vocabulary, AAC apps, more materials and ideas to teach core vocabulary • Core vocabulary • Perhaps see more examples of therapy sessions using core vocab on a static overlay board without voice output • iPad apps • I would like to learn about group lessons for Life skills students. • implementing assistive tech • More ideas for use in the classroom, use in the regular education classroom, good apps to use • More about how to teach core vocabulary

9. Let’s Review!

10. What is the Vision? The PA Statewide Initiative for Students with Complex Support Needs (SCSN): • When students with disabilities are provided with appropriate instruction and supports, they can learn grade-level academic knowledge & skills and communicate in ways that are commensurate with their same age peers without disabilities. • Comes about from PA’s Partnership in the National Center State Collaborative Grant (federally funded) which was proposed to develop a comprehensive assessment system. “Imagine educational practices in which learners with significant disabilities have the same learner outcomes as students without disabilities.”- Kleinert & Kearnes, 2001

11. Communication is: • The exchange of ideas • A two-way process, consisting of: • Sender (Expressive Communication) • Receiver (Receptive Communication) • Intentional- to convey a message • Verbal or nonverbal

12. What we ALL communicate: • Reject what we don’t want • Ask for what we do want • Comment on what we see • Tell stories • Complain • Ask questions • Answer questions • More…

13. What is “Communicative Competence?” • “Being able to meet the changing demands and to fulfill one’s communication goals across the lifespan.” • Communicative Competence should accomplish four main purposes: • Expressing wants and needs • Developing social closeness • Exchanging information • Fulfilling social etiquette routines (Light, 1997)

14. Our purposes for communicating change over time: Infancy Secondary Elementary Sharing Information Sharing Information WANTS & NEEDS Sharing Information Social Interactions & etiquette Social Interactions & etiquette WANTS & NEEDS Social Interactions & etiquette WANTS & NEEDS J. Cumley, 2001 Based on J. Light, 1988, 1997, 2005

15. What bridges the gap for our students with Complex Support Needs? What they can express What they Know/think/feel AAC

16. What is AAC? • Augmentative and Alternative Communication Includes all forms of communication (other than oral speech) that are used to express thoughts, needs, wants, and ideas. (ASHA, 2011) Augmentative - to support what is already there. Alternative – replacement for the lack of verbal communication.

17. What are our responsibilities in AAC? • MAKE opportunities for its use. • BEa communication partner. • TEACH the system. • MODEL use of the system. • SET high expectations.

18. Remember… A device/tool is only as good as the people behind it.

19. Also, remember… A device/ tool is only as good as the language that is in it!

21. Vocabulary Selection

22. Gail VanTatenhove

23. Something to think about… You’re not an equal member of society, if you don’t have words to communicate like everyone else!

24. 2 Kinds of Vocabulary: Core Versus Fringe • “Core vocabulary is composed of high frequency words that are very versatile. In contrast, fringe vocabulary is composed of words that occur infrequently and lack versatility.” • Core vocabulary consists primarily of pronouns, verbs, question words, prepositions, articles, etc. • Fringe vocabulary consists primarily of nouns. -www.aaclanguagelab.com

25. Kinds of Core Words • Content/ Lexical Core Words • “MEATY” • Examples: eat, drink, go, more, trouble • Functional/ Grammatical Core Words • “THUMBTACK”- holds others together • Examples: is, of, to, with, by, for

26. Did you know…… • Most people have 20,000- 25,000 words in their vocabulary • The most frequently occurring words = 80% of the actual words spoken • 78 – 80% of the words we use daily come from a set of fewer than 350 - 400 words (core words) • These same (core) words are consistent from age 4- through adult! • The 50 most frequently occurring words account for 40-50 % of total words said, while the 100 most frequently occurring = 60% of what is said -VanTatenhove, 2004

27. One implication… If you give kids 50 good lexical core words, they can say about 50-60% of what everyone else says! Wow!!!

28. Everyday conversation example…. Hi. How are you today? I’m good. How are you? Not good. I feel like I am gettingsick.

29. Second Implication:What does this mean for AAC? • Our priority for vocabulary selection should focus on the small set of high frequency words, not on the large set of infrequently used words. • GIVES US MORE BANG FOR OUR BUCK! Aha!

30. Other implications…Without Core Words: A person is at risk: • Linguistically • Can’t develop language like speaking peers • Limited reasons to communicate • Perpetually a responder, not an initiator • May maintain context-dependent communication instead of developing into an independent/ generative communicator • Academically • Real participation requires language • Need “meaty” and “thumbtack” words for learning literacy (The top words needed for reading are CORE words!!!!) • Personally/ Socially • Need good communication skills for a healthy, safe, and happy life VanTatenhove, 2013

31. Typical Childhood Development • The first 20 words a child says are primarily nouns • From 12-18 months, nouns are mostly being used, but it doesn’t last long! • By 24 months, children use 150-300 core words. • By 26 months, 80% of what children say is core. Gail says that it is “okay to start AAC intervention with a child under 18 months with a small set of nouns. But, don’t do nouns exclusively, and don’t stay there indefinitely.” -VanTatenhove, 2013

32. Core Vocabulary is Life Saving!

33. To lighten the mood… What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive core vocabulary? A Thesaurus! VanTatenhove, 2013

34. Case Studies OFFERING FEEDBACK 1. START WITH POSITIVE 2. ADD ANY SUGGESTIONS OR NEW IDEAS 3. END WITH A POSITIVE • Be thinking of strategies and tools that are working well for this teacher/therapist!! • Any ideas you can offer to add to the existing activity to increase language input or output? Things you have tried that have worked? • To offer suggestions, use this language: “I wonder if…” “Have you ever tried…” “I wonder what would happen if you….”

35. Moving on…. Where do we go from here?

36. General Rules of Thumb • Nouns are still important, but often over emphasized. (Emphasis should be on core words.) • Use 4 core words to 1 noun. • For student with a moderate to severe learning impairment, may need more nouns. (Ex. 1 core word to 4 nouns.) But, DON’T eliminate core! • Core will help you meet state standards that ask you to DEFINE, DESCRIBE, DISCUSS, EXPLAIN, etc. • Can easily be integrated into activity-based instruction, and included in student IEPs.

37. Choosing Symbols • Challenge: Core words are not easy to represent (or teach) because they are not “picture producers”! • Your teaching of the symbol will be crucial! • Minspeak- system that uses icons, with each icon meaning more than one thing. (It’s called semantic impaction.) On PRC devices. • Other types of symbols: • Mayer-Johnson (Boardmaker software) • SymbolStix (Crick software) • Pixons

38. Comparing Symbols

39. Rules of Thumb…for designing manual boards/books: • Choose the symbol set that makes the most sense. (Ex. readily available, is on device of other students in your class, etc.) • Be consistent with your symbols. • Give core vocabulary words from ALL word groups. • Use the core words across ALL activities! • Organize core words for easy access.

40. Types of AAC Tools & Displays • High Tech- Dynamic Display AAC • iPads with robust AAC apps (Proloquo2Go, TouchChat HD, LAMP Words for Life) • Dedicated communication devices (PRC Accent, NovaChat) • Low Tech- Speech Generating Devices • GoTalk 20+ or 32+, TechSpeak 32 • No Tech- Manual Boards or Books • Single Sheet Design- get core words on 1 display/page (Should have 50 words) (Evidence says this is the easiest to use!) • Multiple Simultaneous Design- turn a section of the board to get some new core words • Multiple Sequential Designs- turn pages to get more core words

41. Examples- High Tech

42. Examples- Low & No Tech

43. Your Approach can be Multi-Modal! • Voice, gesture, board, device, app: Acknowledge all attempts to communicate! • Design a stable, single sheet design AAC system for Core Vocabulary, as a strategy of “first choice.” • Move towards the use of whatever design promotes independent communication in more settings and with more trained partners.

44. The Baker Formula Motivation Physical Effort + Cognitive Effort + Time “If the motivation to communicate a message is greater than the physical effort, cognitive effort, and time required to produce it, then communication will occur. If not, no message will be generated.” -Bruce Baker

45. To have a good system… you need a supportive classroom! Make sure your other students know the rules: • This student is not the class “pet” or “baby” • How/When to touch device and student • How much to help to give this student…make sure they know to give him a chance to answer! (Teach them “wait time” too!) • Make sure your assistants know this too! Note: When your student with AAC “speaks” inappropriately…do not take the device away. Use another punishment, just like you would for your speaking students.

46. Also, do AAC Awareness Activities • Have your other students try using a manual communication board to communicate. • Celebrate October as AAC Awareness month. • Read/Show the book: “How Katie Got a Voice (and a cool new nickname),” by Pat Mervine of SpeakingofSpeech.com.

47. Teaching Core Vocabulary in an Activity Get Ready! • Pick a target classroom board with enough, but not too much core vocabulary (50 word) • Customize board if necessary – can use velcro • Customize boards for each student, if needed (May need to expand beyond 50 words) • Coordinate use of manual boards with SGDs and Apps- make sure the core words are available to all.

48. Teaching Core Vocabulary in an Activity Get Set! • Choose your target activities- start with 1-2 per day. Repeat 3-4 times/ week. • Aim for a minimum of 3 target words for students to say. (You will be modeling more!) • Allow for more TIME to complete the activity. Example- craft/art activity will likely take twice as long! • Think through the activity. How are you going to organize, and what barriers can you set up? What core words will you be targeting?

49. Teaching Core Vocabulary in an Activity Go! • Introduce new words using AIDED LANGUAGE STIMULATION (Strategy of modeling language by pointing to key words on the communication aide). • Teach the new words with explicit instruction activities. • Elaborate on new word meanings with engaging practice activities. • Provide repeated exposure to the new words on an ongoing basis. • Check for understanding, and reteach as necessary.

50. Introducing words through:Aided Language Input