One of our goals for Joey is to speak in multi-word phrases. All children begin with single words, and then over time develop two to three word phrases, before moving on to full sentences. Of course, all children are immersed in examples of how we use multi-word phrases and sentences throughout the day. Although Joey hears oral examples of how to put words together into sentences, it is rare he is able to watch people model using multi-word phrases on a device. Those of us who use the device with him take time to model these phrases, but there is no way to compare our modeling to the total immersion of a typically developing child. [Read more…]
Listening Closely to Presume Competence
I plopped down beside Joey one afternoon, and asked him how his day had been. He quickly began chatting away, “More, stop, vehicle,” he said.
“Really?” I asked, “Tell me more.”
“Caterpillar. Eagle. Awesome. Whale.”
“Cool,” I replied. “So what book do you want to read?”
“Don’t, itchy, hole, hump, brush, antenna” he said.
“Let’s stay on topic” I replied cheerily, as I do sometimes when he doesn’t answer my direct question. “We can read the book about the bugs, or the book about the stick. You can tell me which one you want using those words.”
Joey looked at me with frustration and maybe a little disgust. He stared hard at one of the boxes on the floor that contained our book. Finally, he added “Paintbrush”. [Read more…]
Learning Prepositions
I was gathering my things to leave Joey’s house, when I heard Joey say “under” from the eye gaze device. He’d been playing with a toy bee on his tray and he’d lost it. As I chatted with his mom, he said “bee, grasshopper, fly” and pointed in the direction of the floor. But I was busy with my conversation, and didn’t really notice what was going on. And so, he reached deeper into his repertoire. UNDER. He told me where I could find the item. Independently. Without prompting.
Like so many times with Joey, one small word is so meaningful. [Read more…]
Another Great Book for Supporting AAC! – Ball, by
One of the more powerful ways I’ve found to encourage Joey’s communication on the eye gaze device is to read wordless picture books that still have a substantial storyline- or at least books with limited words on each page. These books are great for all kindergarteners because they allow a child to enjoy a full, exciting story, while also using their pre-reading skills to read the book independently.
Mary Sullivan’s book, Ball! is our current favorite almost-wordless book. Its central character is a dog who has one thought – ball. The dog may be dreaming of a ball, chasing a ball, asking for the ball to be thrown, or looking for a lost ball, but he continues to only use the word ball to communicate his wants and needs. [Read more…]
Supporting All Types of Communication: Chatting vs Responding
As we prepared Joey for school, I noticed a dip in his AAC output data. There were many reasons for this, and a main one was that Joey is becoming stronger at navigating his device. Although he still may select the wrong icon, he is able to navigate himself back to the right page faster. He selects fewer wrong pictures, which leads to a decrease in total output, but an increase in meaningful output.
Yet as I look over our back and forth communication over the last month, I suspect there is another reason the output decreased. Early on in August, we introduced a social story to Joey about being quiet in school – and how sometimes he will need to be quiet, and sometimes he will be able to talk. Read alouds were a time when he would need to be quiet, and share his thoughts and ideas when a teacher asked him to. [Read more…]
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