The Joseph Robert Shaw Foundation

Helping Children Recover from Brain Injury

The War Over Want

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On Thursday, Joey and I stared at each other, silently. My goal in the moment was for Joey to select the word ‘want’ on his AAC eye gaze device. Joey’s goal was to get me to give him a stuffed owl he had dropped on the floor. In my perfectly planned lesson, these two goals would work together. Joey would use the device to say “want” and then I would give him the owl. Joey though, did not show any interest in selecting the ‘want’ icon.

This battle over the word ‘want’ has been going on for four sessions now. I model using the word want and then prompt, prod, and encourage Joey to select ‘want’. In response, Joey reaches into his communicative skills to do anything he can to NOT select ‘want’. [Read more…]

So what is this AAC thing you keep writing about?

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Last fall Joey started using an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) eye gaze device. But what does augmentative and alternative communication even mean?

The AAC page on Wikipedia states, “Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is an umbrella term that encompasses the communication methods used to supplement or replace speech or writing for those with impairments in the production or comprehension of spoken or written language. AAC is used by those with a wide range of speech and language impairments, including congenital impairments such as cerebral palsy, intellectual impairment and autism, and acquired conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. AAC can be a permanent addition to a person’s communication or a temporary aid.”

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Serve and Return: Tuning in to Joey’s patterns of communication

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Serve and Return is a term researchers and practitioners use to describe the back-and-forth communication we experience when we interact and respond to one another. It is essential in early development, and starts the first time your infant locks eyes with you and you smile back. The infant locking eyes with you is the serve – the opening of a communicative chain- and you respond to the infant’s communication attempt with a smile – the return. This simple interaction – two way, reciprocal communication – is where children start to learn patterns from their environment. It is where the neurons in the brain start forming connections with one another, based on the repeated discoveries of “when I smile at mommy she smiles back.”
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Books and the AAC Device

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Since Joey loves books, it was only natural that we’d want to use books and interactive read alouds to help him learn to use his Augmented Alternative Communication (AAC) device. Joey began using the device in December, and we initially struggled to find ways to motivate him to use it since prior to using the device he had developed a way to communicate that was working out pretty well for him. One way we were able to model how to use the system, encourage him to use it, and introduce new core words was through his interactive read alouds .

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Communication

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More than what you see:

Communication is how we interact with the world. It is how we tell those around us what we like and don’t like, it is how we express our thoughts, wants, desires, and dislikes. It is how we tell people we are tired, and how we communicate to others how much we enjoy being around them. Communication is different from language, and many of us communicate with both words, gestures, and facial expressions on a daily basis.

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Saturday Serenade

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Test post for Saturday Serenades https://www.musichealsglennjan.com/saturday-serenades

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