In my ongoing work with Joey I’ve learned that he doesn’t like to be prompted to use particular words. If I prompt him to use want, he’ll use every word BUT want, or will refuse to talk to me. It’s taken me awhile, but I’ve eventually learned to use more naturalistic methods and to accept Joey’s total communication, instead of demanding him to use the words I choose. [Read more…]
Remembering to Look Beyond the Data
As most special education teachers are, I’m a bit of a data geek. I mean, I love data. I love tracking my students’ progress. I love seeing growth over time. I love looking for behavior patterns and I love standing back and asking “what does this tell us?”
So sometimes I can get too caught up in the data. Joey’s words exploded in September. He went from an average of 17 words per ten minute language probe to almost 26 words per ten minute language sample. Then suddenly, for two sessions, it was as though he hit the brakes. [Read more…]
Tracking the Purpose Behind Joey’s Communication
“Turkey ready pool love” Joey said as we read Red Hat, Blue Hat by Sandra Boynton. Sure enough, on the next page, the turkey was getting fully dressed to jump into the pool. Joey giggled and held a small stuffed turkey in the air. “Up!” he said, grinning. “Up”.
As Joey’s use of his AAC eye gaze device has increased I have begun including the communication purposes of Joey’s utterances into my data collection. While at first we were just tracking how often Joey used the device within a ten minute period, this summer we realized that it was time to expand our observations. Now, when we take a language sample for ten minutes we track the observable purpose of Joey’s communication. [Read more…]
Reflecting and Questioning
Have you ever heard the expression “As wrong as a vegetarian eating animal crackers?” That was kind of how I felt the other day after a session with Joey.
I couldn’t believe it when I arrived at Joey’s house and found that animal sounds had been added to his device over the weekend. This was perfect because I’d brought the book What’s Your Sound, Hound the Hound? by Mo Willems to read with Joey. In this book a cat goes around and asks all his animal friends what they say. I thought it would be perfect for Joey because he like to make animal noises sometimes. Once I saw that the animal sounds were available to him I was even more excited. This is perfect! I thought. Now he can use the eye gaze and his voice to read the book with me.
Joey did not agree. [Read more…]
Another Great Book for Modeling Core Words on the AAC Device
When I first picked up the book, Look! Written by Jeff Mack I was immediately intrigued. The book has only two words repeated throughout the entire story, and both of them are words on Joey’s device – Look, and Out. [Read more…]
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