hello, I'm new to the forum. I'm a Speech and Language Therapist working in Wales in a Special educational needs clinic. I am very interested in the teaching of AAC and lately it has occured to me there is very little standardisation in the teaching of Speech aids. PECS for example, has a five stage model for systematically introducing a communicative symbol system, but there appears to be a lack of systematicity and standardisation in the teaching of high tech aids. I wondered if anybody had experience of AAC teaching and whether they had a specific programme they followed or whether they (like me) made it up as they went along?! I have done a trawl of journals (about 200 articles so far) and there is an abundance of evidence on outcomes for implementing AAC and standard testing for suitability for devices, and even advice on when best to introduce aids, but nothing specific on teaching methods.

any advice and resources would be greatly appreciated!

many thanks,

Agatha

HI
Have you looked at the ingfield pages as used on a dynavox (im sure they can be used on other devices only we have a mt4) They have stages that allow the user to gradually build up their vocab not unlike pecs model, also same with gateway on dynavox (we have a number of programmes) each for whatever vocab stage the user is at......might be worth contacting dynavox uk and asking how etc...??? We have one of the dynavox guys come and teach us and the local special school/SALT and my sons teachers on how to use and implement various stages and helps with any problems in teaching my son ..... lots of good advice!!
Kerry

A very interesting point! Presumably you have been to communication matters web site? www.communicationmatters.org.uk - it is worth asking there. But in my experience short of the LLL/minspeak system, most other vocabulary sets don;t have a prescribed way to learn them. My son uses a customised Picture Wordpower but I know he doesn't know his way anyting like fully round the pages.... he also uses a communication book and again whilst it is quite complex, he still doesn't know his way round all pages...

I think one problem is that, unlike PECs which is specifically designed to encourage social interaction and converstaion in children who are otherwise not keen to interact, kids who use hi-tec devices (for example kids with CP) usually do not have these sorts of social interaction issue to deal with - they want to communicate, and so they fairly soon need access to a wide range of vocabulary - I know my son would be very frustrated by a structured system that only taught him a few words at a time..... difficult!

Hi Chris,

Its really great to hear from an Aid user. I haven't got very much further with my project to be honest as I got sidetracked by looking for another job and I'm also redesigning our sign resources in my spare time. However, I have put the query forward to the rest of the special needs team. None of the other therapists are aware of standard approaches either. So the next step is for me to draft a suggested stage model of teaching for discussion. The reason I want a stage model is because I think it is more flexible for measuring progress and less rigid than a time framed model (e.g. where in the first year the child must do a,b,c and in the second year d,e,f etc).

The closest model I have found which can be adapted is for a Communication Book. The first stage is for the child/adult to see the book being used. Once they have actively taken an interest, e.g. pointing to a symbol or two in natural conversation s/he moves onto Stage Two. Stage Two is about using one symbol at a time from a limited set of vocabulary; this could be "apple" to mean "I would like an apple". As you progress through the stages more vocab is added and the complexity of use increases so the user should be able to combine two symbols for one utterance e.g. "I Want" plus "apple" and so on, working towards sentence level and navigating through different pages and layers. The stages are not time framed, but skill based. Once the aid user has gained adequate skills in one stage they are then ready to move to the next. The final stage should be independence - or as independent as possible. I anticipate most people will need some assistance whether its charging the battery or adding new symbols. The idea is that the AAC user will progress at their own pace. They may never get as far as the final stage. Thats fine, because the level of support they need will be apparent from whichever stage they are in.

Whereas each make of device has suggestions on how to implement their particular devise I really want something which can is more robust. Technology will change over time, and fairly rapidly. But patterns of learning stay pretty much the same across people.

My other main concern is that as a therapist I don't do the day to day teaching myself. I get processes started and I do lots of demonstrations with families and teaching staff but ultimately they do the work. I want them to have a very firm understanding of what we are doing and why. In the past I have found families think communication will take place as soon as their child gets an aid and the learning process is overlooked. The family, child and school then get frustrated by not having the quick fix, or think the project is failing because they haven't appreciated all the tiny steps that need to make up a long journey.

Please add any comments you may. The way this is going it will end up being my Phd project so any information, comments, queries please add.

Agatha

Hi
The IDV vocab set comes with workbooks that give some sort of structure to learning the pages but I am not aware of others. CALL Talk also has a book that helps with navigation of the pages.
Louise

Thanks for all the suggestions. Communication Matters was the first place I looked and I was surprised by how little standardised procedures they are. I'll be following up the other leads shortly. As a therapist I teach many different aids to many different clients and I'm trying to ensure an equity of service whilst meeting individual needs. hmm tricky!

Hi

yes eye gaze is brilliant. My colleague has a child on her caseload who she thinks may be in need of an aya gaze system. I am so excited she asked me to do a second opinion! (I must need to get out more....) Its not always necessary for everyone though, generally if children can use their fingers or hand well enough to manipulate keys thats what we go for.

Hiya,

thanks for you reply. I totally aggree with what you are saying about the different stages. Even if the communication aid user has full understanding of what is going on around him/her and can interact, it doesn`t necessarily mean that they can use their communication devices. The following situation can occur, that the user simply cannot reply because he or she doesn`t have the vocabulary for it and/or cannot spell words. Or that the user is limited by the options offered by symbol chat communication.

I use the Grid 2 on my tobii, which in a way is very similar to a communication book, but offers lot more. Interestingly, I found that nowadays I don`t use the Grid so often but drifted off to type everything in as this gives me a more sophisticated way to express myself.

One more thing that came across reading your reply. I guess very often, it is a serious issue to find out how much the aid user is capable of as he or she cannot tell.

There is plenty of interesting info about eye gaze computers and the tobii. I say eye control is the best way as all you need is your eyes. Not to mention that everything is in digital format, easy to process and edit.

Hi,

my name is Chris, I`m 21 and I have CP. I found it frustrating at my local college that they didn`t have any as it is called here standardised teaching method for me. I must say that they tried their very best at school, even took lessons on my comunication device. I have a tobii P10, an eye controlled computer, the best when you have involuntary body movements. I don`t know whether there are any standards in teaching for different communication devices, but there are certainly none for mytobii. Before mytobii, I used a Pathfinder with switches and that was very much the same situation.