Building Authentic and Meaningful Communication Strategies

Rachael Langley, MA, CCC-SLP Author

04/20/2022 Added

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Tri State Webinar 2022

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[00:00:00.280]Welcome to Building Authentic
[00:00:02.150]and Meaningful Communication Strategies
[00:00:04.040]for Children With Autism.
[00:00:05.980]My name is Rachel Langley,
[00:00:07.320]and I'll be your presenter for today.
[00:00:09.740]Thanks for joining me for this hour together while
[00:00:12.380]we talk about strategies to support communication
[00:00:15.799]for students who might not be independently speaking,
[00:00:20.800]or those for whom speech isn't enough
[00:00:24.670]to make all of their wants and needs known.
[00:00:27.200]So, a little bit about myself as we get started.
[00:00:35.060]I am a speech language pathologist,
[00:00:37.660]and this is my 20th year of practice.
[00:00:40.670]I live in Michigan, where I was born,
[00:00:42.980]and went to Michigan State University
[00:00:45.360]for both my undergrad and graduate degrees.
[00:00:48.050]I've worked primarily as an SLP through ages,
[00:00:52.670]pre-K, preschool, through about sixth grade,
[00:00:57.290]was most of the ages I worked with
[00:01:00.810]for the first 10 years of my practice.
[00:01:03.940]And I focused predominantly on students
[00:01:06.908]who had a diagnosis of autism
[00:01:10.100]or other complex communication needs.
[00:01:12.820]So, my work really focused a lot on students
[00:01:16.714]who didn't have a lot of speech,
[00:01:20.530]and that is how I became focused on AAC.
[00:01:25.860]AAC stands for Augmentative,
[00:01:27.550]and Alternative Communication.
[00:01:29.400]This is my ninth year working specifically
[00:01:32.220]as an AAC consultant for my county.
[00:01:35.280]So, in this role,
[00:01:36.530]I don't have a specific caseload
[00:01:38.760]or students I provide services to directly,
[00:01:41.430]rather I am in a consultative role
[00:01:43.690]where I provide equipment, training and support
[00:01:47.010]to school teams and families,
[00:01:49.080]as they look for ways to support those kids
[00:01:53.130]for whom speech is not enough.
[00:01:54.840]So, that's my role now.
[00:01:57.630]I did work a lot in ECSE, at least here in Michigan,
[00:02:01.100]stands for Early Childhood Special Education.
[00:02:03.680]Those preschool programs
[00:02:05.060]for three to five year olds generally.
[00:02:08.110]And that was kind of my favorite place to be.
[00:02:11.290]I've enjoyed learning about kids of different ages.
[00:02:14.320]In Michigan, we have a unique opportunity
[00:02:16.940]where we support through age 26.
[00:02:19.940]Our schools are not birth to 21,
[00:02:21.990]like most states in our country.
[00:02:23.900]We educate and have post-secondary programs through 26,
[00:02:28.080]so that's something new.
[00:02:30.630]I sometimes get new referrals for students 22 years old,
[00:02:34.950]and we start where they are,
[00:02:36.660]and it's never too late to learn.
[00:02:38.300]So, that's my perspective,
[00:02:41.360]and my view is primarily as a school-based SLP,
[00:02:45.130]but just know, here in Michigan,
[00:02:46.690]that includes young adults as well.
[00:02:49.530]So for today, we're gonna walk through some concepts
[00:02:53.740]that reflect my perspective on communication learning,
[00:02:58.490]and that starts with,
[00:02:59.823]what do we mean when we say authentic communication?
[00:03:02.840]And what do we say about meaningful communication?
[00:03:05.660]Included in that,
[00:03:07.170]we'll talk about the role of motivation in communication.
[00:03:11.040]There are some differing views on how to engage and teach
[00:03:15.950]and instruct language to students
[00:03:20.970]who aren't yet using speech or not using it functionally.
[00:03:25.150]And I'll share with you my perspective,
[00:03:27.160]and what I've seen is really successful.
[00:03:30.400]It's important to note also
[00:03:31.610]that I think, my perspective reflects what
[00:03:33.780]we're seeing in the field at large,
[00:03:36.130]both as speech language pathologists,
[00:03:38.610]and people who support autism.
[00:03:41.120]And that is a real person-centered approach,
[00:03:44.500]not treating autism as necessarily a problem to be fixed,
[00:03:51.270]but a way of being.
[00:03:52.687]And that we need to honor that, accept that,
[00:03:56.490]and work with that.
[00:03:57.860]And we often have, like I say,
[00:04:00.850]more meaningful and authentic communication,
[00:04:03.520]and can avoid some pitfalls later down the road.
[00:04:08.310]That comes up in that next point on our agenda,
[00:04:10.340]which is we'll talk about strategies
[00:04:11.850]for authentic communication,
[00:04:13.500]and how we can use some prompting strategies
[00:04:15.890]to encourage communication while not overdoing it.
[00:04:20.250]Again, if we want authentic communication,
[00:04:22.960]we have to be cautious and thoughtful
[00:04:25.370]about how we use prompting,
[00:04:27.380]but we can do it in a healthy way
[00:04:29.173]and we can use some different strategies.
[00:04:31.030]So, the next point,
[00:04:31.990]we'll talk a bit about concepts we call an AAC,
[00:04:34.740]we call verbal referencing
[00:04:37.640]and attributing meaning to kids' behavioral,
[00:04:43.400]their behaviors, their body language,
[00:04:45.000]and things like that.
[00:04:46.790]Finally, we'll talk about what does it look like
[00:04:48.640]to supportive communication environment,
[00:04:52.560]what are some hallmarks of that,
[00:04:54.570]and then, how can we apply and maximize opportunities
[00:05:00.778]to enhance and maybe speed up
[00:05:03.370]and embrace these strategies to help
[00:05:08.550]in a more effective way to move kids along
[00:05:11.890]in their communication journey.
[00:05:15.820]Before we dig right into AAC and communication,
[00:05:19.120]let's talk about money, right?
[00:05:21.330]So, money has value,
[00:05:23.440]money represents something.
[00:05:25.510]It stands for something,
[00:05:26.580]and we can use it in exchange for goods and services.
[00:05:29.940]When someone creates counterfeit money,
[00:05:31.890]they're trying to pass it off as the real thing,
[00:05:34.490]without trying to maybe work for it or earn it.
[00:05:39.405]So really, without that work and that effort behind it,
[00:05:44.250]counterfeit money loses its value.
[00:05:48.282]So today, we're gonna talk
[00:05:49.780]about real and authentic communication.
[00:05:53.240]And rather than focusing on the hallmarks
[00:05:55.600]that make a counterfeit bill counterfeit,
[00:05:58.420]we're really gonna focus on what makes something authentic.
[00:06:02.290]What are the hallmarks you look for
[00:06:03.780]in authentic communication?
[00:06:05.700]And that's kind of the lens I'd like you
[00:06:08.630]to think about this.
[00:06:10.130]I'm not gonna talk very much about things
[00:06:12.500]we're avoiding or things that can lead
[00:06:16.470]to artificial or overly scripted or pitfalls later.
[00:06:22.320]I'm gonna try to focus most of this talk on
[00:06:25.220]what are those strategies we can use
[00:06:27.540]that avoid a false sense of that communication as meaning.
[00:06:35.220]'Cause sometimes we can encourage something to be said,
[00:06:39.850]but unless it's understood
[00:06:41.210]with language and meaning behind it,
[00:06:43.030]it's hard to attribute real authenticity to that.
[00:06:46.070]So, this is just an analogy to start framing your thinking.
[00:06:49.840]As we walk through some of these strategies,
[00:06:52.950]we're gonna look for the hallmarks
[00:06:54.120]of authentic communication.
[00:06:57.500]So before we start too far into this, let's talk about that.
[00:07:02.640]Like, what makes communication authentic, right?
[00:07:05.420]It teaches that communication is personal.
[00:07:09.010]We can all use the same set of words, but the things I say,
[00:07:12.760]the things I feel and the things I express are unique to me.
[00:07:18.880]There is an emphasis on language learning.
[00:07:21.070]Inherently language is a set of rules
[00:07:25.710]that govern symbolic communication.
[00:07:29.060]Whether that's a spoken word that represents something,
[00:07:34.480]whether that's a written word that symbolizes something,
[00:07:37.010]and represents something,
[00:07:38.150]or whether that's a picture symbol we're using
[00:07:40.820]or pointing to that represents a word or concept.
[00:07:45.180]Authentic communication uses language
[00:07:47.260]because language is inherently personal and flexible.
[00:07:50.420]It can change based on who you're talking to.
[00:07:53.710]It can change based on the environment that you're in
[00:07:57.500]and your desires in that moment
[00:08:00.100]and what you really want and need.
[00:08:01.480]So, that's a hallmark of authentic communication.
[00:08:05.590]And finally, authentic communication isn't always clean.
[00:08:10.560]It's not always what we expect.
[00:08:13.520]You know, I have some of my favorite videos,
[00:08:17.220]are when kids say something totally unexpected,
[00:08:20.750]but you can see how it fits in.
[00:08:23.040]And so, real authentic communication allows for spontaneity,
[00:08:27.446]not overly scripted,
[00:08:29.480]not limited to only a few set of things you can say,
[00:08:33.320]but authentic communication, like I said,
[00:08:35.390]sometimes it's messy or embarrassing.
[00:08:38.250]I've heard stories from a couple parents
[00:08:40.410]where when their child has a has choice
[00:08:44.380]of all the words they could possibly say,
[00:08:46.790]they've been in a situation
[00:08:48.020]where they sometimes say something that is embarrassing
[00:08:52.890]or somehow gets a chuckle out of everyone,
[00:08:56.400]but that's typical development too,
[00:08:58.720]typically developing kids who can say whatever,
[00:09:01.480]sometimes say something funny or embarrassing.
[00:09:04.650]So authentic communication should have room for that.
[00:09:08.000]And we'll talk about ways we kind of learn language
[00:09:11.490]in that way,
[00:09:13.750]but it should have of some flexibility, right?
[00:09:20.340]So, another thing about authentic communication is
[00:09:24.563]that it should be personally meaningful.
[00:09:27.870]In order to make it meaningful and authentic,
[00:09:31.220]and in order to get some intrinsic motivation
[00:09:34.620]from our learners,
[00:09:37.000]we need to just step back for a second
[00:09:39.470]and realize the things that I wanna talk about either
[00:09:42.190]in a school or in a clinic, or sometimes even at home,
[00:09:46.140]the things that I wanna talk about are not always the things
[00:09:49.380]that our learners wanna talk about
[00:09:50.880]or our kids wanna talk about.
[00:09:53.040]So, for example,
[00:09:53.950]from a school or clinical perspective,
[00:09:56.400]I might really wanna focus on following directions.
[00:09:59.850]We're gonna practice letters or letter sounds,
[00:10:02.180]or we're gonna practice a social skill,
[00:10:04.610]like greeting peers or story retelling
[00:10:07.380]or something like that.
[00:10:08.600]But my child, my learner,
[00:10:11.319]my kiddo, might wanna talk about "Finding Nemo,"
[00:10:15.190]might wanna have a specific interest in naming letters,
[00:10:19.130]but always in order.
[00:10:21.110]I have many students who have a strong interest
[00:10:24.100]in letters and numbers,
[00:10:25.890]but it's really hard to break through that to get it,
[00:10:29.270]to talk about letters individually or the letter sounds
[00:10:33.020]or things like that.
[00:10:35.127]I've put pipes and plumbing.
[00:10:36.190]I've had a couple students
[00:10:37.180]where they have very specific interests
[00:10:38.990]and like, how things work
[00:10:40.740]or not common to their peers, maybe,
[00:10:44.130]but that's a strong interest to them.
[00:10:47.360]Pokemon, lights, music,
[00:10:49.370]those are the things that often drive
[00:10:52.070]and intrinsically motivate our learners.
[00:10:55.090]So, as we're looking at communication,
[00:10:57.630]communication is not inherently academic.
[00:11:02.320]Sometimes we make it a little overly academic,
[00:11:04.700]because I work in a school,
[00:11:06.730]we work in schools, we work in clinics,
[00:11:09.870]but we have to really be careful,
[00:11:11.730]and this is kind of whole message overall
[00:11:15.210]that we're not making communication work.
[00:11:20.510]We can use communication at school.
[00:11:22.730]We can use communication to answer questions on a test,
[00:11:26.450]but that's not how we learn communication.
[00:11:28.930]We learn communication and we build those skills
[00:11:32.510]by talking about the things that we are interested in,
[00:11:35.230]that we are motivated by.
[00:11:37.910]And so learning skill is already difficult using language,
[00:11:40.750]combining words, using language for different reasons.
[00:11:45.080]We don't wanna put it over in that testing column
[00:11:47.410]where we're drilling
[00:11:48.900]and we're using it in a real prescribed way.
[00:11:51.670]We wanna embed things that are personally motivating
[00:11:54.540]and meaningful to our learners
[00:11:56.680]to allow them to build communication and language
[00:12:00.640]in their most comfortable way.
[00:12:04.397]And we'll talk a little bit about some examples
[00:12:06.780]of what that might look like,
[00:12:08.240]but just want you to think about that, like that shift,
[00:12:13.090]if that sometimes the things we wanna do,
[00:12:15.700]are not the things our kids wanna do.
[00:12:18.020]But also, until they are equipped
[00:12:20.900]with solid communication skills
[00:12:23.210]and understanding of language,
[00:12:24.970]they can't yet meaningfully answer all these questions
[00:12:27.650]or show us what they know really.
[00:12:31.460]So, we've gotta get through some foundational skills first.
[00:12:34.990]Let's focus on what's meaningful
[00:12:36.970]and what's important to them as a tool
[00:12:39.790]to help build their communication.
[00:12:44.760]So, here's kind of an example, a side by side,
[00:12:48.070]we're asking, "You know,
[00:12:48.903]what makes communication authentic?"
[00:12:51.740]Teaching is not testing, right?
[00:12:54.470]Sometimes we say, "Oh gosh, I'm gonna teach this word,
[00:12:57.240]or today, we're going to learn phrases."
[00:12:59.440]And that's our whole goal, is getting them to say it,
[00:13:02.580]say this, say this, say this, say this,
[00:13:05.010]that is a test.
[00:13:06.290]If they're repeating you,
[00:13:08.370]if you're telling them what to do,
[00:13:10.230]if you're saying, "Show me this," that's testing.
[00:13:14.950]So, in your minds,
[00:13:16.540]think about tasks, separate out teaching from testing.
[00:13:19.290]Teaching is not testing, testing is not teaching.
[00:13:21.940]Pay attention to what kind of demands
[00:13:23.530]we're putting on our learners.
[00:13:26.170]They need opportunities that are not demand-driven
[00:13:31.070]to practice language,
[00:13:32.990]and to know that it's something that they have the choice
[00:13:35.760]and control over to use.
[00:13:38.780]So sometimes, and I've worked with a few kids
[00:13:42.390]who have grown through language
[00:13:44.490]and are kind of be able to reflect on that
[00:13:46.690]and tell us in later years what we might interpret as,
[00:13:54.020]what's the word, non-compliance,
[00:13:55.610]they wouldn't answer this question,
[00:13:57.510]they wouldn't do the task,
[00:13:58.530]or they're doing task avoidance behaviors
[00:14:01.510]where they're fleeing or things like that.
[00:14:04.760]Sometimes, we're misinterpreting that
[00:14:06.450]as a lack of understanding,
[00:14:07.643]like they didn't understand the question.
[00:14:09.250]They didn't know how to do that.
[00:14:10.740]They've low cognitive skills,
[00:14:13.900]but that we don't know that.
[00:14:15.630]Without having those foundational communication skills,
[00:14:18.220]we can't say that for certain.
[00:14:21.607]So, ask yourself what our kids might be asking themselves.
[00:14:25.757]And you know, are we asking kids,
[00:14:27.917]"Are you a boy or a girl?"
[00:14:29.880]Well, if you already know that,
[00:14:31.780]why are we asking that.
[00:14:33.130]They know that you know,
[00:14:35.440]so why should they tell you.
[00:14:38.230]That might not explain all the reasons
[00:14:40.030]that kids aren't answering questions.
[00:14:41.730]Sometimes, it really is just a language deficit.
[00:14:44.150]But think about that,
[00:14:45.620]if we already know the answer,
[00:14:48.020]we can talk about it.
[00:14:49.170]We can model it,
[00:14:50.350]we can demonstrate it,
[00:14:51.870]but we shouldn't be drilling that as a skill
[00:14:55.331]or as a way to build authentic communication,
[00:14:57.450]because they know you know.
[00:15:00.670]It's not an authentic meaning
[00:15:02.100]to reason to transfer information to you.
[00:15:07.213]So, again, what makes communication authentic?
[00:15:09.110]It's back to that motivation.
[00:15:12.612]Here's your questions that we can ask,
[00:15:15.150]but we have to try to take on the lens
[00:15:17.040]of our learners, right?
[00:15:18.500]Is it interesting?
[00:15:19.570]Is it meaningful?
[00:15:20.403]And is it fun?
[00:15:21.720]Communication shouldn't have like a worksheet feel
[00:15:25.430]or like I have to check this off the list.
[00:15:28.340]As much as possible, we wanna look for natural environments.
[00:15:33.280]Naturally, interesting things,
[00:15:35.220]and embed some of our language strategies
[00:15:37.270]within that, right?
[00:15:40.020]Sometimes, our kids with autism,
[00:15:45.040]autistic kids find joy in relationships,
[00:15:47.100]but a lot of times they prefer very specific things
[00:15:50.770]or activities, and they might wanna do it
[00:15:55.030]on their own individually,
[00:15:56.230]and they might not want you to be part of their bubble.
[00:16:00.370]Our goal is to find ways into that and say,
[00:16:03.607]"Okay, that's if lining them up
[00:16:05.710]in that certain way is an interest to you,
[00:16:07.350]can I join you in that?"
[00:16:09.380]And then, or if it's red car, red car, red car,
[00:16:12.450]blue car, maybe we come up with a pattern
[00:16:15.200]and we talk about how it's same, same, same, different,
[00:16:18.190]same, same, same, different.
[00:16:20.680]Finding ways to use their naturally occurring activities
[00:16:25.370]to introduce concepts of language
[00:16:30.141]that can be used across different settings over time,
[00:16:33.700]is kind of our goal and where it's at.
[00:16:36.260]We can use their interests to develop some connection.
[00:16:40.680]John Halloran is an SLP
[00:16:42.670]who created the LAMP, Language Acquisition
[00:16:46.680]through Motor Planning system or strategy
[00:16:50.860]for teaching language.
[00:16:52.210]He works through the center for AAC and autism.
[00:16:55.400]And as part of his training,
[00:16:56.690]he talks about how that first connection,
[00:16:59.100]we talk about like sensory regulation,
[00:17:00.900]but really to get that engagement,
[00:17:02.230]we have to look for the thing that sparks joy.
[00:17:06.020]What sparks joy in our learners?
[00:17:07.860]And when you see that little moment,
[00:17:09.990]try to hone in on like, how can I share that joy?
[00:17:12.730]How can I come alongside,
[00:17:14.500]not interrupting and causing maybe frustration,
[00:17:17.200]but how can I bring that into the task I'm trying to share
[00:17:24.264]and teach through example?
[00:17:25.520]So, I'm gonna share some ideas here
[00:17:29.130]about building in motivation,
[00:17:31.800]but it sometimes is as simple as taking a task.
[00:17:35.070]Man, I'm really working
[00:17:36.070]on getting this student past single word labeling,
[00:17:39.750]and I really wanna work on two word combinations now.
[00:17:42.820]So, it's not just one thing and they're done.
[00:17:45.900]So, I'm gonna use their activity,
[00:17:48.490]and we're gonna build our game around,
[00:17:52.450]using the cars that race.
[00:17:54.970]And instead of just saying, "Ready, set, go,"
[00:17:58.400]I'm gonna make another little endgame about it,
[00:18:00.970]where he gets to say, "Which one are we gonna use?"
[00:18:04.810]I'm gonna say, "Oh, I want green car."
[00:18:06.870]And I'm gonna model for him red car, blue car,
[00:18:10.090]just finding ways.
[00:18:12.544]It doesn't always have to look the way
[00:18:14.790]we picture it in our head clinically.
[00:18:16.740]Sometimes, we as SLPs,
[00:18:18.800]can just have a set idea of, like this is how I do things
[00:18:21.650]and I have to go down this list.
[00:18:24.040]But you sometimes find that joy and really
[00:18:27.190]that connection and that authenticity when
[00:18:29.790]we take away our plans and we focus on their interests first
[00:18:34.000]and then try to weave in our work to them.
[00:18:37.240]If you're looking for some ideas,
[00:18:39.410]like what does this really look like?
[00:18:42.660]I'm sharing three different resources and examples
[00:18:46.410]of ways to interestingly and creatively embed
[00:18:51.930]and make more interesting, the activities
[00:18:55.400]that our kids might be interested in,
[00:18:56.630]and the topics they might be interested in.
[00:18:58.690]First up is Jane Farrall from Australia.
[00:19:01.840]She has a blog, Jane Farrall Consulting,
[00:19:04.600]and it's lynched there below.
[00:19:06.000]And it's on the resource page
[00:19:07.520]that you're provided as part of this workshop.
[00:19:11.780]She has some great ideas.
[00:19:14.718]She's a speech therapist
[00:19:15.680]and she talks a lot about motivation.
[00:19:18.510]She also has a great understanding of language and literacy
[00:19:21.240]and that connection.
[00:19:22.140]So, some of these strategies you'll see,
[00:19:24.960]are based around literacy.
[00:19:26.870]this is teaching and learning the alphabet,
[00:19:28.850]playing with shapes and sounds.
[00:19:31.390]So, she gives some ideas of like,
[00:19:32.860]what could that look like,
[00:19:33.810]across different hands-on activities
[00:19:36.370]that aren't just like a drill, a flashcard or a worksheet,
[00:19:39.797]but different tactile ways to do that?
[00:19:42.430]She also shares on her blog.
[00:19:45.950]You know, they could join you in kind of writing a book.
[00:19:49.360]If you can't find books about their high interest thing,
[00:19:52.690]there is a website called Tar Heel Reader
[00:19:56.030]where you can make free digital books very easily,
[00:19:59.180]and you can find pictures.
[00:20:01.870]If they really love McDonald's,
[00:20:05.480]and they wanna talk about McDonald's a lot,
[00:20:08.124]and you really wanna work on creating phrases
[00:20:10.590]or a certain academic skill,
[00:20:12.990]then let's make a book together.
[00:20:14.430]We'll find a picture of McDonald's
[00:20:15.850]and you can drop an image in
[00:20:16.980]and then write a sentence about it.
[00:20:18.290]And that might start with the adult modeling a few of what
[00:20:21.720]that looks like, and then inviting the student to join.
[00:20:25.050]But she has a lot of great strategies.
[00:20:28.680]I encourage you to check her out.
[00:20:30.120]Another one is Amanda Hartman.
[00:20:32.970]Gosh, she's also Australian.
[00:20:34.370]I didn't realize I did that when I put this together.
[00:20:36.960]Amanda is also a speech pathologist with private practice,
[00:20:40.630]and she also does consulting or works for AssistiveWare.
[00:20:44.750]AssistiveWare is the company
[00:20:45.930]that makes the program, Proloquo2Go.
[00:20:48.490]So, you may have heard of that program,
[00:20:50.010]you may have heard of AssistiveWare,
[00:20:52.320]but Amanda has compiled a series of videos,
[00:20:56.060]which for me, are great examples of
[00:20:58.970]what does it look like to provide interesting
[00:21:02.920]and engaging therapy activities,
[00:21:05.150]that, again, do not include tell me what this is,
[00:21:08.500]label this, show me this, very engaging.
[00:21:11.360]So, there's a screenshot here
[00:21:15.485]of Amanda sitting on the floor, doing activity.
[00:21:19.920]She has a core vocabulary board behind her.
[00:21:22.020]She has a device in front of her.
[00:21:23.770]I think, she has like a pod book off to her side,
[00:21:25.880]which is another communication system,
[00:21:28.060]but she does these videos of fun,
[00:21:30.620]simple activities like, "Oh, we're gonna do puppets.
[00:21:33.150]We're gonna go swimming.
[00:21:33.983]We're gonna feed the animals."
[00:21:35.390]And she shows what it looks like
[00:21:37.570]to model language in different ways,
[00:21:40.420]while you do those activities.
[00:21:42.150]So, if you're just starting out
[00:21:45.100]or feeling uncomfortable with AAC
[00:21:47.960]or communication border device as a tool to model language
[00:21:52.700]and show a learner and invite them into communication,
[00:21:56.160]Amanda's got a lot of videos on YouTube
[00:21:58.580]that show what that could look like.
[00:22:01.410]There's also an article.
[00:22:03.440]The image on the right there is called engage
[00:22:05.270]and interact with the AAC learners.
[00:22:07.150]And it's just a short three or four minute read
[00:22:10.180]of a blog post on the AssitiveWare site.
[00:22:13.410]That just talks about
[00:22:14.670]how can we create those engaging opportunities
[00:22:16.750]for our learners, so great resource.
[00:22:20.750]The third and final one,
[00:22:21.670]there's a lot more out there.
[00:22:23.322]I was just trying to find a few
[00:22:24.340]that you might find interesting and helpful.
[00:22:27.200]There is a free webinar out there by another AAC,
[00:22:33.169]SLP Lauren Enders.
[00:22:35.070]And she did it in conjunction with a company, PRC-Saltillo.
[00:22:39.040]So, they host it for free and it's available out there,
[00:22:42.050]but it's, I think, an hour long workshop,
[00:22:46.090]and it's all sorts of ideas and resources
[00:22:48.820]of ways to make therapy and learning fun.
[00:22:53.570]You're guaranteed to find,
[00:22:55.360]even if you have some fun ideas already,
[00:22:57.500]you're guaranteed to find some new ones.
[00:22:59.030]She's really chopped at full of lots of resources,
[00:23:02.740]just a couple examples I shared.
[00:23:04.670]Sometimes you can do books with repeated texts
[00:23:08.120]or predictable texts.
[00:23:09.670]She'll have lists of that and suggestions.
[00:23:12.150]Some of them are available as YouTube videos
[00:23:14.040]where you can watch it, pause it,
[00:23:15.850]talk about it, things like that.
[00:23:18.580]She just has a real treasure trove of ideas.
[00:23:22.410]So, I encourage you to check that out.
[00:23:25.210]Again, it's available on YouTube,
[00:23:26.550]it's linked in your resource guide,
[00:23:28.470]and it's just a lot of great ideas, so check that out.
[00:23:35.492]So, that's the first part
[00:23:37.941]we wanted to walk through talking about
[00:23:42.800]that engagement and making communication meaningful
[00:23:45.320]to our learners.
[00:23:46.460]The next thing we're gonna talk about is a strategy
[00:23:50.260]for authentic communication,
[00:23:52.100]is focusing on what I'm calling minimal, healthy prompting.
[00:23:56.056]Some people rely heavily on prompting,
[00:23:59.630]and some people believe prompting,
[00:24:01.910]should be completely avoided.
[00:24:03.810]I think, we're gonna to talk about
[00:24:04.930]what I'm calling minimal, healthy prompting,
[00:24:07.230]and why I'm calling it that.
[00:24:09.750]I've done some longer presentations about prompting,
[00:24:15.670]and I'm gonna summarize that a little bit here for you.
[00:24:18.780]But if that's something you have interest in,
[00:24:20.790]this is another thing
[00:24:22.380]that some good healthy discussion is coming out
[00:24:24.630]in the AAC field.
[00:24:25.720]So, you're welcome to kind of explore
[00:24:27.950]that more after if you'd like.
[00:24:30.440]First, let's talk about how do we define prompting,
[00:24:32.840]what do we mean by prompting.
[00:24:34.730]And then let's talk about what the goal is of prompting,
[00:24:39.170]and why we use it as a strategy.
[00:24:43.470]Before we get any farther, I'd like to tell you a story
[00:24:46.730]to relate this to prompting.
[00:24:49.120]So, this is a picture of my family
[00:24:52.390]and it was a few years ago now, but we were on a trip.
[00:24:55.960]And for the purposes of this demonstration,
[00:24:59.860]I would like you to think about if a child
[00:25:04.850]or when your students brought in this picture.
[00:25:07.650]Maybe one of your students
[00:25:08.520]who doesn't have effective communication
[00:25:11.250]for all their purposes,
[00:25:12.690]brought this picture into you to school or to your clinic,
[00:25:16.360]and you were trying to understand what happened.
[00:25:20.540]First, we look at clues,
[00:25:21.700]and sometimes when, I've talked about this,
[00:25:23.550]either in person or when we can have live interaction,
[00:25:26.210]I ask people, "Think of three words
[00:25:28.950]that you think would describe this picture,
[00:25:31.750]based on the clues that you see."
[00:25:34.410]And the things I often hear, "Disney, fun,
[00:25:37.550]magical, memories, family."
[00:25:41.530]We are definitely in, well, Disney World.
[00:25:43.650]This was several years ago,
[00:25:46.807]and that's my husband and three kids.
[00:25:49.420]And if you look a little closer,
[00:25:51.310]there's some pumpkin lights hanging on the lights.
[00:25:56.920]It was fall, it was like October.
[00:25:58.440]And they're like, whatever,
[00:26:00.170]Halloween Fest or something.
[00:26:01.940]But we were trying to make this like a magical trip
[00:26:05.450]in that way that families often do,
[00:26:07.680]because you take the time, we don't go.
[00:26:10.740]My husband and I (indistinct) kids.
[00:26:12.386]We are really trying to pack in memories.
[00:26:14.790]And you see the castle behind us.
[00:26:16.380]But if you also look, you see lots of people blurred,
[00:26:19.580]but kind of walking towards us.
[00:26:21.520]And if you're walking towards us,
[00:26:24.187]you know that they are leaving the park,
[00:26:26.460]they're walking away from the castle.
[00:26:28.130]It is dark, it is the end of the night,
[00:26:31.180]but the real story behind this is we way overdid it.
[00:26:35.380]We got to the park early.
[00:26:37.100]We did everything, but we stuck it out.
[00:26:39.410]We didn't go back and rest.
[00:26:40.660]We stayed at the park to see those magical fireworks,
[00:26:43.350]and they were amazing.
[00:26:44.690]But when it was done, all five of us were just exhausted.
[00:26:48.050]Our feet hurt, we were burnt out.
[00:26:50.940]You know, our kids are pretty little here.
[00:26:53.100]And honestly, one of them,
[00:26:54.990]I was gonna share this earlier when we talked
[00:26:56.980]about embracing neurodiversity,
[00:26:59.800]and that autism isn't something to be fixed.
[00:27:02.400]One of my kids has autism and is autistic.
[00:27:05.090]So, we were outta strategies,
[00:27:08.610]we were out of things to keep sensory regulation in check.
[00:27:13.790]We were just so done.
[00:27:15.520]But when you're here in the park,
[00:27:16.810]you still have like a mile to walk
[00:27:18.620]to get back to transportation,
[00:27:20.370]to get back to your hotel room.
[00:27:22.270]And we were not feeling it.
[00:27:24.470]We were all like, I swear,
[00:27:26.740]at least three of us were crying,
[00:27:28.620]and bless his heart,
[00:27:29.830]my husband spotted the park photographer.
[00:27:33.820]And we had like the photo package.
[00:27:35.150]She said, "Let's get a picture, it's a castle."
[00:27:37.450]And I thought, "Oh my gosh, look at us.
[00:27:40.350]We're a mess, we're all falling apart and crying."
[00:27:44.520]But they snapped a couple pictures
[00:27:45.750]and we dragged ourselves outta the park,
[00:27:47.920]again, meltdowns, crying.
[00:27:50.450]And when I saw this picture, they like upload them.
[00:27:53.190]I just started laughing because really moments before
[00:27:56.940]and immediately after we were a mess.
[00:27:59.660]And this looked like we had ourselves together,
[00:28:02.500]so it makes me laugh.
[00:28:04.100]I don't know, it's been some years now,
[00:28:06.310]so I don't know if my kids remember it that way.
[00:28:08.530]I think my husband and I will remember that way,
[00:28:10.430]that was the day we really overdid it.
[00:28:12.610]But back to my example,
[00:28:14.920]if my child brings this picture to school after their trip
[00:28:18.990]and they come back, and we say,
[00:28:20.147]"Oh, magical, wonderful,"
[00:28:22.240]those things are true, but also tired.
[00:28:28.270]Tired, feet hurt, hungry,
[00:28:31.830]have to walk like, mad, sad.
[00:28:34.360]We had all sorts of feelings
[00:28:35.890]and the fireworks in the park was magical.
[00:28:38.740]But at that moment,
[00:28:39.573]we're feeling a whole lot of other things.
[00:28:40.970]So, this is an example to think about the temptation
[00:28:45.400]that we have as adults to understand,
[00:28:47.330]to look and presume that we understand a situation,
[00:28:50.900]why a child is having a hard time,
[00:28:54.620]why they're doing a certain behavior,
[00:28:56.150]but we don't always understand truly.
[00:28:58.180]And so, we have to be really cautious when
[00:29:00.510]we're using strategies to prompt someone
[00:29:03.120]to say a certain thing.
[00:29:04.910]If I'm really trying to force a child to say,
[00:29:07.587]"This was amazing, best day ever,"
[00:29:10.600]but in their heart, they're like,
[00:29:13.250]this was pretty recent.
[00:29:14.260]And that was kind of terrible.
[00:29:16.110]By the end of the night, I was not happy.
[00:29:18.608]Then we're not teaching them authentic language.
[00:29:22.740]What they're learning there is that they have
[00:29:24.100]to say what they're told to say.
[00:29:26.170]And that is something to avoid,
[00:29:27.840]because if we get into that,
[00:29:29.100]then we develop what we call prompt dependency,
[00:29:32.030]and students wait and rely on the adults around them
[00:29:35.450]to feed them the language and the things
[00:29:37.610]that they're supposed to say.
[00:29:39.570]And then they say those back.
[00:29:41.410]This becomes stressful as kids grow,
[00:29:43.530]because without that prompting,
[00:29:45.480]without being told what to say or given a structure
[00:29:50.430]or told what to expect, it can be very stressful,
[00:29:54.330]because they don't see their role as a communicator,
[00:29:56.390]as someone to generate those ideas and say what they want.
[00:30:01.371]They see their role as someone
[00:30:03.190]who repeats what they're told,
[00:30:05.660]they need to be given the words that they're allowed to say.
[00:30:09.590]And we don't want communication
[00:30:10.870]to be a right or wrong thing,
[00:30:13.120]we want it to be more natural, and again, authentic.
[00:30:16.280]So, let's talk more about prompting,
[00:30:18.230]and what are those healthy strategies?
[00:30:21.540]As a straight definition,
[00:30:22.650]prompting is considered the action of saying something
[00:30:25.780]to persuade, encourage,
[00:30:27.900]or remind someone to say or do something.
[00:30:31.380]That's the definition of prompting.
[00:30:34.290]The issue, and what we'll talk about more is that
[00:30:36.960]we don't have a consistent, like definition,
[00:30:41.860]and use of prompting and how we prompt.
[00:30:44.390]We have a field that's full of all different perspectives.
[00:30:48.500]We have families who maybe learn
[00:30:50.760]about prompting from different professionals,
[00:30:52.830]but each of your professionals have a different experience,
[00:30:55.190]and background and training.
[00:30:56.640]Teachers may look at prompting one way,
[00:30:58.790]SLPs another, OTs and PTs,
[00:31:01.781]when you talk about motor skills, other way,
[00:31:04.220]behavior folks, a totally different way.
[00:31:06.850]So, we don't always have agreed upon consistent view of
[00:31:11.420]what we mean by prompting.
[00:31:14.290]So, let's talk about where do we see prompting?
[00:31:16.550]Well, a lot of times, I'm a SLP.
[00:31:19.130]We see it in speech and language goals.
[00:31:21.150]A goal might sound like this;
[00:31:23.390]with minimal prompting, child will greet up here.
[00:31:28.650]With moderate prompting or with physical prompt,
[00:31:33.270]child will point to a choice on the board or whatever,
[00:31:38.840]and sometimes, an instructional goals as well.
[00:31:41.070]With three or fewer prompts,
[00:31:43.010]student will answer question about the story.
[00:31:48.110]The concern, my biggest concern here is
[00:31:50.350]that there isn't any kind of standardized language
[00:31:53.250]for prompting.
[00:31:54.270]So, what I consider minimal prompting,
[00:31:57.070]you might interpret as something else.
[00:31:59.090]So, other people,
[00:32:01.267]everyone from peer-pros to
[00:32:03.640]if we move and we have a different provider,
[00:32:05.360]different teacher come in,
[00:32:06.580]everyone can interpret that differently.
[00:32:09.850]Minimal, moderate, maximum,
[00:32:13.854]they're really arbitrary,
[00:32:14.830]what that means to me and what that means to you.
[00:32:17.287]And sometimes, we get more descriptive
[00:32:18.910]and we say things like partial-verbal prompt,
[00:32:21.360]or a full-physical prompt,
[00:32:24.670]but from all my work in the schools,
[00:32:26.790]I'm telling you, those are interpreted very differently.
[00:32:29.810]And some people see their goal,
[00:32:32.140]I've worked with some paraprofessional teams
[00:32:34.030]where they have the biggest hearts,
[00:32:36.240]and they know that they were hired to help
[00:32:38.807]and their job is to help.
[00:32:40.390]And when the task is doing X, Y, Z,
[00:32:42.720]they're gonna get the child to do X, Y, and Z.
[00:32:45.100]So, from that,
[00:32:47.890]we'll talk a bit in a minute about prompting hierarchies,
[00:32:50.480]like how can we order and organize the types of prompts
[00:32:54.760]and determine which are the healthiest
[00:32:56.820]for my learner.
[00:32:58.050]Instead, I think we would all do well
[00:33:00.370]if we talked with our whole team
[00:33:03.210]about what we mean by prompting,
[00:33:04.960]what do we mean mean by minimal prompting?
[00:33:06.930]Which prompts do we consider healthy
[00:33:08.600]and which ones are we straight up avoiding?
[00:33:10.900]And be really clear about that,
[00:33:12.570]so that amongst all the people that support that child,
[00:33:16.010]that student, we're in agreement of what's aligning
[00:33:21.520]with our goals that will avoid prompt dependency.
[00:33:25.900]That's the number one.
[00:33:26.780]We don't want to develop prompt dependency.
[00:33:29.330]And we talk a lot about prompts in all our different fields,
[00:33:31.700]but it's very rarely,
[00:33:33.730]have I seen anyone use it pretty effectively
[00:33:37.520]in a targeted way, and then pull it back.
[00:33:39.440]And I think, we over-prompt our kids a lot, so.
[00:33:46.140]Ultimately, this goes back to my mindset
[00:33:49.590]on language and communication.
[00:33:51.610]We have to think about what our goal is.
[00:33:53.980]Is our goal that the student complies with directions,
[00:33:59.340]finishes the task?
[00:34:01.800]We have at least 10 opportunities
[00:34:03.370]to measure and build a percentage off of.
[00:34:05.780]Is it that they get it done
[00:34:07.500]or is our goal that they participate,
[00:34:11.970]that they're engaged with the language,
[00:34:14.150]that they see it being used in a meaningful way,
[00:34:16.770]and that they start processing an understanding
[00:34:21.470]what language does and what it means?
[00:34:23.480]And again, whether that's verbal language
[00:34:25.130]or symbols that represent language, it's true for both.
[00:34:29.160]And oftentimes, in our field,
[00:34:31.790]we work with other groups
[00:34:32.910]who sometimes have different goals.
[00:34:35.640]Their therapies or their services,
[00:34:38.170]are more compliance-driven.
[00:34:40.410]And as a language therapist,
[00:34:43.270]I am more participation-driven,
[00:34:46.000]and I know that's the way we avoid prompt dependency,
[00:34:49.910]and we build that option for authenticity,
[00:34:52.720]and we let our kids know that their message is their own.
[00:34:58.410]What does it look like, if you're wondering,
[00:35:01.147]"I don't know if what I'm doing is partition model
[00:35:04.140]or like a compliance model,"
[00:35:06.120]ask yourself these questions, okay?
[00:35:08.560]Just some examples, is a response required?
[00:35:11.720]If they have to respond that fits in the compliance model.
[00:35:16.760]Forcing someone to respond
[00:35:19.620]and then using prompts until they do is a compliance task.
[00:35:24.600]At the end, it ultimately kind of becomes a test, right?
[00:35:28.800]Are there ample low pressure opportunities
[00:35:31.310]for the learner to engage?
[00:35:33.670]Okay, engage does not require though, right?
[00:35:36.870]Lots of opportunities, not a lot of pressure to perform
[00:35:45.700]or answer or check a box.
[00:35:48.290]If there's low pressure opportunities throughout their day,
[00:35:50.930]that's a participation model.
[00:35:52.460]How about our communication opportunities,
[00:35:55.170]generally, question and answer?
[00:35:56.790]That's a compliance model.
[00:35:58.140]If it's the adult asking question,
[00:36:01.140]and we don't realize how much we do this,
[00:36:02.800]but throughout education and SLP life,
[00:36:06.610]we tend to really pepper kids with questions.
[00:36:10.170]One thing I recommend when I talk to teams sometimes is,
[00:36:14.260]you know, maybe record a 10 or 15 minute period of time,
[00:36:18.920]either a therapy session or activity you do with kids
[00:36:21.570]and listen back.
[00:36:23.460]We oftentimes don't give enough pause
[00:36:26.960]for our kids to process what we're saying
[00:36:29.350]and think about a response.
[00:36:30.850]But we also, unless we're really intentional about it,
[00:36:34.000]we fall into this question, which one, where did it go?
[00:36:37.770]Where is it?
[00:36:38.603]Tell me, which one?
[00:36:39.950]And myself included, I have to be thoughtful,
[00:36:42.460]intentional about it,
[00:36:44.510]and focus on engagement, more comments than questions.
[00:36:49.420]So, if they're pointing at something
[00:36:50.930]or if they're looking around,
[00:36:52.610]instead of saying, "Which one do you want
[00:36:54.470]or where are you looking?"
[00:36:55.303]I can say, "Oh yeah, I see the dragon.
[00:36:59.040]I wonder where he's going.
[00:37:00.640]Now, where is he going?
[00:37:01.590]I wonder where he's going.
[00:37:03.060]I wonder if he's going up here."
[00:37:04.930]And then it's me kind of narrating
[00:37:07.310]and giving a low pressure example without assuming
[00:37:12.130]that I know or requiring a response, right?
[00:37:15.840]And finally, is there a focus on building relationships?
[00:37:18.260]That's really key to that participation model
[00:37:20.610]and making sure we are not requiring an answer
[00:37:25.230]and requiring that compliance of like,
[00:37:27.810]get through my expectations.
[00:37:29.670]It should really be relationship-focused.
[00:37:33.680]Here's a quote by someone I really respect,
[00:37:38.050]Dr. Karen Erickson,
[00:37:39.800]is she was a special education teacher.
[00:37:43.460]And then she went back and got her PhD, and studied,
[00:37:47.770]has done a tremendous amount of work
[00:37:49.810]and research in reading research
[00:37:52.580]and the tie between language and literacy
[00:37:55.890]for kids with very complex communication needs.
[00:37:59.370]And the there's a vast amount of work.
[00:38:03.240]I'll share another resource with you in the moment.
[00:38:05.460]I'm trying to see if it's the next slide or coming soon.
[00:38:07.720]It's definitely on your resource list.
[00:38:09.780]Karen Erickson helped develop,
[00:38:11.870]she led the Project Core,
[00:38:14.570]which is a federally grant funded project,
[00:38:17.540]all based in research on strategies
[00:38:20.410]that support communication and literacy,
[00:38:24.970]authentic, real learning to read and write literacy
[00:38:28.140]for kids with multiple disabilities
[00:38:31.610]or complex communication needs, including autism,
[00:38:34.600]but also students who might have motor disabilities
[00:38:36.920]or vision or hearing disabilities as well.
[00:38:40.614]Karen said, "If I'm prompting,
[00:38:43.040]I'm trying to get the kid to say what I expect them to say.
[00:38:47.000]That's training, not teaching."
[00:38:49.460]And it's true.
[00:38:50.620]If I'm prompting, I already have the right answer
[00:38:52.720]in my mind, which means it's not a communication task.
[00:38:57.760]It's like a behavior we're trying to get out.
[00:39:00.740]But what we want them to know is that
[00:39:02.830]we're gonna give you lots of examples of what you could say
[00:39:05.820]and invite you to say that,
[00:39:07.460]but not require it because maybe that's not really
[00:39:10.570]what you want.
[00:39:11.403]I really can't know.
[00:39:12.750]I am not a mind reader.
[00:39:14.200]There's a lot of ways I can set up a situation
[00:39:16.080]to predict communication,
[00:39:17.950]but I can't know what someone else is experiencing,
[00:39:21.330]and what they, for sure, wanna say.
[00:39:24.220]Instead, I can just give healthy examples, right?
[00:39:27.680]So, can prompting be done safely?
[00:39:29.920]Well, it can, some.
[00:39:31.380]Some really kind of what we'd consider lighter,
[00:39:35.240]less restrictive prompts.
[00:39:37.050]In this case, I'm calling them non-directive strategies.
[00:39:39.960]So, it's not saying, "Touch that one.
[00:39:42.630]Which one is it?
[00:39:43.520]It's over here."
[00:39:45.200]But non-directive prompts where you are inviting someone
[00:39:49.800]to take a turn or join a conversation
[00:39:52.700]in a non-directive way.
[00:39:57.390]You're not telling or requiring,
[00:39:59.890]but you're providing an opportunity.
[00:40:01.800]So, what does that look like?
[00:40:03.930]Here's a hierarchy.
[00:40:05.050]That's an example of something
[00:40:08.639]that is around our field quite a bit.
[00:40:10.710]This is one I adapted seven years ago.
[00:40:13.800]And how and why I adapted it,
[00:40:17.300]has maybe been a little misinterpreted.
[00:40:18.850]So, I'm gonna take a quick pause.
[00:40:20.530]This was a tool that was created
[00:40:22.810]by Rocky Bay Institute in 2010.
[00:40:27.960]I just redesigned it in this format
[00:40:29.640]because their color coding went from red to green,
[00:40:35.520]and red, to me, means stop,
[00:40:38.620]and green, to me, means go.
[00:40:40.570]And those prompts at the bottom are the most restrictive,
[00:40:44.270]most dangerous prompts.
[00:40:45.570]And I did not want people to interpret green as start here.
[00:40:49.050]So what we were doing,
[00:40:50.140]and it was a team, as part of my school,
[00:40:53.660]that people that use AAC a lot,
[00:40:55.420]we were trying to come up with something
[00:40:57.490]that reflected what we were seeing in the classroom.
[00:41:00.840]So, we use this tool,
[00:41:02.300]we used to use this tool as a way to describe what we saw,
[00:41:06.730]not as a tool to say, you need to do all of these.
[00:41:10.940]Our goal is to encourage people
[00:41:12.560]to use those prompts up the net green zone,
[00:41:15.800]because using an expectant pause
[00:41:18.770]and some of these other non-directive strategies,
[00:41:22.330]are the healthy prompts.
[00:41:24.100]The lower you get, you get into the caution zone,
[00:41:26.410]and then, please avoid this zone.
[00:41:29.040]So, green is good, oops.
[00:41:32.480]I'm gonna go back, sorry.
[00:41:33.710]Green is good.
[00:41:34.940]The three in that green zone,
[00:41:36.870]again, are expectant pause,
[00:41:40.000]We talk really fast,
[00:41:41.540]and a lot of times, sometimes we have to stop,
[00:41:46.590]and in our heads, count to three,
[00:41:48.890]count to five, give our students an option
[00:41:52.860]to process what you're hearing,
[00:41:54.865]think about it and respond in the way they want to respond.
[00:42:00.050]Sometimes, a moment of quiet is enough
[00:42:02.380]to kind of prompt the child,
[00:42:03.477]"Oh, should I be saying something?
[00:42:04.960]It's quiet."
[00:42:06.230]And I know that's different for every learner.
[00:42:08.090]Similar, I've worked with some little kiddos
[00:42:09.810]where if you pause for more than about a second and a half,
[00:42:12.610]their attention is gone and maybe their bodies,
[00:42:14.600]they're just gone.
[00:42:15.830]But I encourage you to think about that,
[00:42:18.000]what that might mean for each of your learners.
[00:42:21.790]Expect and pause, we talked about that one.
[00:42:23.910]The next one is indirect non-verbal prompt.
[00:42:27.067]And non-verbal means we're using our body language,
[00:42:29.770]our facial expression, and maybe some general gesture.
[00:42:34.940]So, if we've given some wait time and they look at us,
[00:42:38.160]like, why aren't you saying it?
[00:42:39.640]You can kind of give that little shrug
[00:42:41.960]or that eyebrows up to invite them
[00:42:45.430]to comment or participate.
[00:42:47.500]That's not telling them, it's not pointing,
[00:42:51.690]it's just the non-verbal stuff of like, I wonder.
[00:42:56.640]And that's non-directive,
[00:42:57.870]it's not telling them what to say,
[00:42:59.990]but again, if they do tune into you,
[00:43:01.866]like why is she quiet?
[00:43:03.990]That's an opportunity to give that non-verbal,
[00:43:05.850]like, hmm, I wonder.
[00:43:08.440]And then the third non-directive kind of healthy prompt
[00:43:12.550]in this green zone is an indirect verbal prompt.
[00:43:19.420]So, we did the non-verbal.
[00:43:21.140]This is still indirect, it's not directive,
[00:43:23.390]but it's kind of what I had talked about before.
[00:43:26.760]It's like those, I wonder comments.
[00:43:30.388]I wonder what happen if we asked Mrs. Smith
[00:43:34.200]what is in the box?
[00:43:35.440]Like, she has something up there and she's waiting for us.
[00:43:39.460]I wonder what would happen.
[00:43:41.510]And they might do it and they might not.
[00:43:44.290]If I were in that situation, depending on the situation,
[00:43:47.110]I would give that prompt.
[00:43:48.320]And then if they didn't do it, I would just model it.
[00:43:50.690]I would demonstrate, I could say,
[00:43:52.637]"What is in that box?
[00:43:54.790]Will you open it up for me?"
[00:43:57.709]I would model those kind of basic words on the device
[00:44:01.430]and not require that from my learner in that moment.
[00:44:06.230]We have research that proves kids learn best
[00:44:10.060]through modeling and demonstration,
[00:44:13.810]more so even than hand over hand.
[00:44:18.620]So, these are what we consider those green,
[00:44:21.330]like healthy prompts.
[00:44:22.700]The next ones on the list become more restrictive.
[00:44:26.740]It's us telling them, "Tell me what you want.
[00:44:28.920]Tell me what you need.
[00:44:30.180]Use your talker, tell me with your words,"
[00:44:33.700]pointing to the word or icon
[00:44:35.360]or whatever you want them to say.
[00:44:36.630]Sometimes we're like, "Right here, right over here."
[00:44:41.020]It might seem innocent enough in the beginning,
[00:44:43.510]but again, down the road,
[00:44:45.660]that can lead to some prompt dependency
[00:44:47.380]where the student doesn't initiate
[00:44:49.160]or doesn't feel confident in picking a word,
[00:44:52.730]until they've been given that kind of hint of
[00:44:54.970]what they're supposed to say.
[00:44:57.350]And finally, kind of in that yellow-orange,
[00:44:59.950]is a partial-verbal prompt where you start the answer,
[00:45:03.660]and say, "They went to the,"
[00:45:06.580]and then give them that option.
[00:45:10.679]If we're gonna model the phrase and show them what we want,
[00:45:13.880]I would just model the whole thing.
[00:45:16.760]I would not give part and let them finish it.
[00:45:19.050]Again, I would rather hear them say, "Zoo,"
[00:45:22.540]than me going, "Oh, we went to the zoo."
[00:45:25.650]Great, yeah, we went to the zoo.
[00:45:28.440]Just accept that answer without, admit it,
[00:45:31.540]I would rather have one meaningful word,
[00:45:33.730]than a heavily prompted sentence.
[00:45:35.420]There we go, that's what I'm trying to say.
[00:45:37.960]And then finally, nope, here we go.
[00:45:41.630]Those direct behavior, I just stopped through that.
[00:45:43.890]All those things are a way to tell them
[00:45:45.540]what you're expecting them to do.
[00:45:48.340]So again, when we think about,
[00:45:50.140]what is our goal?
[00:45:51.660]Remember, we talked participation versus compliance.
[00:45:55.560]This is another way of looking at it.
[00:45:57.210]Is our goal teaching language?
[00:45:58.750]Is our goal telling them
[00:45:59.850]what they're supposed to say?
[00:46:01.710]And as a speech language pathologist,
[00:46:04.270]I'm advocating that we really want to teach them language.
[00:46:09.940]And in that, we can show them ample examples
[00:46:14.200]of things they could say, how they could respond.
[00:46:17.560]When I said someone's putting pressure on a learner,
[00:46:20.310]if I'm available and right there,
[00:46:22.570]I'm like, "Oh, I wonder."
[00:46:24.110]And I join in because I don't think that
[00:46:28.734]that expectation on a student who's learning language
[00:46:31.790]and doesn't yet have the full command
[00:46:34.140]and understanding that we do,
[00:46:36.960]it can be stressful for our kiddos
[00:46:38.907]and that don't know how to respond.
[00:46:41.070]We can also give them peer models.
[00:46:43.070]So, if they're in a class,
[00:46:45.070]we can have other students go first,
[00:46:47.150]who maybe have more advanced language skills
[00:46:50.290]or have different skills than our learners.
[00:46:54.490]Or if we have inclusion opportunities,
[00:46:57.100]hopefully, inclusion opportunities are embedded
[00:46:58.880]throughout the day.
[00:47:01.240]Relying on those peers,
[00:47:02.320]those peers know kind of grade-appropriate
[00:47:06.390]and age-appropriate words better than we do.
[00:47:09.140]So sometimes, we talk about programming the devices
[00:47:12.150]of 40 something,
[00:47:13.920]my words, and the things I'll put under chat
[00:47:16.330]and cool things to say are very different than
[00:47:18.540]what an eight year old would put on the device.
[00:47:20.670]So, we have to invite peers to engage,
[00:47:25.339]and kind of help develop what's appropriate for that age.
[00:47:30.210]Allow them to self-select words,
[00:47:32.340]and welcoming, inviting a response,
[00:47:35.280]but not requiring it.
[00:47:36.670]Those are strategies to teaching language.
[00:47:39.320]Telling them what to say,
[00:47:40.580]again, that compliance model is telling them,
[00:47:42.787]"You need to say this,"
[00:47:44.600]starting the sentence for them,
[00:47:46.520]limiting the words they're allowed to say.
[00:47:48.740]Maybe only giving them one or two pictures
[00:47:51.480]and requiring them to respond.
[00:47:53.740]Those are like testing strategies.
[00:47:57.930]And until our kids have a broader understanding of language,
[00:48:01.290]they're not ready to test.
[00:48:02.910]They're not capable of showing us what they fully know.
[00:48:05.420]Gotta give them the tools first,
[00:48:08.180]and spend a good amount of time teaching language before
[00:48:11.100]we expect to assess and test their language skills.
[00:48:16.880]So, finally, at the bottom is the red zone.
[00:48:19.200]Red requires the learner to be a passive member
[00:48:22.550]in the communication act.
[00:48:24.200]And we're gonna talk just a little bit about what
[00:48:28.290]that modeling versus what I've talked
[00:48:33.690]about as modeling means.
[00:48:35.090]So, when we first looked at that, we said,
[00:48:38.117]"You know, in the world of AAC,
[00:48:39.920]we talk a lot about demonstrating
[00:48:41.760]what the child could say.
[00:48:43.900]And we, a lot of times,
[00:48:44.733]call that modeling."
[00:48:45.600]Model AAC all day long.
[00:48:47.380]We have to speak AAC to teach AAC.
[00:48:51.510]We have to use it for them to learn it.
[00:48:55.350]So, why is modeling down here in the red zone?
[00:48:59.001]Well, just like we use prompting to mean different things,
[00:49:02.900]we can use modeling to mean different things.
[00:49:05.230]When I say modeling, I really mean demonstrate,
[00:49:07.430]show them how they could do it.
[00:49:09.930]But in some worlds,
[00:49:11.540]modeling means I'm gonna do it and then you're gonna do it.
[00:49:15.470]So, I'm gonna say, "I want blue."
[00:49:17.970]Now you say, "I want blue."
[00:49:19.890]So, if I'm modeling with the purpose
[00:49:22.500]that you have to imitate me, that's a red zone prompt.
[00:49:26.290]That is me telling you what to say, directing your language.
[00:49:29.820]If I'm modeling to say, "I want blue,"
[00:49:32.500]and then I wait, and I maybe have some other colors around
[00:49:36.000]and wait to see what they reach for,
[00:49:38.127]that's a healthy prompt.
[00:49:39.670]That's giving an expectant pause.
[00:49:41.550]Those are some indirect prompts I can give,
[00:49:44.080]and that's following their interests
[00:49:46.170]to map language to that.
[00:49:51.220]I'm not gonna go into this a lot.
[00:49:52.820]Again, there's more presentations on this,
[00:49:54.490]but there are risks associated with physical prompting.
[00:49:57.060]If we are physically taking someone's hand
[00:50:00.510]and making them touch icons or hit buttons,
[00:50:03.780]or point to words,
[00:50:06.370]A, they're not engaged in that learning task.
[00:50:08.490]They're learning that their role and communication is
[00:50:12.000]to relax their muscles, so they can be moved.
[00:50:15.270]And that their role in communication is
[00:50:17.950]to wait for someone to tell them
[00:50:19.480]what they're supposed to say.
[00:50:21.450]And that might sound extreme, but I'm telling you,
[00:50:23.916]I've worked with teens and young adults
[00:50:26.210]who it's such a hard habit
[00:50:29.250]to break when someone is really dependent on a guide
[00:50:32.760]or a physical prompt.
[00:50:34.970]But really, overall,
[00:50:36.440]it just teaches them that their role in communication is
[00:50:39.320]to be passive.
[00:50:40.153]They aren't the word selector.
[00:50:41.430]They aren't the initiator.
[00:50:44.090]Their role is to say what they're told to say,
[00:50:47.345]and until they learn that as a routine.
[00:50:50.170]And sometimes, it's hard to break that routine,
[00:50:52.040]even when the language doesn't make sense anymore.
[00:50:54.820]And physical prompting just,
[00:50:59.670]there's a whole body of research that talks
[00:51:01.860]about the kind of dangers associated with that.
[00:51:06.004]So, I mentioned this one already that,
[00:51:08.440]what do we mean about modeling?
[00:51:10.020]I'm talking about modeling for instruction.
[00:51:11.740]I'm showing them examples of how they could respond.
[00:51:14.910]I'm letting their peers show them.
[00:51:18.270]I'm gonna show them how they could do that,
[00:51:19.930]but if they don't do it, it's okay.
[00:51:21.400]I'm gonna keep giving them lots of opportunities,
[00:51:23.300]till they're ready.
[00:51:24.620]Modeling for performance in that red zone is telling them
[00:51:28.470]what they should say,
[00:51:29.860]showing them, and then requiring them to respond.
[00:51:32.570]First, I'm gonna do it,
[00:51:33.403]then you'll do it.
[00:51:34.820]And if you don't do it, someone's gonna help you do it.
[00:51:37.770]That's a performance-based compliance model
[00:51:41.700]that leads to prompt dependency,
[00:51:43.690]and we really wanna try to avoid that.
[00:51:48.432]Oops, and so, rather than using the word modeling,
[00:51:51.710]there is some new language,
[00:51:52.910]especially, coming out of the Center
[00:51:57.554]for Literacy and Disability Studies,
[00:51:59.110]and that Project Core,
[00:52:00.360]that we talked about earlier,
[00:52:01.940]where they're just trying to not say modeling anymore.
[00:52:04.440]Because of that confusion,
[00:52:05.590]they're just saying demonstrate.
[00:52:06.910]So, that's all I wanted to show here is
[00:52:08.730]that maybe it's set of healthy modeling,
[00:52:10.880]we're gonna just call it demonstration.
[00:52:12.150]I'm gonna demonstrate how you could say that.
[00:52:14.010]I'm gonna invite you to join,
[00:52:15.495]I'm gonna give you peer examples,
[00:52:17.650]that's how I'm gonna help teach you language.
[00:52:21.290]So, we've said modeling, and we've said demonstration,
[00:52:24.910]but just know, if you dive a little bit more
[00:52:27.100]into the world of AAC,
[00:52:28.660]it can be called a few different things.
[00:52:30.630]It can be called aided language input,
[00:52:32.720]aided language being we're using a symbol to aid.
[00:52:36.440]Instead of verbal spoken word,
[00:52:39.590]I'm gonna use a picture symbol to represent language,
[00:52:42.380]aided language input, aided language stimulation,
[00:52:45.370]or partner augmented input.
[00:52:47.610]And those are all slightly different versions
[00:52:50.530]that all refer to the same type of concept,
[00:52:53.970]whether I'm modeling on a board or device for them
[00:52:56.790]to see or on their device,
[00:52:58.480]whether I'm modeling from my perspective, I like it.
[00:53:01.540]What do you want?
[00:53:02.700]Or whether I'm modeling
[00:53:03.770]from the child's kind of perspective,
[00:53:05.390]those are some subtle differences,
[00:53:06.630]but they are research-based non-directive strategies
[00:53:09.920]that are really easy to implement.
[00:53:11.840]So, I believe, I provided a couple resources
[00:53:14.420]in the guide that talked through that.
[00:53:16.210]If you'd like one place to look,
[00:53:19.560]again, is the Project Core.
[00:53:21.320]Sorry, next slide.
[00:53:22.220]I'll wait, I'll slow down.
[00:53:25.640]But if you have communication boards like these posters
[00:53:29.920]or devices, like on the slide here,
[00:53:32.600]available to your student, your child,
[00:53:34.900]your classroom, what we mean by modeling is starting
[00:53:39.440]with really simplified language.
[00:53:42.220]I'm not gonna start by modeling a full sentence
[00:53:44.290]if their current expressive language is zero
[00:53:47.530]or one word at a time
[00:53:49.010]or one or two words at a time,
[00:53:50.670]I'm gonna start at one or two words.
[00:53:52.070]I'm gonna start at what they're using
[00:53:53.820]or what they're using plus one more word.
[00:53:56.928]And so, that might mean I have
[00:53:57.960]to drop some of the full grammatical sentence,
[00:54:01.280]when I'm modeling.
[00:54:02.170]So, you'll see on the slide,
[00:54:04.170]the examples are, you go.
[00:54:05.810]I might say, "It's time for you to go get on the bus."
[00:54:10.150]With my speech, I'm gonna say it all correctly,
[00:54:13.800]but I'm just gonna point to the key words of that sentence.
[00:54:16.420]You go, it's time for you to go on the bus.
[00:54:19.720]Put in, let's go put your folder in your backpack.
[00:54:23.400]I'm not gonna look for the word folder right now.
[00:54:25.080]I can point to the folder.
[00:54:26.240]I can hold the folder, but I'm gonna say, "Put in,"
[00:54:29.240]and then we're gonna walk to the backpack,
[00:54:30.720]put in the backpack.
[00:54:31.950]Same thing with those other examples.
[00:54:33.730]You're gonna start some really simplified language
[00:54:36.250]and model that, model that, model that,
[00:54:38.300]model that, model that, that model.
[00:54:40.167]And research says, "It takes 100 to 200 opportunities
[00:54:44.610]for kids to see things used consistently
[00:54:46.770]without the pressure and demand to test them."
[00:54:49.990]Before we start to see them, pick it up.
[00:54:52.970]A lot of kids do it much faster than that,
[00:54:55.570]but it takes time.
[00:54:59.040]So, here's the reference I was talking about earlier,
[00:55:01.770]where at the Project Core website,
[00:55:03.900]there are free professional development modules,
[00:55:08.540]and they are short.
[00:55:09.450]They're generally like 12 to 15 minutes.
[00:55:11.920]They're prerecorded.
[00:55:13.680]You can do it as an individual.
[00:55:15.270]We just ask you to sign in,
[00:55:16.240]so we can email you a certificate when you're done.
[00:55:18.890]You can do a group format,
[00:55:20.490]which just plays it as like a YouTube video.
[00:55:22.960]But if you do it as a small group
[00:55:24.490]with your team or your class or your family,
[00:55:27.570]there's related materials
[00:55:29.600]where if you're practice certain skill,
[00:55:31.400]it'll say, "Pause here and look at handout one,
[00:55:33.630]practice that skill."
[00:55:34.860]It's really, it's free,
[00:55:37.060]it's all inclusive,
[00:55:38.310]and it's based on proven research-driven models
[00:55:43.290]that are effective and relate
[00:55:46.550]to what I'm talking about here today.
[00:55:48.120]So, you might look at this session
[00:55:50.500]on beginning communicators,
[00:55:52.760]and really focus on that one aided language input.
[00:55:55.410]We just talked about that.
[00:55:56.330]What does modeling really look like, right?
[00:55:59.160]And then how do I use a Core board
[00:56:01.130]or a communication device with a student
[00:56:02.740]who doesn't yet have one.
[00:56:04.180]Those are some great tools
[00:56:05.370]and strategies you might consider looking at, so.
[00:56:10.420]So, another strategy for helping
[00:56:14.210]that authentic communication,
[00:56:15.380]a healthy, good strategy,
[00:56:17.100]we call verbal referencing and attributing meaning.
[00:56:21.160]And that's a big mouthful,
[00:56:22.350]but I just wanna break that down and think about it.
[00:56:25.280]One thing I really like to do, and if you look up my name,
[00:56:29.730]I think, mostly graphics will come up,
[00:56:31.680]but I create graphics or some people call them memes,
[00:56:35.920]take big concepts and try to make it a snapshot,
[00:56:40.080]digestible, understandable version of that idea.
[00:56:43.350]So, in this case,
[00:56:44.220]this is a quick snapshot that describes verbal referencing.
[00:56:47.780]You say what you see in that child.
[00:56:51.240]So, for example,
[00:56:52.580]if my child is pushing away a cup,
[00:56:54.460]'cause they don't want it,
[00:56:55.810]I can say, "Oh, you do not want that cup."
[00:56:59.470]I see you push that cup away, you don't want it.
[00:57:02.890]So, in this example,
[00:57:03.820]I see your big smile or you sat down,
[00:57:07.160]I think you might be tired.
[00:57:08.730]Or you are looking up,
[00:57:10.380]I think you might see that airplane.
[00:57:12.690]Describing the behavior
[00:57:14.170]that you see is one of the first key steps,
[00:57:17.100]and we pair it with attributing meaning.
[00:57:20.870]So, we do this automatically.
[00:57:23.130]As parents, teachers, as therapists,
[00:57:25.770]we see a behavior,
[00:57:26.940]you know, when a child pushes a cup away,
[00:57:29.130]in our heads, we go, "Okay, they don't want that drink,
[00:57:31.990]or they want a chocolate milk and I gave them water."
[00:57:34.790]But we have to verbalize that and say,
[00:57:37.637]"I see that you push that cup away."
[00:57:40.560]And then the attributing meaning is when I give language
[00:57:43.470]to it and I get Core board and I say,
[00:57:45.807]"You did not like the water.
[00:57:48.850]You did not like it."
[00:57:49.870]You said, "I am finished."
[00:57:51.600]So, we're both labeling it and then giving it meaning.
[00:57:55.380]And we're doing our best guess,
[00:57:56.700]maybe that's not why,
[00:57:58.530]maybe they liked water, but they wanted it lukewarm
[00:58:01.230]and the water was too cold.
[00:58:02.630]But I'm getting my best guess,
[00:58:04.470]I wonder you wanted this instead
[00:58:06.920]or I'm doing my best guess at attributing meaning
[00:58:10.410]to what I'm in my head attributing to that behavior.
[00:58:13.220]Not requiring them to tell me, I'm gonna show them.
[00:58:15.600]Like this, you sat down one.
[00:58:17.120]I think, or I wonder if you're tired
[00:58:20.260]or if you're done with this activity, let's be done.
[00:58:22.660]Maybe we do something different,
[00:58:24.630]and I would model done and I would model different.
[00:58:27.670]So, those are some examples of that big concept made easy.
[00:58:34.770]But this is so critical for our really early learners
[00:58:37.560]who aren't yet using words to express themselves,
[00:58:40.650]who are primarily expressing themselves through behavior.
[00:58:43.210]We really wanna think as a team
[00:58:44.560]of how we can verbally reference
[00:58:46.200]and kind of say out loud what
[00:58:47.240]we're thinking about a behavior,
[00:58:48.960]and then attribute meaning to it.
[00:58:52.550]There's another resource,
[00:58:53.540]and this is also linked in your document.
[00:58:55.440]This is from Kate McLaughlin,
[00:58:57.930]who goes by the AAC Coach on social media.
[00:59:01.280]You can follow her on Facebook or Instagram,
[00:59:03.400]but she also has a website
[00:59:04.410]where she provides all the visuals she's made.
[00:59:06.710]She's also provided this graphic or created this graphic
[00:59:10.710]about verbal referencing and saying what you see.
[00:59:14.550]So, I encourage you to check that out
[00:59:16.330]or look at Kate's site for more materials.
[00:59:19.050]So, let's talk now about
[00:59:20.760]how you create those supportive communication environments.
[00:59:26.300]We gotta keep communication close.
[00:59:28.300]For our students who are not yet using speech,
[00:59:30.660]we have to have communication board
[00:59:33.040]or device or system or something
[00:59:35.700]to make it visible and tangible.
[00:59:37.770]And if they have an AAC device or board
[00:59:40.100]that you're teaching from, it's gotta be close.
[00:59:42.730]It can't be over on the shelf,
[00:59:44.420]you know, up high.
[00:59:45.750]It can't be in their backpack or in the car.
[00:59:48.500]It's really gotta be close.
[00:59:49.860]It's like the number one hurdle to get over.
[00:59:52.450]It's that quote,
[00:59:53.357]"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
[00:59:55.900]It's gotta be close 'cause communication happens fast.
[00:59:58.670]So, consider keeping a device or, again,
[01:00:03.480]a paper communication board or whatever you're using close
[01:00:06.540]and stationed somewhere visible as much as possible.
[01:00:11.140]Provide engaging opportunities
[01:00:12.540]and activities to talk about.
[01:00:14.180]This goes back to that authenticity part
[01:00:17.380]and getting motivation, intrinsic,
[01:00:19.490]natural motivation from our learners.
[01:00:22.709]Do we have fun things or do we have silly things
[01:00:25.300]or is there a day where maybe I walk into therapy,
[01:00:27.420]and I'm wearing a silly, floppy hat
[01:00:29.570]to see if I can get my learner
[01:00:31.490]to notice, what is that?
[01:00:33.680]Or you know, wearing a winter hat in the summer,
[01:00:37.030]things like that,
[01:00:37.863]where you're bringing up something unexpected
[01:00:40.940]to see if that's something you can talk about.
[01:00:43.490]And then developing comfort
[01:00:44.930]with familiar words and routines.
[01:00:46.910]It's okay, not that
[01:00:49.220]we're scripting the whole day necessarily,
[01:00:51.510]but it's okay if you have some ideas of like my day,
[01:00:55.450]if I'm at home, my day is busy.
[01:00:57.010]I have kids and they're on the move,
[01:00:59.290]but I'm gonna pick these two times the day
[01:01:01.100]where I'm really gonna try to model some things.
[01:01:02.980]One might be in the bath 'cause they love the bath
[01:01:05.090]and they're contained.
[01:01:05.923]So, I'm gonna always plan on having my board with me there.
[01:01:08.910]And then maybe you think about either post-it note
[01:01:10.970]or write it on the back of the board.
[01:01:12.580]I could say, you know, these three phrases,
[01:01:16.000]I'm gonna work on those things.
[01:01:17.110]It's okay to take some of that stress off yourself
[01:01:21.680]and think about things you can demonstrate
[01:01:23.240]and model at certain times of the day.
[01:01:25.610]And once we become comfortable,
[01:01:28.040]we are more comfortable modeling and demonstrating,
[01:01:30.860]and it's much easier to get lots of opportunities that way.
[01:01:36.180]Have a system, an AAC system with rich language available.
[01:01:39.740]I really encourage you, again,
[01:01:41.360]to go back to that Project Core site.
[01:01:42.980]And it talks about Core vocabulary,
[01:01:46.010]which is really high frequency words
[01:01:48.400]that carry a lot of meaning
[01:01:50.260]and can be used across different contexts.
[01:01:52.520]So, if I'm using the word, go,
[01:01:57.090]I can use it at school to say,
[01:01:58.417]"It's time to go to the bus."
[01:02:00.120]I can use it when I'm playing with my cars,
[01:02:02.497]"Ready, set, go."
[01:02:03.900]I can use it in lots of different ways.
[01:02:05.650]I can use it when it's time to go to the bathroom.
[01:02:08.090]We wanna teach flexibility,
[01:02:09.650]'cause that's inherent to language,
[01:02:10.970]is that language is flexible
[01:02:12.230]and can be used in different ways.
[01:02:15.039]So, we need those high frequency words,
[01:02:17.070]but we have to have a rich system available to us.
[01:02:20.490]So, encourage you to reach out
[01:02:21.830]to your speech language pathologist.
[01:02:23.690]If you don't already have that as a tool available to you,
[01:02:26.250]and talk about what that means,
[01:02:28.230]and not limiting it to a choice board
[01:02:30.850]where there's just kind of nouns or favorite things.
[01:02:33.820]That's not a bad strategy,
[01:02:35.490]but that's not language and that's not communication.
[01:02:37.630]We need a whole variety of words in order to use them.
[01:02:40.580]If you can't model on it and demonstrate,
[01:02:43.540]then they can't say those things back.
[01:02:45.610]So, we have to find something that meets those needs.
[01:02:48.810]And we have some great research.
[01:02:50.250]I referenced this, included in the resources as well,
[01:02:53.050]from Sam Sennott, et al.
[01:02:55.750]They did a research review,
[01:02:59.280]based on the positive impact observed in research,
[01:03:02.320]leads authors to state that,
[01:03:03.947]"A strong argument exists for using AAC modeling
[01:03:08.240]as a foundation for AAC intervention."
[01:03:10.400]And again, that means that modeling,
[01:03:12.090]like aided language input, that demonstration,
[01:03:15.840]us using it before we expect our kids to use it.
[01:03:21.530]Keep it close, we talked about,
[01:03:22.900]you have to, it's gotta be kind of an arms reach.
[01:03:25.210]If it's a digital device, consider having a home base
[01:03:27.600]where it's always plugged in when it's not used or at night,
[01:03:30.890]so everyone knows that's where they go to get it.
[01:03:33.090]Consider portability, if it doesn't have a strap
[01:03:35.590]or a handle,
[01:03:36.620]sometimes we get to different cases or devices,
[01:03:39.240]so that it can be put over your shoulder
[01:03:40.900]or tucked to in your purse and pulled out.
[01:03:45.054]AAC isn't the focus,
[01:03:46.580]it's not the activity we're doing.
[01:03:49.350]We need to be doing other fun and engaging things,
[01:03:52.260]and AAC should accompany it, right?
[01:03:54.340]But it's not the goal, it's not the activity,
[01:03:57.720]it's just a tool we're using to support communication.
[01:04:03.980]Find authentic reasons to communicate.
[01:04:05.920]So if we know for, in this example,
[01:04:08.200]Pokemon is very motivating, right?
[01:04:11.060]Instead of withholding that desired item
[01:04:13.338]and making them say, "I want blank."
[01:04:17.010]I don't know, squirtle,
[01:04:18.020]I don't know which one that is.
[01:04:19.910]Before they get it, we just provide it
[01:04:23.210]and maybe have another one.
[01:04:24.420]And we may get a game say, "Oh, you like this.
[01:04:27.220]He climbed up.
[01:04:29.490]He fell over.
[01:04:30.540]Where are we going?"
[01:04:31.540]You know, do some play,
[01:04:33.250]and see how you can engage with them
[01:04:35.620]or bring other characters in and join them in that.
[01:04:38.860]It creates an authentic reason
[01:04:40.420]to communicate about something meaningful to them.
[01:04:44.350]So remember, go back to what is our goal
[01:04:46.760]to build authenticity.
[01:04:47.890]We really wanna avoid that compliance based,
[01:04:50.540]you know, forced sentence completion type of activity.
[01:04:57.380]This is a resource from the NJC,
[01:05:00.140]which is the National Joint Commission
[01:05:02.210]for the communication needs
[01:05:05.150]of persons with severe disabilities.
[01:05:07.240]Just goes by NJC for short.
[01:05:09.560]It's hosted at the ASHA website,
[01:05:11.340]ASHA's American Speech Language Hearing Association,
[01:05:14.240]but there's a tool out there,
[01:05:15.340]called the Communication Bill of Rights.
[01:05:16.890]And it really drives a lot of the work we do with people
[01:05:19.840]who have intense communication needs or severe disabilities.
[01:05:25.300]As it says, "To support authentic decision making,
[01:05:29.120]choices must be grounded in real life experiences."
[01:05:32.950]Those authentic decision making times are not the time
[01:05:35.580]to be teaching that symbol means
[01:05:37.620]or what this new strategy means.
[01:05:39.890]It's not the time to be testing what they understand.
[01:05:42.670]That's not authentic,
[01:05:44.966]that testing or that teaching of that skill
[01:05:46.770]and that strategy has to happen earlier,
[01:05:50.500]or it's not a meaningful choice.
[01:05:52.180]So, I love this quote, made this graphic,
[01:05:55.300]but it's a quote from Susan Bruce at NJC,
[01:05:56.810]and I encourage you
[01:05:57.950]to check out the Communication Bill of Rights
[01:06:00.230]for a lot more information.
[01:06:03.390]You may use a template like this to plan either at home
[01:06:06.410]or in the classroom to predict some things
[01:06:10.860]that you might regularly say.
[01:06:12.480]I encourage teams to first listen to
[01:06:14.600]what are the things your staff are already saying a lot.
[01:06:16.960]In the classroom, sometimes you hear,
[01:06:19.467]"Get on the stool, wash your hands,
[01:06:21.540]turn the water on, turn the water off."
[01:06:24.170]And maybe it's just become part of your classroom routine,
[01:06:27.440]and you don't notice it.
[01:06:28.290]But if you're hearing people say a lot of things regularly,
[01:06:30.820]hey, that's a great place
[01:06:32.150]to embed some symbol-based language support
[01:06:35.900]and encourage modeling.
[01:06:37.200]So, maybe you have a Core board
[01:06:38.520]or a device over there by the sink,
[01:06:40.040]and you say, "Turn on, turn off,"
[01:06:42.830]every time they're washing their hands.
[01:06:44.680]And you can just plan on that.
[01:06:46.010]Maybe you start with one or two things,
[01:06:47.610]and after that becomes more consistent,
[01:06:49.840]and some of your kids start either pointing to it
[01:06:53.050]or saying it or verbalizing and imitating the device,
[01:06:56.240]then you're gonna say, "Okay, now let's go to coats."
[01:06:58.230]What if we say, put on and put off,
[01:07:00.720]you know, take off for our coats
[01:07:02.730]and our backpacks or whatever?
[01:07:04.350]But embedding those things throughout the day,
[01:07:06.290]so you kind of have that in mind
[01:07:08.030]as you're preparing is the way to go.
[01:07:14.840]And this example just says, once you have those ideas,
[01:07:17.880]sometimes we just put like post-it notes around the room
[01:07:21.900]to help us remember,
[01:07:23.471]"What was it that I was gonna say at the sink?
[01:07:26.090]Oh, turn on, turn off."
[01:07:27.890]It's that easy.
[01:07:28.723]By the time the post-it note falls down, gets wet,
[01:07:32.220]hopefully, that will be an embedded strategy
[01:07:34.230]that is already part of your routine.
[01:07:40.080]And wherever you are, I really want you to think about
[01:07:43.470]how you can maximize communication opportunities,
[01:07:46.500]whether it's home clinic, classroom, wherever.
[01:07:52.030]We really benefit most when
[01:07:54.240]we have a whole team of people aimed in the same direction,
[01:07:57.180]supporting a child in the same way.
[01:07:59.220]So, making sure everybody, school, home, therapy,
[01:08:02.800]has the same access to AAC,
[01:08:05.550]making sure we have a shared understanding of prompting,
[01:08:08.700]of authentic communication of what our goals are
[01:08:12.540]that we're using similar strategies.
[01:08:14.230]If you learned about verbal referencing
[01:08:15.740]and you're gonna use it,
[01:08:17.090]bring in other family, have them watch your school team,
[01:08:20.550]and say, "You know what?
[01:08:21.383]I really wanna try this strategy."
[01:08:22.780]Have that conversation,
[01:08:23.800]so you're using similar language and similar words
[01:08:25.910]as you work together, and having shared goals for learning.
[01:08:30.310]Really, whatever your role is,
[01:08:32.470]we are not so much testers as we are coaches.
[01:08:36.610]We are coaching, we are giving opportunities,
[01:08:38.820]we're teaching little skills
[01:08:40.110]and then giving time to practice it,
[01:08:41.700]teaching little skills, giving time to practice it.
[01:08:44.760]So, there's a great graphic for you
[01:08:46.700]if you like to share that
[01:08:48.070]with the other communication coaches on your team.
[01:08:53.340]The power of opportunities,
[01:08:54.610]can't be really underestimated here.
[01:08:59.440]This is a statistic that someone calculated years ago,
[01:09:05.130]but we brought it back and I made a graphic
[01:09:07.860]of this a while ago,
[01:09:08.750]and then realized your conversation with some families,
[01:09:12.530]it's powerful and it's exciting,
[01:09:14.050]but sometimes it can feel heavy
[01:09:15.570]and like a big responsibility.
[01:09:18.080]Typically, developing kids,
[01:09:20.010]by the time they're 18 months old,
[01:09:22.290]they have had over 4,000 hours of people modeling speech
[01:09:28.350]and verbal language to them every day, over 4,000 hours,
[01:09:33.000]They've had lots of opportunities.
[01:09:34.400]They've heard language a lot.
[01:09:36.270]And at 18 months,
[01:09:38.160]we don't expect them to be fluent speakers yet, right?
[01:09:41.020]18 months, they're just starting to use some words.
[01:09:44.730]If AAC learners need symbols as a visual way
[01:09:49.100]to support their communication and their language learning,
[01:09:52.180]and they only see those symbols in practice
[01:09:55.250]for twice a week for 2030 minutes,
[01:09:58.420]which is kind of a common model for speech therapy,
[01:10:02.250]it will take them 84 years of that exposure
[01:10:05.600]to have the same exposure
[01:10:06.880]as typically developing kids due to spoken language.
[01:10:10.587]And we don't expect them to be fluent by that.
[01:10:13.080]We don't have 84 years.
[01:10:14.820]It cannot just be something
[01:10:16.820]that's done tucked away, and in therapy.
[01:10:19.790]We have to build those opportunities
[01:10:21.570]throughout the whole day in the classroom,
[01:10:24.010]at home and in speech.
[01:10:26.210]As much as we can build and lace little opportunities in
[01:10:29.840]through the whole day across that whole team,
[01:10:32.510]it cuts that number way down.
[01:10:35.630]Ultimately, like I said,
[01:10:36.480]if kids get 200 opportunities for a certain word,
[01:10:41.640]and then they start using it functionally, that's amazing.
[01:10:44.520]That's gonna take a long time for one person to do alone.
[01:10:47.680]So, I encourage you, again,
[01:10:49.410]build a team, come up with common goals
[01:10:52.290]and common expectations of how you're gonna support.
[01:10:54.550]It's okay if a strategy doesn't work for your learner
[01:10:57.740]and you come back and change that, that's okay.
[01:11:00.710]But start with a common goal,
[01:11:03.460]and with a vision to provide
[01:11:05.470]as many of those opportunities as possible.
[01:11:07.900]Kids need to learn,
[01:11:09.810]if we're expecting them to use symbols and AAC
[01:11:13.270]to tell us what they know,
[01:11:15.110]we first have to use AAC with them
[01:11:17.590]and give them lots, and lots,
[01:11:19.150]and lots of practice of what symbols look like.
[01:11:21.720]That's not to say that they won't use their natural speech.
[01:11:25.570]There's lots of research to say,
[01:11:27.720]AAC does not slow down or prohibit speech from developing.
[01:11:32.880]And in fact, a lot of times,
[01:11:34.380]this is a personal experience,
[01:11:35.670]especially, a lot of the kids I've seen who have autism,
[01:11:40.630]they then start imitating what they have said on a device.
[01:11:44.800]If it's a voice out device and they've made a phrase,
[01:11:47.260]then the device says it.
[01:11:48.770]Then the child will also say it.
[01:11:50.821]Just depending on the kids,
[01:11:52.450]but sometimes we do see that.
[01:11:54.979]So, don't be afraid that it means,
[01:11:57.530]gosh, if we're using symbols,
[01:11:58.540]they're not gonna speak,
[01:12:00.010]that's not a risk really.
[01:12:03.150]We're trying to decrease frustration and build language,
[01:12:06.720]however it comes out.
[01:12:07.970]Kids will use the path of least resistance,
[01:12:10.550]whether that's their natural speech,
[01:12:12.410]their gesture, their sign,
[01:12:13.880]but if we give them words and tools like language
[01:12:16.400]that are meaningful and authentic to them,
[01:12:19.120]they will use those strategies too.
[01:12:22.830]So, you guys,
[01:12:23.663]I maybe went a few minutes over,
[01:12:25.250]but that's my hour,
[01:12:26.320]and thank you for joining me.
[01:12:27.810]And I appreciate the opportunity.

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Building Authentic and Meaningful Communication Strategies

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