week 4/5 Flashcards
Living centre/KWS
Communication Dictionaries
- Provide a detailed description of how a person communicates and how they can best be communicated with
- Usually an interpretation of the person’s movements, facial expressions, gestures, vocalisations, etc.
- They are a means of gathering and preserving knowledge about the person’s communication, especially in the face of inevitable staff changes
- They may include video footage or photographs to support written documentation (e.g. a particularly difficult to describe facial expression or gesture)
Personal Communication Passports
- Practical and person-centered way of supporting children, young people and adults who cannot easily speak for themselves.
- Gathers complex information and presents it in an easy-to-follow format. They should be easy to read, informative, useful and fun.
- Great for new communication partners.
Unaided AAC
Relies on Facial Expression Eye Gaze Natural Gesture
• Noverbalskillsrequired
• No aids required
• Can convey a complete message or add to the overall message
• Should be used and encouraged if reliable
• Eye gaze can also be used a method to access other AAC systems
- formal sign language
- gesture
-eye gaze
facial expression
Aided AAC
communication dictionaries
communication books and boards.
electronic communication devices
mainstream technology
Key word sign.
• Previously known as Makaton
• Method of using sign and gesture with speech
where the key words are signed as they are spoken
• Intended for people who have a communication impairment – both as a means of expressive communication and to aid comprehension
Remnant Books
- For initiating conversations, sharing ideas, interacting and participating in successful communication
- A visual/tactual way of helping individuals record important events in their lives.
- Easily created using inexpensive “brag books” or mini photo albums.
- Students can choose a familiar remnant to set a topic for face-to-face communication (Beukelman & Mirenda, 2005)
- Excellent way for students to select a topic for writing
Communication Boards
- Single page, paper based aid
- Vocabulary represented by single meaning pictures and/or text
- Various ways of organising vocabulary on the board
- Core & fringe vocabulary
- Activity based boards are often a great place to start with young children – also known as aided language display
- Can be used to fit all vocabulary on one page if client is unable to turn pages
- MYO or ready made templates (e.g. Chat Now)
- Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)
- Talking Mats
Alphabet Boards
- Vocabulary represented by letters and words
- Letters can be organised QWERTY, ABC, frequency or another method to make access easiest for the client
- Suitable for clients who are literate
- Board may contain some whole words, phrases and sentences.
- May have a combination of text and symbols
- Need a way to say “you’re getting it wrong!”
- Space to record letters already produced (whiteboard)
Communication Books
- Multiple pages, paper based
- Various methods of construction to meet access and portability requirements
- Vocabulary represented by single meaning pictures and/or text
- Core and fringe vocab
- Vocabulary to meet a range of communication functions
- Various ways of organising vocabulary in the book
- MYO or ready made templates (e.g. PODD)
High Tech AAC Communication Devices/ Aids/ VOCA/ SGD types
single sequenced
static display
dynamic display
text to speech
Single/ Sequenced Message Devices
- Allow playback of a single recorded message or a sequence of messages by pressing a single button eg. BigMack, Step by Step
- Single message devices can be used for calling attention, requesting help, participation in activities (eg. saying a repeated line in a story, saying hello and goodbye, telling news or a special story, telling a joke) or engineering the environment.
- Sequenced message devices can also be used for giving a series of instructions, singing a song or nursery rhyme, telling a “knock knock” joke, etc.
Key Word Sign
• A simplified form of manual signing
• Designed for use by and with people who have communication difficulties
• Uses the same signs as the Deaf community
• Different to deaf sign in that:
Speech is used with signs
Only the key words in a message are signed
• NOT sign language
Principles of Key Word Signing
- Always use speech together with the sign
- Speak in normal, grammatical sentences
- Sign only the key words in the sentence
- Use facial expression and body language
- Use directionality and placement
- Teach signs that are relevant
Key Word Sign – Why introduce it?
- Until speech develops
- As a supplement to speech
- As an alternative to speech
- As a temporary means of communication
- As a tool to help comprehension
- To create a communication environment that supports use of AAC
Why do you need to learn Key Word Signing?
‘A communication disability does not just belong to the individual. It belongs to the entire environment of which the individual is the focal point’
