It's Time to Communicate!

It is truly amazing what goes into communicating.  At a basic level, three things needed for effective communication include:
1) communication partner
2) common language
3) joint attention

When it comes to planning for a student who needs support to communicate, we must put effort into planning and ensuring we are supporting the student effectively.  Today we learned that there are many things to consider when communicating including:

-the goal of the communication
-focus of interaction
-duration of interaction
-content of interaction
-predictability
-rate of communication - output speed, input response
-scope of communication (wide, limited, etc.) -
     wide - amount of info you are conveying is big
     limited - short specific amount of information
-number of communication partners
-familiarity of partner

Our level or communication interaction changes based upon the above things.  Many of us do this naturally without needing to be taught these skills.  For instance, when we stand in the grocery store we know the interaction with the person at the cash register will be very different in length, in content, in scope and in rate than perhpas if we were having a conversation over coffee with a friend.  But not all students understand these social rules.  My brother for instance will sometimes have lengthy conversations with me as we are in line at the grocery store.  He will ask things like "So Gillian, what was it like when we were kids and lived in that old house?"  I often have to explain to him that a lengthy conversation like this isn't really appropriate while we are waiting to pay for our groceries.  Some students need to have these skills broken down and taught.  We can use assistive technology for skill development.  For example we can use Book Creator or iMovies to create an e-story or video to support the appropriate interactions. 

It is essential as a school within our program planning teams that we discuss our goals of communication, interests and skillsets of our students and involve the parents (who know the child the best).  Through this group development we can then match an appropriate assistive technology program to support their communication within all of their environments.  It is important that our focus is not on the device but on the students skill sets and interests.  In class today we looked at a specific program called Proloquo2go.

Proloquo2go is an augmentative communication device.  It is a program designed for a handheld device like iPod touch of iPad.  The selection set in the program can vary from a static communication board (where just the buttons on the first screen are the ones that are used - very limited) but can also go deeper into a dynamic selection set in which choices are given.  The ability to create categories and have the students have many more options for communciation makes the program an extremely valuable tool for those studnets with the cognitive ability needed for this type of communication.   It is so important to look at a number of things when designing a program like this for our students.  Their physical ability needs to be addressed - (Can they touch the buttons? What will they use to touch the buttons - direct selection or indirect selection?  Do we need to have bigger or smaller grids? can they carry the ipod with them? Do they have vision issues that would affect size and color of buttons?)  Their mental capability needs to be addressed - (How early on in the program are they? Are communication devices new to them?  Do they have the mental ability to create a more dynamic communciation system?  Are they able to make choice? What is their level of vocabulary?)  What environments will the child need to use the device? (Think of all areas where the child will need to communicate.  Ensure that they have the ability to communicate no matter what environment they are in.  What are their interests?  What possible questions or comments will they need to say?  Ensure that they have the ability to answer questions and also ASK questions). 

Below is a great video about Proloquo2go.  This is workshop 1 out of a 12 short video series about how to customize the program if it is of interest. 

There is so much to think about when planning for a program such as Proloquo2go.   The class was spent planning together in a group for a case study of a student with communication challenges.  We had three educators in our group and matching the way we create and design the program to the user was extremely interesting.  I could imagine that having parental involvement would be extremely useful in this process. I think it is important to get a program set up with as many words as possible for as many settings as possible, but adding and changing will be essential for it's success as the student begins communicating. 

In one day I went from a world of paper and picture exchange communication to a more socially appropriate world of hand held apple products.  Proloquo2go is an extremely exciting program for me as I have spent countless hours printing, lamenating, cutting, valcrowing, sorting, arranging, finding, and losing pictures to aid in communication.   And now...one single device let's me plan and program for my students in a few hours.

One last thing to remember - always allow students to bring their communication device WHEREVER they go!  It is their voice!  Would we force a child to leave their glasses in the classroom during recess if we knew they could not see without them?  No.  So always allow a student access to their voice.