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Environmental Communication Teaching (ECT) with Students and Young Children Who Use

Augmentative and Alternative Communication

DAY 1

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Understanding the Use of ECT in Classroom and Community Settings

Goals: Identify common communication problems Identify solutions to these problems Demonstrate use of activity-based

objectives Develop an understanding of integrated

therapy Select target students and activities Develop sets of activity-based objectives

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Team Building

Identify core team members Identify peripheral team members Identify involvement of family

explanation of ECT signed permission forms for taping viewing videotapes (last session?)

Identify team meeting opportunities

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Communication Interaction Chart

Wants/Needs

Activity

Social Closeness

Information Transfer Social Etiquette

EnvironmentPartner PURPOSE

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Facilitation Strategies that Promote Communication

Engaging the child Commenting on or describing an event or

action Responding to communication attempts Waiting for a response

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Facilitation Strategies that Promote Communication

Expanding child’s utterances Prompting for a higher level of response Increasing opportunities for peer

interactive communication

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Facilitation Strategies that Promote Communication

Identifying the communicative intent of undesirable behavior

Prompting communication to replace undesirable behavior

Modifying the environment to promote communication opportunities

Adapted from Teachers’ Use of Strategies to Facilitate the Communication of Preschool Children with Disabilities. Journal of Early Intervention, 1991, Vol. 15, pp. 358-371.

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Group Activity

School Survival Skills

Review the skills and identify which items involve

communication and which do not.

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The Basics of Environmental Communication Teaching

Arranging the environment Selecting communication targets Responding to the child’s

initiations Reinforcing the child’s

communicative attempts

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Remember:

“Incidental teaching episodes are brief, positive,

and oriented towards COMMUNICATION

rather than language-teaching, per se.”

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Parameters for Successful Assistive Technology Implementation

What you need to make it work: A Committed Team

-Knowledge of the student/young child-Willingness to increase technical

proficiency with the device/equipment

-Commitment to dynamic re-evaluation

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Parameters for Successful Assistive Technology Implementation

Instructional Best Practices-Integrated therapy-Curricular goals for present and future-Activities that are realistic and functional-Strategies for success-An organized classroom/environment

Administrative and Family Support

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VIDEO/Vanessa

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Group Activity

Brainstorm in small groups

Common characteristics of students who use or need AAC

Common partner characteristics– instructional language– interaction patterns

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Common Characteristics of Students using AAC

They: Rarely initiate interactions Primarily respond to others’ initiations Usually communicate via modes other

than their communication aid/device Head nods and shakes in response to

yes/no questions are the most frequently used mode

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Common Characteristics of Students using AAC

Unintelligible vocalizations are common

Spontaneous communication is less complex than in elicited situations

Rarely interact with peers

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Additional Concerns Facing Students and Young Children Who Use AAC

Communication system not available when student or young child needs to communicate

Communication system available but vocabulary or message needed is not there when student or young child needs to communicate

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Additional Concerns Facing Students and Young Children Who Use AAC

Vocabulary or messages available on AAC display not appropriate to the situation or activity

Message gloss is missing or is insufficient for partners to comprehend intended message

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Partner CharacteristicsCommunication Interaction Style

Adults Tend to dominate the interactions Preempt the student’s or young child’s turn Don’t give students or young children time

to formulate messages Often fail to respond to student’s or young

child’s initiations Often anticipate the student’s or young

child’s needs and thoughts, making it unnecessary for them to communicate

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Partner CharacteristicsInstructional Language Style

Adults: Use rhetorical speech for which answers

are not being solicited

Use “Fills” and “Tags” which obscure the meaningful message or cancel intended effect

May sometimes double-state messages

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Solutions

Develop an understanding of the three major aspects of the intervention process Understand the communicative

requirements of activities Understand how partners can act to

facilitate, rather than inhibit, the student’s or young child's communication skills

Understand how AAC is developed from within the context of particular activities, not as a separate enterprise

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Solutions

Understand the communicative requirements of everyday activities Examine various social contexts in which

interaction might occur:– Structure of social interactions– How interactions are initiated and maintained– How communicative functions are used within

interactions

Examine how ABO’s can be used as a planning and communication tool for teams

Identify ways to modify current activities

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Solutions

Understand how partners can facilitate the effective use of communication through the use of: environmentally-based cues a unique prompt hierarchy the use of appropriate descriptive

feedback

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Solutions

Understand how to develop and integrate AAC within the context of activities Determine the communication

potential of routine activities Develop AAC strategies for routine

activities Integrate AAC into educational,

vocational, and community activities

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Practices that Support a Curriculum-Based Model

[Using Activity-Based Objectivesas a way to Structure IEP Goals]

Identify natural environments Identify significant activities in those

environments Identify specific skills required Determine discrepancies between

current and desired performance

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Components Needed to Insure Success of Curriculum-based Model

Integrated Services Skill Cluster Instruction

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LanguageLanguage Fine MotorFine Motor

ComputerComputerFunctionalAcademicsFunctionalAcademics

Skill Clusters

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Central Premises of Skill Cluster Instruction

Movement, communication, social interaction, problem solving, recall, etc., are required components of most functional routines.

Routines provide excellent opportunities to integrate priorities and methods from a variety of disciplines.

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An Average DayActivity

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ActivityBreakdown

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Requirements for an Activity

How is it Initiated? Where does it begin?

– What is the transition from the previous activity?

Who begins it? How is it begun?

– What is said or done?

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Requirements for an Activity

How is it Maintained? What are the operations that must be

carried out?– With what must they be done?– Who must do them?

What must be said to carry them out?– Who must say these things?

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Requirements for an Activity

How is it Terminated? What actions end the activity?

– Who does them?– When

Who ends the activity?– What do they say?

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Brainstorm Vanessa’s

Activity

Initiate Terminate

Main

tain

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Selecting Target Activities Activities selected should correspond

as much as possible with the following characteristics: The activity is “process” rather than

“product” oriented The activity represents a class of

activities More than one “selection” for the activity

type can be offered at any given time The activity occurs for the student or

young child 3-4 times each week

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Using the ABO Format

What the student must do or say Vocabulary that must be available How the messages will be

represented The message selection technique

that will be used Information about the AAC Display

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Guidelines for Preparing Activity-Based Objectives

Should Describe Final Objectives of the Activity They describe the activity at the final

criterion (independence, independent but with personal assistance, etc.) level.

If memory aids, such as picture sequence charts, or assistive devices, such as adapted chairs or tools, will be permanently used, they should be reflected within the objectives.

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Guidelines for Preparing Activity-Based Objectives

Should state what the student or young child will do or say to complete the activity Do not state what the student or young

child “Will learn to do” Do not include the teaching cues and

prompts that may be needed in order to teach the student or young child

Teaching cues and prompts can be documented separately

Cues and prompts are added and taken away as needed

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Guidelines for Preparing Activity-Based Objectives

Use only verbs such as ASK, TELL, SAY, ANSWER to describe the communication of the student

Remember that all communication has equal value regardless of the modes being used

Respond to unintelligible verbalizations or indistinct gestures by requesting that the student tell “it” another way

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VIDEO

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Write ABO’s

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VIDEO/Tricia

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Write ABO’s

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Exercise #1 For one of the activities that you

“roughed out” on the Activity Breakdown form: Determine which team members would be

involved (OT, PT, SLP, T, A) Identify the communication opportunities Brainstorm the messages that need to be

available Identify any IF statements that could

develop

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Communication Interaction Chart

Wants/Needs

Activity

Social Closeness

Information Transfer Social Etiquette

EnvironmentPartner PURPOSE

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Famous Quotes

“It’s easy to be an over-achiever in the land of lowered

expectations.”

Michael Williams, AAC User

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Selecting Target Students or Young Children

Students or young children should meet one of the following criteria: Already has minimal competence in the

operation of an AAC approach Uses an AAC approach to respond, but not

initiate An initial AAC approach has been developed Demonstrates some “desire” to

communicate, or– demonstrates strong preferences or

dislikes, or– attempts to maintain participation

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Day 2 Reminders

Start time: 8:30 a.m. Bring back your

participant’s hand-out Review the student/activity selection

forms in your packet and be prepared to complete and hand-in on Day 2

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Famous Quotes

“Don’t limit your challenges.Challenge your limits.”

1996 Boston Marathon Winner