Category Archives: Learning Language With Augmentative/Alternative Communication

Learning Language With Augmentative/Alternative Communication

A Tool to Help Describe Words Using Familiar Vocabulary

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Rewordify.com is a website that simplifies English text. Copy and paste the text to simplify into the website and it will define all of the difficult words! Here is some text from The National Archives describing the Marshall Plan:

“As the war-torn nations of Europe faced famine and economic crisis in the wake of World War II, the United States proposed to rebuild the continent in the interest of political stability and a healthy world economy. On June 5, 1947, in a commencement address at Harvard University, Secretary of State George C. Marshall first called for American assistance in restoring the economic infrastructure of Europe. Western Europe responded favorably, and the Truman administration proposed legislation. The resulting Economic Cooperation Act of 1948 restored European agricultural and industrial productivity. Credited with preventing famine and political chaos, the plan later earned General Marshall a Nobel Peace Prize.”

Here is how rewordify.com changed it:

Passage of text rewordified by rewordify

The text has been changed to provide enough information to increase comprehension of more difficult words and phrases. Give it a try!

Highlighting Which Words To Model During Shared Reading Experiences

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A strategy to help individuals learn language using augmentative/alternative communication (AAC) is to provide Partner Augmented Input (also known as Aided Language Stimulation). This means the communication partners model language by using the same form of AAC as the student with whom they are communicating. This short video explains the idea. 

When participating in literacy experiences, like reading a book together, it can be difficult to model every word in the story. Focusing the modeling on words which are used most frequently is a way to target meaningful vocabulary. However, for a communication partner who is just learning about AAC, it can still be difficult to know which words to model.

Highlighting frequently used words in the text, providing an alternative version with words highlighted, or adapting the book to paste in the highlighted text are strategies that can help. Highlighter tape over text or sticky notes near text can illustrate which words to model.

A sticky note with the words Make Them Play on it in a page of a storybook.

A sticky note with the words They Play Go on it in a page of a storybook.

A sticky note with the words So Cut Down Her on it in a page of a storybook.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sticky notes placed on pages of a storybook to help communication partners know which words to model using augmentative/alternative communication (AAC)

Using Words in Different Ways To Teach What They Mean

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Green Light, Traffic Light, Signals, Signs, Go, SpeedRepetition with variety means teaching the same word repeatedly in various contexts and environments.

  • Time to GO outside.
  • I GO sit at the carpet.
  • Let’s watch the video, turn it on and make it GO.
  • We GO eat lunch.
  • The bus is here, time to GO.
  • It’s your turn, ready, set, GO.

A student can learn how to use a word through repeated exposure to that word being used in different ways and explicitly teaching the various ways to use it.

Which Types of Words Are Represented Using Autodraw?

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Google’s Autodraw is a free, web-based tool which utilizes picture prediction. Users sketch something and Autodraw attempts to predict what that drawing might represent. This tool can be helpful for developing artistic expression but it can serve another purpose as well. It can help illustrate the idea that some words can be more easily implemented using an image than others. Let’s look at some examples below. Which words in the list below create pictures in your mind? Which would be more difficult to draw?

  • Cookie
  • Snow
  • Truck
  • It
  • Do
  • Make 

You might easily envision a cookie, truck, and snow. Why? These words create a picture in our mind. When you attempt to draw them in Autodraw, they can be much more readily recognized by the tool than words that do not produce pictures. Use AutoDraw and try to draw some words. You’re invited to get creative and pick 2 nouns, 1 verb, and 1 preposition (i.e., cup, door, run, in). Which words did AutoDraw successfully predict pictures for? Which words did Autodraw not produce images for?

Screenshot of Autodraw

A cup drawn in Autodraw

When teaching language using augmentative/alternative communication, recognize that some words produce a picture in a learner’s mind while others do not. Learners will need to experience what some words mean in more ways than simply showing them a picture. They’ll need to learn what the words mean through actions, play, analogies, metaphors, stories, examples, and experiencing others use them repeatedly!

Using Multiple Images To Represent the Meaning of a Word

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Have you ever played Pictionary? In this classic game, one teammate draws a picture of a word while others attempt to guess what it is. The whole basis for the game is that, depending on the word one is being asked to draw, it can be tricky to represent a word with a picture. If we asked a room full of people to draw the word WORK, we get lots of different drawings. What would YOU draw to represent the word WORK? A construction sign? A hard hat? A desk with a computer on it? A hammer and nail?

If we ask people to guess the word being drawn by looking at only one picture, they will likely struggle. However, if we ask them to look at 3 or 4 pictures that build a pictoral representation of the word, players may have a better chance at figuring it out. This is exactly why sometimes people playing Pictionary draw multiple images in an effort to provide clues to their teammates!

What word are we trying to represent with the picture shown below? Is it car, drive, transportation, vehicle?

Automobile, Cayman, Coupe, Design, Driving, Expensive

When these other pictures are added, such as those below, does it give you a better idea of the word trying to be represented?

Motorcycle, Speed, Helmet, Motorcycle Rider, Motor Bike Hurry Up, Sport, Speed, Running, Stretching, ForwardCheetah, Wildcat, Fast, Speed, Spotted, Color, Wildlife

Did these images help you guess that the word we were going for was FAST?

When it comes to learning language using augmentative/alternative communication (AAC), some applications attempt to represent concepts using one to one correspondence, where one image represents one word. Other applications lean into the notion that multiple images sequences together can be used to represent one singular word. Which works best for the student(s) you support?

Using The Zoom Controller on an iPad to Help Model Language on Augmentative/Alternative Communication

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When mirroring an iPad (broadcasting the iPad screen to a monitor) to model the use of language on touchscreen augmentative/alternative communication, the person watching the monitor can’t see your finger. The only thing that registers on the monitor is a brief flash of the icon being selected and the word appearing on the speak selection bar at the top of the application. The person watching the monitor won’t be able to track which icons are being pressing. The zoom controller can be used as a pointer to solve this problem. Learn how by watching this short video!

Using A Dry Erase Marker To Help Learn Where Words Are Located on Augmentative/Alternative Communication

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It might be difficult to remember where all the words are located when first learning  augmentative/alternative communication (AAC) even after you’ve practiced them. If using AAC with a touchscreen, a visual strategy you can use to help you remember what you want to say and where the words are located is to write on a transparent protective covering over the screen. If you use a fine point marker, you can add numbers to remind yourself about the order as well. The video below will show you how!

Repetition With Variety When Modeling Language Using Augmentative/Alternative Communication

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When modeling core vocabulary on augmentative/alternative communication (AAC), it is important to repeat the same word used in different ways and in different contexts. This shows the AAC user that the word isn’t just used to mean one action or thing in one specific situation, and helps them learn all of the meanings and uses of the word. For example, “turn” can mean physically spinning something in a circle (turn around) and can also mean it’s time for you to perform an action (it’s your turn). Communication partners can help those learning language using AAC by modeling the word in all the varied ways the word can be used.

This YouTube playlist features a number of videos featuring specific core words demonstrating how each word can be used in a variety of ways. Use these videos to introduce or reinforce the word you’re teaching.

 

Learning Where The Words Are Located on AAC Through Practice

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Supporting someone learning language using augmentative/alternative communication (AAC) means modeling the use of vocabulary by use the AAC yourself. No matter the AAC being used, finding where the words are to model them takes effort, time, and practice. The following are some ideas for how to learn where the words are:

  1. While watching television together, listen for the use of core words (the most frequently used words) and practice finding them as you hear them in the show or during commercials. Try finding a few fun, high-impact, fringe words (less commonly used words) too!
  2. Get peers or siblings involved by inviting them to randomly call out words for you to find and then switch roles where they search for words. Peers and siblings make excellent communication partners!
  3. Most robust AAC applications have a search feature that helps users locate words. Use the search feature whenever stuck on where to find the sequence of buttons to press to say that particular word.
  4. Going slow is a good thing! Taking time to find the word while modeling can provide the time necessary for the AAC user to process the language.
    Word Finder on LAMP:WFL

    Use the Word Finder function on the Language Acquisition Through Motor Planning: Words For Life application to search for the location of words.

    Keyboard icon circled on LAMP:WFL

    Use the Keyboard button on the home screen of the Language Acquisition Through Motor Planning: Words For Life application to access the Word Finder function

    The Search Feature of Proloquo2go

    How to Locate the Search Feature of Proloquo2go

Who Uses AAC?

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Silhouette of a variety of people

The quick answer to the question of “Who Uses AAC?” is everyone! The American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) defines AAC very broadly: “AAC includes all of the ways we share our ideas and feelings without talking.” By that definition, every person is an AAC user but only some people can rely on speech as their primary mode of communication.

A common myth is that a person needs to be completely non verbal or non speaking to require AAC. Let’s bust that myth together today! We can start with the name, Augmentative and Alternative Communication, or AAC. What was that first word?? It was Augmentative. To augment means to add to, or to supplement. AAC can be used by a person who does use verbal speech, or sign language, or a letter board, or pictures to communicate purely to make their message clearer!

“An individual does not abandon simpler strategies in the march toward independence. Instead, the individual acquires more and more sophisticated communication methods to add to an existing repertoire.” Blackstone & Hunt Berg, 2003

Watch this video to see how AAC is used to augment Philip’s verbal approximations, gestures, and voice.