4 Domains of Communicative Competence
- Operational
i. Can operate the device - Linguistic
i. Expressive and recetive language use (with device) - Social
i. Pragmatically being able to us the device - Strategic
i. those that allow people to “make the best of what they do know and can do”
Development of Communicative Competence
- Operational – learn to apply motor, cognitive, visual/auditory skills to operate an AAC system
- Linguistic – learn the linguistic code(s) of an AAC system, including semantic, morphosyntactic, pragmatic, and other skills required
- Social –those needed for functional choice making, requesting, rejecting, and related to pragmatic discourse
- Strategic – those that allow people to “make the best of what they do know and can do”
Supporting Semantic Development (2 instructional models to use)
- Explicit Instruction
2. Language Modeling
Explicit Instruction
- Facilitator arranges structured teaching trials that require a learner to match symbols to their referents
- Place photos of a cup and an apple on a table
- Give the learner a cup that is identical to the one in the photo
- Prompt the learner to place the cup with the photo of the cup
- Fade prompts over subsequent trials
- Introduce new objects and symbols systematically until learner can match objects and symbols without instruction
- Move on to nonidentical matching
Explicit Instruction
- Naturally occurring communicative interactions such as choice-making routines and reading activities can be used to provide explicit symbol-referent instruction
- See page 281.
- Why not just give him the sock?
- PRC article?
Language Modeling
• All variations of Language Modeling, at minimum, say the facilitator should:
o Point to key graphic symbols while speaking, in the context of a motivating interactive activity
o Provide opportunities for the learner to use the symbols during the activity
• Best Practice: Combine explicit instruction with language modeling
Supporting Syntactic Development
- Strategy Instruction
* Language Modeling
Supporting Syntactic Development
- Once 40-60 words are productive in the child’s lexicon, the focus switches to multi-word constructions
- Page 282
- Page 283 Table 11.1
Strategy Instruction
• Can be used to teach both comprehension and production of grammatical constructs
• Remember the steps:
1. Define goal to be taught
2. Explain skill and its importance
3. Demonstrate how to use skill, have person observe skill with narration
4. Have person/family member think of when they’d use the skill
5. Create situations for person to use skill
6. Provide guided practice
7. Evaluate progress
8. Conduct probes in novel settings to evaluate generalization
Language Modeling
- System for Augmenting Language
- Aided Language Stimulation
- Aided Language Modeling
- Research has shown all of these to support the use of multisymbol utterances for those using AAC
- May combine language modeling with incidental teaching (mand-model) and time delay procedures
Supporting Morphology
- Explicit Instruction
* Language Modeling
Supporting the Use of Grammatical Morphemes
• Studies have been done on the effects of language modeling techniques to teach the use of morphemes
• Example:
o Facilitator reads: The monster is eating monster snacks.
o Facilitator models: HE IS EAT + ING
o Learner creates message containing target morphemes
o Facilitator provides recast by modeling correct utterance on the SGD followed by the complete spoken sentence
• Explicit Instruction related to discrimination learning may also be necessary
Supporting Pragmatic Language Development
- Teaching Choice-Making and Requesting
- Teaching Basic Rejecting
- Teaching Yes and No
- Supporting Communication for Social Interaction
Choice Making
- Occurs when an individual selects a preferred item or activity from two or more options either independently or when someone else offers them.
- Does not always involve a communication interaction with another person
Requesting
- Another person must be inclined to provide mediation/assistance if asked to do so.
- The individual needing to gain access to something must be unable (or unwilling) to do so without the assistance or mediation of another person.
- Always involves a communication interaction with another person (Ex. choosing shoes)
Teaching Elicited Choice Making
- Elicited choices are initiated by someone other than the person who relies on AAC
- Learners need frequent, meaningful opportunities to control their environments
- Choice options should be age-appropriate
- Consider types of choices to offer throughout the day and how many options to offer at a time
Teaching Elicited Choice Making
- When just learning the concept of choice, real items may be used rather than symbols.
- May use symbols within a “no wrong choice” format
Instructional Techniques for Choice Making
- Approach utilizes facilitator prompts: verbal cues, gestures, models, physical assistance with an errorless paradigm to teach selection of a symbol
- Comprehension check procedure (under Explicit Instruction, Page 281)
- Best Practice: Employ the approach that best fits the skills of the client then switch if the first one is not fruitful.
Natural Consequences
• It is critical for the facilitator to provide natural consequences following a selection.
Teaching Requesting
• Requesting is basic and essential and often reduces problem behaviors
1. Generalized Requesting Approach
Explicit Instruction
Incidental Teaching
2. Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)
3. General case approach (can be combined with both of the above) – teach when to respond and when not to respond
Teaching Basic Rejecting
- Communicative rejecting – the use of behavior that works through the mediation of a listener and enables the person to escape from or avoid objects, activities, or social interactions
- May relieve problem behaviors
Teaching Generalized Rejecting
- Teach person to indicate “no”
- Problem may be with interpreting exactly what the person is trying to reject or why
- Once step process (next slide) is completed, insert delays between rejecting behavior to prolong activity if necessary
- May need to use a visual schedule
Teaching Generalized Rejecting
• 6 Main Steps:
- AAC team IDs nonpreferred items/events and existing behaviors used by the learner to escape/avoid
- Team determines the appropriateness of the current rejecting behaviors. Determine which to work on
- Select acceptable form of rejecting and context to work in
- Create opportunities for rejecting
- Prompt to elicit new rejecting response, fade prompts
- Reinforce behavior consistently by removing the rejected object or stopping the activity immediately
Teaching Yes and No
- “Discriminated Rejecting”
- Even if Yes/No is taught to answer a question, generalization did not necessarily occur to novel settings.
- Few studies
