Communication and Vision WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE 1

When Worlds Collide Pre-symbolic and Symbolic Communication Assessing communication skills of children with VI and concomitant disabilities. Decision making for AAC Developing goals Designing instructional programs 2

Audience Poll Question 3

COMMUNICATION THE EXCHANGE OF IDEAS, OPINIONS AND FACTS BETWEEN TWO PEOPLE COMMUNICATION PARTNERS SENDER RECEIVER SPOKEN AND UNSPOKEN (MODES OF EXPRESSION) 4

“COMMUNICATION IS NOT JUST ABOUT THE MEANS OF EXPRESSION. TOO OFTEN WE SEE THE FOCUS OF INTERVENTION PLACED ON SOME SYMBOLIC FORM WITHOUT CONSIDERATION FOR THE CHILD’S UNDERSTANDING OF THE PURPOSE OF COMMUNICATION.” -Philip D Schweigert; New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. 5

COMMUNICATION Bonding Social interaction Engagement “Children with dual sensory impairment (deaf/blind) and multiple disabilities establish these connections at a pre-symbolic level.” – Dr. Jan van Dijk 6

“CONVERSATIONAL” INTERACTION PROCEEDS LANGUAGE 7

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Foundational Communication Skills: Cognition/Receptive Language: Causality-levels Object permanence Joint attention Triadic gaze Turn taking Communicative intent 9

EBP-Communicative Intent Rowland and Schweigert – children with a range of severe disabilities; shared lack of symbolic communication. Those children who were less adept in terms of intentional pre- symbolic communication made slower progress toward acquiring symbolic communication. 100% of the children with intentional communication behaviors acquired some form of symbolic communication. 62% of the children without intentional communication behaviors went on to form some level of symbolic communication FOLLOWING extensive instruction in the use of pre-symbolic communication. 38% of the children without pre-symbolic communication did not acquire any symbolic communication during the course of intervention. 10

MODES OF COMMUNICATION UNAIDED FACIAL EXPRESSION VOCALIZATION/SPEECH BODY MOVEMENTS BODY “LANGUAGE” GESTURES SIGN LANGUAGE EYE GAZE AIDED OBJECTS PARTIAL OBJECTS PICTURES: photographs, line drawings, cartoons, Picsyms, Dynasyms, etc. SPEECH GENERATING DEVICES (LOW-HIGH) iPads, leisure devices 11

Communicative Functions Gain attention Protest/refuse Comment (express interest) Request/choice making Gain information Engagement/social Bond emotionally Form relationships 12

LEVELS OF COMMUNICATION PRESYMBOLIC REFLEXIVE BEHAVIOR INTENTIONAL BEHAVIOR INTENTIONAL COMMUNICATION UNCONVENTIONAL GESTURES CONVENTIONAL GESTURES SYMBOLIC CONCRETE SYMBOLS ABSTRACT SYMBOLS LANGUAGE rule bound semantics, syntax, phonology, morphology 13

ASSESSMENT Tells us how the child perceives the world Their ability to impact it Their desire to do that Initiation and Intent 14

ASSESSMENT FORMAL/INFORMAL: STANDARDIZED OBSERVATIONAL CHECKLISTS DEVELOPMENTAL NECESSARY TO UNDERSTAND TYPICAL DEVELOPMENT SPLINTER SKILLS NO “ONE SIZE FITS ALL”-EACH CHILD IS UNIQUE CRITERION REFERENCED WHERE THE CHILD FUNCTIONS WITHIN A DOMAIN PLAY BASED ASSESSMENT OPTIMALLY TRANSDISCIPLINARY REQUIRES A STRONG PROFESSIONAL SKILL SET ASTUTE OBSERVATIONAL SKILLS 15

Communication Environmental Access Cognition 16

Environmental Access Interacting with the social and physical environment is central to learning Helps children learn how the world works Learn how to solve problems that arise in it Manipulating their physical environment (objects) provides the motivation to explore further; master new skills 17

What is AAC? Augmentative and alternative communication is achieved by any means other than oral language. Who uses AAC? Anyone with complex communication needs. 18

AAC Decision Making BEHAVIORCOGNITIONMOTOR ACADEMICS COMMUNICATION SENSORY: VISON/ HEARING MOTIVATION 19

“And, from the prism of our field of specialty, and in conjunction with other team members, we need to determine what is owning to vision and what is owing to other challenges.”- Mary Morse; AER Journal: Research and Practice in Visual Impairment and Blindness; Volume 1, #2, Fall 2008 Vision as a psychological process Vision as an emotional process Vision as a motor process Vision as a cognitive process Increased visual awareness works for some children; others understand tactile- kinesthetic-motor approach better. “Hands first; eyes follow” 20

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AAC FEATURE MATCHING CHILD SKILLS Visual skills Auditory Skills Cognitive skills Language skills User Motivation Academic skills Behavior Needs Motor skills (fine/gross) DEVICE FEATURES Visual feedback Auditory feedback Cognition for operation Language organization Operation, programming Flexibility, growth Durability, repair Motor access features Tactual features 22

Aided Symbol Hierarchy Most Iconic to Least OBJECTS COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS BLACK AND WHITE MINIATURES BLACK AND WHITE DRAWINGS PICSYMS/BLISSSYMBOLS TRADITIONAL ORTHOGRAPHY (WRITTEN WORD) MIRENDA & LOCKE, 1989 IDENTICAL OBJECT PARTIAL OR ASSOCIATED OBJECT SYMBOL SHARING ONLY 1-2 FEATURES OF THE OBJECT PHOTOGRAPH SPECIFIC LINE DRAWING GENERIC LINE DRAWING ROWLAND & SCHWEIGERT,

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