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Preschool Parent Training on Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Added Jul 21, 2022 •

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hi my name is Jody Perkins I am a bcba from the ABA company Katie and based in Atlanta Georgia today we're going to talk about using augmentative and alternative communication systems with your child visual communication systems if you haven't watch the basics video yet and are serious please do sit that first as we are going to use terminology and strategies covered in that presentation that you need to be familiar with so I think about children having difficulty with behaviors we often hear people say behavior is communication so we think that our child is engaging in those behaviors cuz they're trying to communicate something when our child doesn't have a way to tell us what there the needs are a lot of times they're going to resort to maladaptive behaviors to get across that they want or they need something so we can help them learn to communicate by a system called functional communication training or fct conclude using verbalization just like normal talking as well as alternative communication methods so we're going to learn how to use fct as well as look at a couple of the different visual communication systems so the to Visual Communications systems that are most often used are either the packs is so much as low-tech it's just pictures with velcro and strips and that the child hands you the picture or velcro is it onto his sentence trip or we have the mid-to-high level tech devices which are AAC devices augmentative and alternative communication devices and they speak for your child so that your child presses the button and a voice says the words for whatever those icons were if you work if your child the speech therapist on Bay or an ABA therapist they may be able to help you pick which communication system would be best for your child that is usually something that one of those professionals who can help you with so why we want to use a visual Communication System well we need to find a way to help our child communicate when they don't have that verbal language they need a way to communicate so we can decrease those behaviors that are happening because they can't communicate things to us send know that research has shown that visual communication systems often promote verbal language skills and children that currently have limited to no verbal English feels so a lot of times parents are hesitant to use these now I want my child to talk I don't want them to use it I want them to learn how to talk well these devices and their systems actually promote your child learning how to talk and eat no not every child is going to learn how to talk but we do know that these systems do not inhibit verbal language is how to keep your child from developing verbal language if that is something that's going to care for them language development using the systems follows the same pattern is verbal language development which is great because we know how that works and we know that works promoting that same development and then having a way to communicate is so essential for your child's health and safety needs you know if they get lost out in the community without you they need a way to be able to tell somebody what your name is what your phone number is if they like their and it's person they're a bunch of pain they need to weigh to be able to show you like my side hurts and tell you what's wrong so it's just so important they have some way to communicate so we're going to talk about the very very basics of functional commune patient training which is starting with request training so how do we teach our child to communicate what they want or what they need how do we teach them to request those things so before we start working with our child we have to do a little bit of work to get things so we're going to take a few days to observe and assess what and how our child currently request his wants and needs so does it he pull you to the item does he go get it himself does he use Guesstures did he cry when he's hungry how does he let you know he wants or needs something and then what does she request most often does that food is it a tension is the favorite toy what is it that she's asking for the most and the way that she asked for things then you're going to have to decide which communication system you're using are you going to use a Pex binder are you going to use a digital app are you going to use a communication device again you might want to consult with a professional to decide which one of those is best for your child once you've decided you got to gather all the materials that you're going to for that system it's going to be very specific to that system so again at professional might be needed to help you get all of that information then you want to identify at least 10 items or activities that are highly motivated to your child oh and create the picture icon for those things so this might be like crackers Eminem's juice toys Elmo plushie iPad you want to have a mixture of like Edibles and then my activity type things just to keep it mixed up so if your child has if possible you know Identify some things from both of those categories and then make sure that you are well stocked with those items that you have plenty of them and that any Electronics or toys that need to be are charged and working so that you decrease frustration so we're going to start with structure to practice this is what we would do and what we call a discrete trial training so it's very structured very regimented I'm here we have the written out instructions but I have a video that shows you how we're going to use this so we're going to watch that video and then if you want to come back to refer to the written instructions are here for you to do so so let's watch this example in this video we're going to be demonstrating using the discrete trial method to teach that functional communication using the PEX picture cards so I'm doing this you if you were doing it on a device it would work the same way you'd have the items and you have the device with the icons up it would just be on that device rather than on individual pictures so in this example this is the very very big I have the items that are available out the pretzels the iPad was just going to be YouTube videos and a ball and in front of each of those items I have the picture icon now because I am just teaching my child how to use this Tatian device that they're not really probably going to grab for those icons are going to grab for it the item so I would start by telling your child ready hands and have their hands back and you're not going to pull these things out until you ready to go cuz they're probably going to grab them so we're here ready hands but I'm just say what do you want he's grabbing for the pretzel Simon a bull lock and I'm going to pick up icon for pretzels and put it in my hand very beginning stages under the full physical that they're going to give him that feedback and I'm giving him one price because we're going to be repeating this over and over again and I'm fully physically prompting him right now so I want to just give that small access so that he's going to want to repeat this process and not get satiated so we've done it once he's eating his pretzel the items around on the table so that they're not in the same order the items around we're going to what do you want he's reaching for that ball so I prompt him again I block I prompt him to physically pick up that wall picture and put it in my hand you asked me to play with the ball for 2 minutes so I'm going to give him a short amount of time to play with the ball depending on your child's attention span that maybe more like 30 seconds on what you know is appropriate for them so he's playing with a ball like in the very very early stages of doing it when you get to where your kids I was the system a little bit more you're going to move to where you're just using the picture icons I'm not going to have all of the stuff out in front of her I'll have it nearby I'm available to him before we start but I'm only going to be out on his communication board so buddy today we have pretzels YouTube videos in the balls to play with it's just the icon he picked it up he put it in my cuz my hand himself I didn't have to prompt him and I'm going to save every time you have to watch YouTube videos you can have five minutes with the YouTube videos because he's doing it more independently now and this is probably going to be in a more naturalistic time like maybe he has been working and he got a break so he was choosing what he want to do on his break I'm going to give him longer access to the iPad Air 2 minutes all he's getting five minutes because the amount of effort he put into requesting it was higher than before okay so that video showed us how we can do that very very structure function communication training within the discrete trial methodology so next we're going to what we're going to talk about how do we start to move this very structured Communication System into everyday Communications is that is the end goal we want our child to be able to communicate in all settings and all activities about their day so again the written instructions are here for you to refer to and we're going to watch this video about how use the system in a more everyday setting hey honey can you play store in this video we're going to show you how to use the communication icons and I'm more naturalistic setting so I have to Simmons starter I wanted the top with a box for him to put the icon in and then I have the picture icons of what he has available at snack so fruit for the banana juice and a pretzel so he's and he realizes that he's out of juice so the way they know he wants more and I said you can ask for juice I want behavior before he died there's your juice now what we eventually want to happen is that we wanted to use this communication board with before he engages in those behaviors so he's eating banana he finishes the banana and great job asked me for some more banana you said I want free the more banana and I'm going to give him a good bit of banana not just a small piece but a good boy that banana requested it without engaging in behaviors and differential reinforcement icons to communicate and ask what he wants rather there's a desired Behavior still get more of what he wants okay so that video showed us what it would look like in the morn a chiral activity so using it during the child's natural snack time so the last video that we're going to has to do with error correction because as your child's learning the system it's likely that they are going to request something that wasn't what they wanted so what do we do when that happens so this video is going to show us in this video we're going to show you what are looks like when your child makes an error in that naturalistic setting when they're requesting what they want cuz it's going to happen they're going to make mistakes so he's eating a snack and he realize juice cup is empty and he knows oh I'm supposed to use my communication icons to ask for more juice so I seen him go and he chooses I want pretzels I don't think that's what he want I'm still going to honor it though because this is what he asked for us sure I'll give you some more pretzels and there's your proof and then it like you want it so we can do some of those when does a b start to come out he might revert back to the way that he used to ask me for juice with that banging and whining do you want something different oh you want juice I want you so I'll get you some juice and I give him the juice here you go so when they make those errors we're still going on or what they only realize it's not really what they were I knew he didn't want pretzels he still has a plate full of pretzels but he has an empty juice that he asked for pretzels so I'm going to honor that and give him the pretzels this helps him learn to discriminate between those iPods and shoes is what he really wants it also helps them learn the back and forth communication process of asking for things and having that back and forth and are at okay so now your child is communication has a purpose and gets them what they want they're getting excited about communicating so we want to continue to promote actual verbalizations while were using these AA words for your child frequently so if you noticed in the videos when he would put the icon up there for I want pretzels I want juice I always went back and said that whole sentence to him I want to honor and encourage any reasonable verbalizations that are for example if your child wants to play with the ball and she says sure you can play with a ball great job using your words to ask for the ball so your modeling that word ball and you're letting her know that you like that she use that by Feist let you know as your child begins to use verbalizations provide a model of the whole word and require your child to use verbalizations to access the. Desired item or activity and icons you might want to keep them visible for a while so you have that back up but then start it if your child is showing you that they're making these verbal has a is that they are able to do some verbal communication you want to encourage them to do that and require them to use that verbal communication so but keep the expectation for the accuracy of their pronunciations developmentally appropriate for their ability level so again this is where if you work with a speech pathologist they can let you know what sound your child is currently able to make so that you're not you know we don't want to ask if we don't want to require a child to make a sound that their mouth physically right now thank you so much I'm hopeless was helpful and I will see you next time

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Preschool Parent Training on Augmentative and Alternative Communication

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