I’m sharing an Authentic AAC moment each day this month for #BHSM, because sometimes, even with a lot of AAC experience and knowledge, things are missed, mistakes are made, and plans don’t work out. Thanks to all of you who are also contributing with this month of #AuthenticAAC. In case you’re not following the Speak for Yourself Facebook page, here are my posts from this week!
Monday May 16th, 2016:
Today, a toddler student was trying to say something to me verbally. It was six syllables starting with an “m” with several vowel sounds with short pauses to separate the “words.”
I thought the first word was “mad.” She loves the Inside Out books (pictured below) and “Anger” is her favorite. (I think because she likes my pretend dramatic mad voice and closed fists on the floor). I pulled the books out and said, “Is it something about mad?”
She looked confused and repeated her verbalization exactly. I moved the device closer to her and asked if she could tell me or give me a clue (she’s very new to AAC). She used it to say “give.”
I repeated “give” and tried to figure out context clues, but with each guess, she repeated the same series of syllables, as if I should be able to get it. I asked her if she could show me and she thought but then said “no.” I apologized and said I’d keep trying, but she sighed, laid down and said “no.”
After a few seconds, she popped back up, went through the Inside Out books and handed me “Sadness.” She used the device to say “read” and verbally said “please.” I read dramatically like I usually do and put my head in my hands and fake sobbed because that always makes her giggle. It worked. By the end of the book we were both laughing, but I wiped away a real tear.
The reality is that sometimes – a lot of times – I don’t figure it out. Some days, the best I can do is say, “I’ll try again tomorrow.” And I will.
Tuesday May 17th, 2016:
On a community outing today, we had some extra time (the bowling alley didn’t open until later), so we stopped at a park.
As we pulled into the parking lot, there were families of geese. I thought it would be a great opportunity for language and modeling because there was a lot going on, and it was a nice “experiential learning opportunity.”
When we got out, the student was less than thrilled. He wanted to go directly to the bowling alley. He looked at the ducks and geese, and I talked about them. When I tried to model, he moved the device away from my hand and asked for a snack.
I gave him the snack and tried to model again.
The babies were running to keep up with the mom. In my mind, I modeled “running fast,” “trying to catch up ” and “following mom.” But even after his snack, he said “stop,” and pulled the device away from my hand. He wasn’t as excited about the geese as I was.
So we walked and looked, and I took some pictures in case he wants to talk about it another time.
Wednesday May 18th, 2016:
Today I was in a classroom modeling during a student’s instructional time. She was being asked to read a sentence and she was choosing to do it verbally. I was waiting to model the word until after she said it (to give her the chance to use the device if she chose to and so that she was reading it rather than repeating after the device).
My finger accidentally touched the main screen button and the device navigated to the secondary screen. I stopped but the student looked at the secondary screen. I waited but then touched the home button to go back to the main screen.
When it happened a second time (yes, my finger got too close to the screen twice!), we realized she was looking at her reflection in the black part of the screen.* So I modeled “look in mirror,” and the teacher found a mirror. The student was all smiles.
When accidents lead you down a different path, sometimes it would be a worse mistake to ignore it.
#AACserendipity
#followthestudentspath
*The background color can be changed to a less reflective color if the reflection is too distracting for a student.
(Photo is of my hand reflecting in an iPad screen because I forgot to ask permission to take pictures:)
Thursday May 19th, 2016:
Students should have access to #allthewordsallthetime…unless they put their device down in the grass during gym to play ball with friends.
Friday May 20th, 2016:
I sat down with my little student as she was finishing her lunch. She wanted to put her baby doll that she was holding in a “Jolly Jumper” (it’s a swing of sorts that hangs from a doorway so a baby not yet walking can sit in it and jump) that was being cleaned and re-assembled. I told her what it was and that when she was finished eating, we’d put her baby in it. When it was clean and reassembled, the teacher put it aside.
A few minutes went by and we talked about the Itsy Bitsy Spider and her upcoming trip. She finished eating, and said she wanted to get “out” and “read” and “color.” I said, “Sounds like a plan” and helped her out of the seat.
We sat on the floor, and I started to pull out books and markers to reinforce the plans she made.
She verbally said “baby” and I said “Baby wants to listen to the books too?” And she said, “Baby muh muh muh.” She saw that I was confused so she pointed towards the jolly jumper and said “baby in.” At that point I remembered that I told her after lunch she could put the baby in and I said, “Oh! You want the baby to jump jump jump!?” And she smiled and nodded.
If not for her awesome communication repair skills and multi-modal communication, I would have forgotten all about the jolly jumper. It was out of sight, out of mind for me…but not for her.
As I’m keeping track of my AAC “errors” this month, I wonder how many times these communication attempts are missed without me ever realizing it.
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