We are frequently asked about the language organization in Speak for Yourself, and for many people, when they look at the app for the first time, they feel overwhelmed. If you’re someone who is feeling that way, I’m glad you’re reading this. It certainly wasn’t our intention to cause anxiety, but I think that overwhelmed feeling often stems from this underlying question: “How am I/my child/my client going to learn all of this?”
This is understandable for a couple of reasons. First, Speak for Yourself isn’t immediately seen as a category-based system. Second, the out-of-the-box programmed vocabulary is just under 5,000 words, and it has the capacity to hold 14,000 words. The vocabulary is extensive.
If you’re familiar with other Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) systems, and you’re a verbally speaking adult with a lifetime of language experience, you may think that the organization of Speak for Yourself makes no sense. You may be someone who likes to have “clearly defined” categories or an organization that’s based on what an individual may want to say in a given social situation. Speak for Yourself doesn’t predict words based on the word you’ve previously selected or only show “correct” verb tenses when a pronoun is used. Once you say a word on the Speak for Yourself app, the user has an equal chance to use any other word in the app vocabulary. That’s important. When you verbally speak, you can say any words you want, in any order. The other day, my son said to my daughter, “You best not touch my computer.” I didn’t tell him that his ability to use “best” after “You” is denied. I didn’t suggest that he say “can”, “are”, or “know” since they frequently follow the word “You.” I didn’t because even if I wanted to control what he says (or doesn’t say), we don’t have that option when someone speaks verbally. This slight change in his language allowed him to create a playful undertone by his use of the word “best” in that context. He got to say exactly what he wanted, exactly the way he wanted to say it. Someone using AAC deserves that same opportunity.
So, how is Speak for Yourself organized?
If you’re an analytic reader, you may notice that I said, “Speak for Yourself isn’t immediately seen as a category-based system.” The main screen is comprised of frequently used core vocabulary based on research. Each of those buttons has the ability to link to one secondary screen with additional vocabulary. When the word is spoken, the app returns to the main screen. In this way, it allows the user to access 14,000 words with no more than two touches to say any word. With 5000 pre-programmed words, that leaves roughly 9,000 buttons for customized, personalized vocabulary. Since that is A LOT of vocabulary, you can start as basic as one word, and add words as needed. We know some users, parents, and professionals have looked through the secondary screens in an attempt to figure out logic behind the word placement. Here are a couple of pictures that may help you visualize how Speak for Yourself is categorized under the main screen core words. The Smarty Symbols© that we licensed were organized in folders. We paired each of those categories with a main screen core word.
Here is our original, well-loved notes pairing the categories with the main screen core words:
Here is the main screen with each of the underlying categories labeled:
Items within that category were then placed alphabetically (with a few exceptions) on the secondary screens. There are many obvious category associations in Speak for Yourself. For example, foods are under EAT:
Beverages are under DRINK:
Games are under PLAY:
But there are is quite a bit of important language and vocabulary that doesn’t associate solidly to a core word…
Language is arbitrary and based on shared meaning.
When you really get deep into the theory of language, why do we use any combination of sounds to say a word? Why does “salt” refer to the non-sweet grainy, white stuff we use to season food? We learned as young children to combine those sounds in that specific order and say the word “salt.” People understand what we are talking about and we get the condiment/response we want. If we used some other sound combination like “tals”, we wouldn’t get salt because the meaning is not shared. However, if your young child reached for the salt shaker as he said “tals,” you would share his meaning of that approximation and you would be able to understand him. This is the reason parents are able to understand their child’s approximations, and the reason it matters if someone is a “familiar listener.” This is also how we get new words. When I was a child, we tried to take a picture of ourselves sometimes, but the camera was heavy and we weren’t allowed to “waste film.” We didn’t have a name for it. With the forward facing cameras almost constantly in hand, taking your own picture has become so common that it needed its own word…selfie. Now, even my grandmother knows what a “selfie” is. Those arbitrary movements, whether by your mouth or by your hand pushing buttons, translate into words that have a shared meaning. That shared meaning allows us to be understood.
There are many categories placed arbitrarily under main screen core words that may or may not be related. The word “outside” is under “AS” because it is a preposition. If you wanted to delete “outside” and put it under GO before you show the child, you can, but once the child learns where the word is, she never has to learn it again. Adults working with the students have a harder time with that because we are reading the words and categorizing based on our knowledge of language and the world. The little ones or non-readers are learning the location and movement to get to the word they want to say. Those movements allow them to push buttons and speak the words that everyone will understand. Sorry to disappoint those of you who have been trying to “crack the code,” but the logic is that if you keep the words in the same place, students learn the location, regardless of that location. For those of us who have a hard time remembering the location of thousands of words, you are not alone. For that reason, there is a Search Feature in Speak for Yourself that will navigate you to the location of the word you’re wanting to find.
How does someone learn word locations in Speak for Yourself?
Users learn the path to get to the word instead of relying on high level categorization, literacy, or page navigation skills.
Here’s an analogy:
When I drive to a friend’s house, I know which exit to get off, but after that, I have no idea what the road names are (partially because New Jersey uses the same road names for completely different roads in the same town. That’s an issue for someone else to handle.). I know that I have to turn at the diagonal road so that the Dunkin Donuts will be on my left. Then I recognize where I am and know her street when I see it.
In the same way, someone learning to use Speak for Yourself, recognizes landmarks (color, symbol, photo) based on location and once they select that button, they know where they are and find the word they wanted to say. We all get to the places we need and are motivated to find without knowing the names of the roads. Often in AAC evaluations, categorization skills are included as part of the assessment and used to determine whether or not a student qualifies for a device or is sent off with a communication book and told to work on categorization skills. Categorization skills should not determine a child’s access to communication.
If you put the things a child loves – favorite characters, foods, toys, activities, people -under any button, the child will remember the location. Many Speak for Yourself users have characters/TV shows located under the “THE” button. Does Sponge Bob have any categorical relationship to THE? Not that I know of, but the children remember the location because they’re motivated to watch the show, read a book, or talk about the character.
It’s like playing a game of memory, but the cards never move. They always get put back in the exact same place, and over time, the people using it start to get very adept at remembering the location. They don’t have to think about it. Their brains remember where to go and tell the hand automatically. They get to skip the part of the brain that tries to think about and execute movements…the part of the brain that struggles to plan and coordinate the motor movements of speech for children with apraxia. Instead, communication becomes automatic regardless of literacy, categorization, or symbol recognition skills. Babies as young as 18 months and well-educated adults who use AAC have figured it out. Once you use it, this simple, comprehensive language organization unites with motor memory and begins to make sense.
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