ActivityBased Communication Intervention

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Activity-Based Communication Intervention

• Developing Effective Communication Intervention
• During Functional Activities

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What we know

• For students with more significant
  disabilities,
• Severe impairments or delays in communication
  skill development are often among the most
  prevalent issues
• And present difficult challenges for developing
  interventions that involve assistive technologies
  (AT)

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The Activity-Based Communication Intervention
Process
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? Time to select target students and activities
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Determine Communication Functions Needed
How is the flow of a communicative interaction
controlled?
Initiate, Maintain, Redirect, Terminate
Social Regulation
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Regulating Social-Communicative Interactions
Get Partner Attention
Initiate Interaction
Who does each, the student or the partner (adult
or peer)?
Maintain Interaction (Elaboration)
Terminate Interaction
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Determine Communication Functions Needed
What communication functions are used within the
interactions?
Direct Attention, Request. Answer
Communicative Function
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Determine Communication Functions (Outcomes)
Needed

• Direct Attention to Self
• Direct Attention to Object/Person
• Direct Attention to Action
• Request Action
• Request Object/Person
• Request Action

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Determine Communication Functions (Outcomes)
Needed

• Answer
• Comply
• Reject / Protest
• Greeting / Parting
• Comment (Almost never!)
• Reinforce Others

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Determine Communicative Functions Needed

• What is needed to?
• Complete the activity
• Problem-solve in the activity
• Express choices preferences
• Control the activity
• When to initiate
• When to take breaks
• When to end
• Add to the quality of the activity
• Social politeness
• Incidental communication

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? What communicative functions does the student
need to use or could use in your activity?
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Identify Potential Messages

• What message content is needed to express the
  communicative function
• Message content
• Vocabulary

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? What messages does the student need to express
or could express in your activity?
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Identify the Students Communication Skills
Modality
Communicative Behavior
Intentionality
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Behaviors Used to Communicate

• Modality
• Body language / Actions
• Gestures
• Vocal Sounds
• Spoken Language
• Manual Sign
• Visual-Graphic Symbols

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Behaviors Used to Communicate

• Intentionality
• Action Sequence (nearly complete)
• Signal Abbreviated action sequence or
  idiosyncratic action associated with the activity
• Symbol Word, manual sign, graphic symbol used
  when the referent is present
• Symbol -- Word, manual sign, graphic symbol used
  when the referent is not present

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? What communicative behaviors does the student
currently use in your activity?
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Identify the Students Communication Skills

• What communication functions does the student
  currently express within the activity?
• Direct attention
• Make requests
• Protest
• Answer
• Comply
• Greet / Part

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Identify Barriers to Student Communication

• Identify the problems students with severe
  disabilities demonstrate when communicating
• Consider the role of adult partners in the
  communication problems

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Characteristics of Students Communication

• Even students who already use some form of AAC
  may display one of more of the following
• Rarely initiate interactions
• Primarily respond to others' initiations
• Usually communicate via modes other than their
  communication aid/device

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Characteristics of Students Communication

• Head nods and shakes in response to yes/no
  questions are the most frequently used mode
• Frequently make unintelligible vocalizations
• Rarely interact with peers
• Display communication that is much less complex
  than exhibited in eliciting situations

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? How many of these characteristics do one or
more your students exhibit?
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Interaction Style of Partners

• Common Style of Adult Partners
• Preempt the students' turns
• Tend to dominate the interactions with too much
  adult language
• Don't give the students time to formulate messages

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Interaction Style of Partners

• Often fail to respond to student's initiations
• Often anticipate the students' needs and
  thoughts, making it unnecessary for them to
  communicate.

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• Instructional Language Style
• Use rhetorical speech for which answers are not
  being solicited
• "Are you ready? Tell me where this goes."
• "Let's try again okay? Tell me what you want"

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• Use "fills" and "tags" which obscure the
  meaningful message or cancel intended effect
• "Let me see now..."
• "Tell me what you want, alright?" A demand to
  communicate becomes a yes/no question
• May sometimes double state messages
• "What do you want? What do you need?"

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? How many of these style characteristics have
you seen?
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Additional Problems Facing Students Who Use AAC

• Communication board, book, cards, or device not
  available when student needs to communicate
• Communication display available but vocabulary or
  message needed is not accessible when student
  needs to communicate
• Vocabulary or messages available on AAC display
  not appropriate to the situation or activity
• Message gloss is missing or is insufficient for
  partners to comprehend intended message

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Design Any Needed AAC

• What communicative functions is the student
  expressing ineffectively?
• What messages does the student need to express to
  increase effective communication?
• How should the messages be conveyed
• Visual symbols
• Spoken
• Students Voice
• Voice Output Communication Aid

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? Try it!
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Implement Intervention Procedures

• Environmental Modifications
• Cue Prompt Systems
• Feedback

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Implement Intervention Procedures

• Environmental Modifications
• Increasing frequency of opportunities
• Sabotage Creating needs

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Implement Intervention Procedures

• Cue Prompt Systems
• Cues Prompts for Doing
• Cues Prompts for Saying
• The PAUSE
• A Least-to-Most Prompts System
• Time Delay

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Implement Intervention Procedures

• Praise Feedback
• Positive feedback with restatement
• Great you asked for MORE JUICE and here it is
• Wow, you asked for the TAPEPLAYER and here it is
• You said we should GET NAPKINS, so let's go
• Positive feedback with elaboration
• You said you FEEL ANGRY, why are you angry?
• You asked for SCISSORS, what do you need them
  for?