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“Communicative competence is about people. It is not about computer technology, or AAC systems. Technology is just the tool, it is the people and the interactions between them that must be our main focus.”
Janice Light
Why do we communicate?
• To express needs and wants
• To develop social closeness
• To exchange information
• To fulfill social etiquette routines
Why communicate?
1. Express Needs: regulate someone else’s behavior
- focus is on desired action/object, not participants
2. Social closeness: to establish, maintain, and develop relationships
- focus is on participants; there is no other goal
Why communicate? (cont’d)
3. Sharing information - to acquire new information or impart new information to others
- focus is on information
4. Social etiquette: brief interactions, including comments and greetings
Basic Messages
• What they want
• What they’re having trouble with
• When they need a break
• When they’re giving up
• When they’re successful and happy
Ann Heller - 12th Annual Southeast Aug. Com. Conference, 1991.
Points to remember:
• Communicative competence needs to be learned
• Success depends on identifying appropriate goals
• Different people value different skills
• Need to build on strengths of AAC users
Partner Characteristics• Tend to dominate the conversation
• Preempt the students’ turns
• Don’t give time for student to formulate response/comment
• Often fail to respond to students’ attempts at communication
• Often anticipate students’ needs and thoughts (making it unnecessary to communicate)
Partner Strategies that Promote Communication
• Engage the student
• Comment on or describe an event or action
• Wait for a response– expand on the attempt– prompt for a higher level of success– increase opportunities for communicative
interaction
Using a Prompt Hierarchy
• Expectant pause
• Open question– Ask a who, what, when, where, how question
• What do you want? Where should we go?
• Partial prompt– Ask a question that contains a choice– Give a hint or clue– Model the first few words or sounds
Prompt Hierarchy (cont’d)
• Mand (request for a response)– request an elaboration of the response– “Tell me what you want”– “You need to tell me something”
• Full Model– provide a full model for the response, then
PAUSE again (give time to respond)
Partner Focused Questions
• To develop meaningful social relationships
• Studies provide evidence that adults value partners who show an interest in others– increased perception of the AAC user’s ability
level
• Partner focused questions can aid in initiation and maintenance of conversations
Strategies that Promote Communicative Competence
• Provide meaningful opportunities for communication
• Work with communication partners– a ‘trainer” is not a partner!
• Prepare for opportunities through appropriate instruction
• Provide partner support
Strategies (cont’d)
• Work within the natural environment
• Reflect and learn from experiences
• Continually review and revise
Determine Vocabulary• Listen to peers
• Begin with generic messages that can be used in a variety of settings with a variety of partners
• Can include open-ended carrier phrases (“What are you doing…” - tomorrow, tonight, vacation)
• Include messages that initiate, maintain, terminate a conversation
Determine Appropriate Wording• Consider the following when choosing
actual wording:– age (a 16 year old should sound like a 16 yr.
old)– personality– cultural background– level of comprehension– formality vs. informality of situation (job
interview vs. chatting with friends)
When choosing messages...
• Be sure to include opposites (ex.,“cool/gross”, or “great/too bad”)
• include a message that indicates that what the AAC user is trying to communicate is not available on that particular board/overlay (“It’s not on this board”)
Messages
• Messages should be:– effective - communicate clearly to partner– efficient - get the point across as quickly as
possible– socially appropriate (worded in an acceptable
manner)
Remember….
Simply providing the vocabulary and expecting the student to use it appropriately is not enough
Interaction between AAC users and communication partners needs to be taught
Turn-Taking
• Obligatory– partner is obliged to take a turn because a
question has been asked (“What are you doing?”
• Non-obligatory– partner is invited to take a turn following a
comment or statement (“I went to a great concert”)
Non-Obligatory Turn Taking
• Increases participation in social settings
• Maintains conversation
• Shows that there is interest in the partner
• Aids in partners viewing AAC users as competent communicators
Steps to Teaching Turn-Taking
• Specify the goal
• Select vocabulary
• Provide opportunities
• Follow a prompt hierarchy
• Generalization
• Re-evaluate
• Maintenance checks
Visual Bridges
• Support ongoing communication between home and school– how I felt today– what will happen tomorrow– what happened at home last night
• Active participation in preparation– review and rehearse– organizational skills
Visual Bridges (cont’d)• Sharing information
• Transition between environments (school to home, home to therapies, school to daycare)
• Provides opportunity for student responsibility (material preparation and transportation)
• Encourages initiation and participation in meaningful conversations
Activities
• “Today at School”– reviews occurrences during the day– information put into visual form– improves recall of past events
• Format can include:– marking schedule pictures– photocopying pictures or objects– copying fill-in-the blank sentences
Remnant Books• Basically a scrapbook of meaningful “items”• Collect wrappers, tickets, etc. from field trip
or other excursions• Photographs• Digital photos• School/class pictures• Advertising media (magazines, newspaper)• Computer print-outs
The “art” of building communicative
competence has to do with the faith, the hope,
the belief, and the commitment to the right
of every individual to seek his or her full
potential.. Janice Light, 1996
Resources
• Light, Janice (1996). “Communication is the Essence of Human Life”:Reflections on Communicative Competence. Speech to 1996 ISAAC Conference.
• Blackstone, S. Life is not a dress rehearsal! Augmentative Communication News, 2(5), 1-2.
• Light, J. and Cathy Binger. (1998). Building Communicative Competence with Individuals Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication, Baltimore: Paul H. Brooks Publishing Co.
• Hodgdon, Linda, (1996). Visual Strategies for Improving Communication(Vol.. 1). Troy, Michigan: QuirkRoberts Publishing.