|
|
 |
Selecting Vocabulary for the Context-Dependent Communicator: The "Key-Word" Approach
1. Some
techniques discussed elsewhere:
Technique #1: Likes
and Dislikes Checklist.If you want more information about how to use
this form, please refer back to the more detailed discussion in the web-page
for Emerging Communicators, Technique # 1.
2. Techniques
that focus on this individual: Technique #5: Review Existing Vocabulary: This AAC user has already had some success with other vocabulary (or he or she would not be beyond the "emerging communication" stage). So, you must start with that very vocabulary. Take that vocabulary and have familiar partners and the AAC user decide what was useful and what was not. We often copy the books and boards and ask several team members in each environment to do the following:
Although this method is not perfect, it will give you some valuable information. The circled items will give you a great deal of important vocabulary that you must make available at least part of the time. Items that are crossed off by all partners will indicate vocabulary that may not be important to consider at this time. The exception, of course, would be emergency vocabulary that just has not been necessary to date. Items that have not been marked would indicate words or concepts that should be considered for inclusion. Technique #6: Participation Inventory: This method is similar to the environmental inventory, but concentrates instead on the activities that take place in these environments and writing down the steps in great detail. An observer then records whether the activities were performed independently or required cueing or assistance. The observer should note vocabulary that is required for the individual to complete each step as independently as possible. This technique yields vocabulary that will help an individual take on new responsibilities in tasks where s/he was entirely dependent before. For example, a teen-ager should be in control of his person and his belongings when he arrives at school. He needs vocabulary to direct others to take off his jacket and get his books out of his book bag, rather than sitting passively while others make assumptions about what he needs. Technique #7: Observation of Peers/Friends: In Technique #2 above, we talked about observing individuals to identify powerful vocabulary or utterances. This technique should also be used for individuals with "Dependent" communication, but in this case you should observe BOTH the AAC user AND a speaking peer. This means observing one or more speaking peers when they are doing activities that the AAC user is interested in doing. Ideally, you should select speakers who are friends of the AAC user because the vocabulary will be most similar. This process will provide a great deal of vocabulary you might not anticipate. Here is a form that we use for this type of observation: AAC Peer Observation Form. Feel free to print out this form for your own personal use with AAC clients. And here is an example of how that form might be filled out during an observation of circle time in a Kindergarten class: EXAMPLE of completed AAC Peer Observation Form You can see that this type of observation is likely to yield both predictable and unpredictable utterances that you should consider for the AAC user. Here are examples of the unexpected vocabulary we might have found from our observation.
Since this vocabulary comes from speaking peers, you will have to decide its relevance for this particular child, but it is potentially very important to the child's socialization. Check out another great tool that uses observation: ChalkTalk (Culp & Effinger, 1996)
Technique #8: Observe Adult Speech to AAC User: This method will surprise you. There will be many, many words that you use that are not available to the user. Some of these will be inappropriate because they are beyond his or her receptive level but many words will be vocabulary that are essential for this individual to have. Technique #9: Environmental Inventory: This technique involves asking informants to describe the environments that an AAC user spends time in. It is easy to list nouns in this way. But don't forget the associated adjectives, verbs, adverbs and other types of words that would be appropriate for that setting. You can see that you list the vocabulary that is necessary for each environment that the individual spends time in. Also this technique yields vocabulary that people can predict ahead of time, for example, months of the year and days of the week are necessary for Circle Time and vocabulary about craft supplies are necessary for Art Time. This method is good for capturing the predictable vocabulary but it must be supplemented with another method to capture unpredictable vocabulary, such as "Hey, cool!" or "I hate this!" Technique #10: Encourage Spelling of Novel Vocabulary: Our words change so fast that AAC users must learn early to convey concepts not in their seleciton set. This means trying to spell even the first letters of new words, such as the names of 'new toys' (e.g. "Furby" or " Pokemon") or new adjectives (e.g. cheesy) or new concepts (e.g. Humvee). Technique #11: Role Playing and Dialoguing: Many of the vocabulary collection methods listed above yield vocabulary that is specific to a particular activity. That vocabulary can then be organized into a script that can be used in role-playing. This technique subsequently yields even more vocabulary as the activity is played out. Beukelman & Mirenda cover this technique in depth in their textbook.
3.
Techniques that use "standard" vocabulary sets: Technique #12: Frequently Used Words and Phrases: The very best resource for vocabulary used by speakers of English is the website for The Barkley Augmentative and Alternative Communication Center. Click on this link and then select "Vocabulary" from the left menu bar (it may require scrolling down). You should then see "Core Vocabulary List: High Frequency Words" and a list that follows. Select the age group that interests you. Also check out the "Unabridged Vocabulary Lists" that follow this section. You should also see the following excellent resources:
Technique #13: Words and Phrases from other AAC Users: The Barkley Augmentative and Alternative Communication Center website is also the best resource for this information. Select "Vocabulary" from the left menu bar. Scroll down until you get to "AAC user" where you can select the age group that interests you. Also, check out "Vocabulary for School Settings" and the lists that follow. You might also consider these excellent resources:
Technique #14: Control Phrases from other AAC Users: These include phrases for the following purposes:
There is a great list of these control phrases at the website for the The Barkley Augmentative and Alternative Communication Center. After you select "Vocabulary" from the left menu bar, scroll down until you get to "Context Specific Messages." Technique #15: Download vocabulary sets from the Internet: There are a growing number of websites devoted to sharing vocabulary sets for particular devices or computer software. Typically, these sets are customized for an individual, so your team would have to edit the vocabulary carefully for the AAC user you serve. Here are just a few examples of sites that permit this sharing via the WWW:
Technique #16: Language Learning Vocabulary: This is the vocabulary that is part of the individual's goals for expressive communication. This would include vocabulary or structures that are just beyond the individual's current developmental level, but considered essential to their later independence with AAC. For example, a young child might be at the one-word level expressively, but understand two word combinations such as "mommy shoe" to indicate possession. He should retain access to the one-word items, e.g. "mine, yours, his, hers, etc." but he will also need exposure and practice with the words necessary for two-word utterances, such as "my, your, her" which must occur before a noun as in "my shoe." Similarly, he may be able to produce sentences with Subject + Verb (e.g. Mommy go") and need to learn some word endings (e.g. Mommy go+ing) or irregular verbs (e.g. Mommy went). He will need to have this vocabulary and the training to use it in order to express himself more accurately. The team should plan these transitions to a "generative" vocabulary together, with input from people who know the child well and from the SLP who knows the normal stages of language acquisition. Go on the next section about Generative Vocabularies
|
|
|
||
|
||
I. Vocabulary 
