1. science
2. social science
3. linguistics

4/30/2015
Additional content
LANGUAGE, LITERACY and
AAC
Finding a communication system that is…
………..right for today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow
Kind permission of
• Dr Martine Smith, Head, School of Linguistics,
Speech and Communication Sciences, Trinity
College, Dublin, Ireland
(David Beukelman et al, 1985, 1998, 2008)
Janice Murray, PhD,
Manchester Metropolitan University,
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Defining
‘literacy’
Overview – developmental perspective
Deconstructing symbol
communication & its
impact on language
development
• Defining the context
• Typical and atypical
language development
• Symbolized language
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Early literacy
communication
strategies and
activities
• Shared book reading
• Story telling
• Symbols
Generically: ‘the
ability to read and
write’
‘it includes the ability
to use language,
numbers, images and
other means to
understand and use
the dominant symbol
systems of a culture’
The key to all literacy is reading
development, begins with
 ability to understand spoken words and
 decode written words, and
 culminates in the deep understanding of
text.
Reading development involves a range of
complex language underpinnings including
 awareness of speech sounds
(phonology),
 spelling patterns (orthography),
 word meaning (semantics),
 grammar (syntax) and
 patterns of word formation
(morphology)
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Deconstructing symbol
communication & its impact
on language development
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WHO are we talking about?
Expressive
Supportive
Alternative
Defining the context
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Three groups of people using AAC
Supportive language group
Expected to develop speech
Learning disability, severe articulatory
disorders
Non-speech system to augment the
process of communication, promoting
language development through aiding
understanding and expressive skills
(von Tetzchner & Martinsen, 1992, 2000)
Expressive language group
good comprehension
typically motor impairment
AAC typically permanent to natural
speech supporting expressive output
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Who?
Alternative language group
Why is it important to consider WHO?
• Predictions of what is needed today,
tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow
• Aspirations in terms of language access,
knowledge, use and scaffold through to
literacy
• Activity: think about own children and identify
if they fit these ‘theoretical’ groups; do they
shift group? If so, why?
May have little understanding of speech
and language
Individuals with significant learning
disability, autism, etc
Non-speech system replaces speech for
most if not all purposes and supports
understanding and expressive skills
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Where are we thinking AAC communication takes place?
‘The road not taken’ by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth........
………..I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less travelled by,
And that made all the difference.
Where?
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Your task:
Where? ‘our language learning environments’
• Think of a child
• List daily scheduled routines
• List regular/unscheduled communication
opportunities
• List ‘Down times’
• Daily scheduled routines
• Unscheduled opportunities
• ‘down time’
• Planned
• Spontaneous and reactive
• Group versus individual
• Intentionality
• Communication roles? E.g. observer
• Communication strategies: aided/unaided/multimodal
• STOP before they venture into discussing WHAT is
communicated
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WHAT needs overt consideration in
the aided communicator?
Where does ‘where’ take us?
What we communicate
•
•
•
•
•
•
Language knowledge
Meaning
Organisation
Accessing
Understanding
Expressing
How we communicate it
What we communicate
• Modalities:
•
•
•
•
•
•
– Non/vocal
– visual
– speech
• Style:
– content
– form
– use
Language knowledge
Meaning
Organisation
Accessing
Understanding
Expressing
• What does typical
language development
look like?
• What impact is there in
atypical language
development?
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Language development:
typical and atypical
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Maya video – part two
Grammar
Semantics
Pragmatics
word order
concepts
purposes
word
structure
relationships
NVC
Grammar comments?
• Language skill
development
• Word to symbol
matching
Articulation
Phonology
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Semantic comments?
• Communication
opportunity
• Communication
experience
• Language to symbol
matching
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Having decided What aspects of
language need to be included…….
Symbolized language: the HOW
How will we represent it?
There once was a fisher named Fisher
Who fished for a fish in a fissure
But the fish with a grin
Pulled the fisherman in
Now they all fish the fissure for Fisher
• Challenges, challenges
• Options, options
• Decisions, decisions
Det var en gang en fisker ved navn Fisher
Han fisket etter fisk i en kløft
Men fisken den gliste
Og dro fiskeren inn
Så nå fisker alle etter Fisher i kløften
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Farao på ferie
I landet Miramarmora
var Farao på ferie
hos farmora og mormora.
En morgen klatret mormora
til Farao i furua,
og så begynte moroa.
Hva ler'u a'? sa farmora
Av mormora, den furia!
Hvor ser'u a? sa farmora
I furua! sa Farao
How do we represent language
through graphic communication?
Kom ned igjen! sa farmora
til mormora i furua
I morra, ja! sa mormora
til farmora til Farao
The Iconicity continuum
Du ser av vår historie
at det å dra på ferie
i landet Miramarmora
til farmora og mormora,
den furia i furua,
har Farao hatt morro av!
Morovers - Andrè Bjerke
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Aided Symbol Hierarchy
(Mirenda & Locke, 1989)
Symbol type
Degree of iconicity
Objects
Colour photographs
Black & White photographs
Miniature objects
Black &White line drawings
Stylised symbol system, e.g.
Blissymbolics
Traditional orthography
Most iconic
Least iconic
Schlosser et al , 2013, Harmon et al 2014: static and animated
symbols. Findings: animation does not always offer greater
learning and sense-making opportunity
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Apple
OR
Apple
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Some video examples:
The HOW: A formula for deconstructing symbolic elements:
Content
Form
Use
Ideas
Concepts
Construction
Flexibility
Visual
representation
Iconicity
Complexity
Purpose
Word classes
Organization
Retrieval
Meaning
relationships
• Content:
• Requesting….
• Form:
• Choose the best
sentence
• Use:
• Multi-modal
communication
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Literacy – story sharing and telling
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BLOOM & LAHEY, 1978
CONTENT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XUzTAH2c
o0
USE
FORM
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BLOOM & LAHEY, 1978
CONTENT
USE
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FORM
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IMPLICATIONS
BLOOM & LAHEY, 1978
•
•
•
•
CONTENT
USE
Children are learning multiple codes
Some of the learning challenges overlap
Some are unique to the codes
Children may have difficulty with the
‘common’ or the unique aspects of learning
• Literacy learning is a particular challenge
FORM
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• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9R5xfcrZv
U
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvEJEA4
mkA8
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SHARED STORYBOOK READING
Vocabulary
Language of
the story
• Significant impact on
children’s print
knowledge and oral
language
• Not so much on
analytic skills
Control
About print
Active participation
Print
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In print
Sentence structure
Language of stories
Language of
interaction
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SHARED BOOK READING
1.
2.
•
•
SHARED STORYBOOK READING
Increase the amount
Change the style of interaction
More intensive
More interactive
• Significant impact on children’s print knowledge and
oral language
• IN AAC: Significant impact on
children’s use of aided language1, 3,
aided language structure2,
vocabulary2-4 and narrative skills4,5
National Reading Panel, 2001
Bellon-Harn et al., 20081; Binger & Light, 20072; Kent-Walsh &
Binger, 20133; Soto & Dukhovny, 20084; Soto et al., 20075
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STORYBOOK READING & AAC
Increasing the amount: what to read
• ‘Important’ stories: content (culture, concepts
and vocabulary)
• Sound-based: repeated lines – participation;
sound patterns – phonological awareness
• Personal stories
……….
• Self selected, multiple repetitions
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The challenges
Change the interaction style
– Balanced discourse1,2
– Active participation2-4
– Multimodal challenges3
• Partner training strategies are effective4
• Changing interaction style yields learning
gains4-6
Light et al., 19941; Peeters et al., 20112; Bellon-Harn et al, 20083; Binger & Kent-Walsh4;
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Soto et al., 20075; Soto et al, 20086
Where will symbols fit in?
• Physical
• What role is most suitable?
– Interaction: ‘balanced discourse’
• About the process (my turn, turn the page, read it
again…)
• About the story (e.g., questions, ending, repeated line)
• Linguistic: vocabulary and sentence structure
– Story related
• Vocabulary
• Sentence structure (commenting, cloze, carrier
phrase…)
• Communication: interaction
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Symbolisation to support vocabulary
An example:
Smith, M,M (in press) Supporting vocabulary
development in children who use Augmentative
and Alternative Communication (AAC). Journal
of Speech Language Hearing Association Taiwan
• Identify the target vocabulary
– Core
– Fringe
– Developmental
• Receptive or expressive?
• Availability of vocabulary
- A story book reading activity with a group of
children who used aided communication
– Model, guided practice, independent use
– Prime, practice and review
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Learning new words
For example…
• Phonological task
– Extract
– Identify boundaries
– Hold in STM>WM
• Conceptual task
– Likely meaning and use (grammatical role)
– Keep in Working Memory
• Store both form and function
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Have you seen Elvis?
The WHAT: Selecting targets
•
•
•
•
List of 22 potential targets
Teachers and therapists rank order of priority
10 for direct attention
Scored each word for
– Communicative value Spelling pattern value
– Language importance Sight word value
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Ranking words
Vocabulary choices
• Communicative ‘power’: enough, away
• Language structure: where, have you seen, -ed
(looked, asked)
• Sight word: you, him, have, where
• Spelling: look, fight
• Mapping onto aided system: symbols or
words?
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Key Words can be:
Norsk
Tre
Bukk/bukker (goat/goats)
Seters
Fete
Bro
Foss
Over
Under
Troll
Liten
Mellomst
Stor
Stemme
Vent
Ikke
Hvem
Skrike
Stille
Ta
Kom
Øyne
Nese
På
De tre bukkene Bruse som skulle gå til seters og gjøre seg fete
Three Billy Goats Gruff that would go to the mountain and make them
fat
Det var engang tre bukker som skulle gå til seters og gjøre seg fete, og alle tre så hette de Bukken Bruse. På veien var det en bro over en
foss, som de skulle over, og under den broen bodde et stort, fælt troll, med øyne som tinntallerkener, og nese så lang som et riveskaft.
Først så kom den yngste Bukken Bruse og skulle over broen.
Tripp trapp, tripp trapp, sa det i broen.
"Hvem er det som tripper på mi bru?" skrek trollet.
"Å, det er den minste Bukken Bruse; jeg skal til seters og gjøre meg fet," sa bukken, den var så fin i målet.
"Nå kommer jeg og tar deg," sa trollet.
"Å nei, ta ikke meg, for jeg er så liten jeg; bi bare litt, så kommer den mellomste Bukken Bruse, han er mye større."
"Ja nok," sa trollet.
Om en liten stund så kom den mellomste Bukken Bruse og skulle over broen.
Tripp trapp, tripp trapp, tripp trapp, sa det i broen.
"Hvem er det som tripper på mi bru?" skrek trollet.
"Å, det er den mellomste Bukken Bruse, som skal til seters og gjøre seg fet," sa bukken; den var ikke fin i målet, den.
"Nå kommer jeg og tar deg," sa trollet.
"Å nei, ta ikke meg, men bi litt, så kommer den store Bukken Bruse, han er mye, mye større."
"Ja nok da," sa trollet.
Rett som det var, så kom den store Bukken Bruse.
Tripp trapp, tripp trapp, tripp trapp, sa det i broen; den var så tung at broen både knaket og braket under den!
"Hvem er det som tramper på mi bru?" skrek trollet.
"Det er den store Bukken Bruse," sa bukken, den var så grov i målet.
"Nå kommer jeg og tar deg," skrek trollet.
"Ja, kom du! Jeg har to spjut, med dem skal jeg stinge dine øyne ut! Jeg har to store kampestene, med dem skal jeg knuse både marg og
bene!"
sa bukken. Og så røk den på trollet og stakk ut øynene på ham, slo sund både marg og ben, og stanget ham utfor fossen; og så gikk den til
seters. Der ble bukkene så fete, så fete at de nesten ikke orket å gå hjem igjen, og er ikke fettet gått av dem, så er de det ennå.
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Og snipp snapp snute, her er det eventyret ute.
Engelsk
Three
Goat/goats
Mountain (kind of)
Fat
Bridge
Waterfall
Over
Under
Troll
Little
Middle
Big
Voice
Wait
Not/Don’t
Who
Yell/Shout
Quiet
Take
Come
Eyes
Nose
On
Communicative ‘power’, language structure, sight word, spelling
And finally…..Partner strategies in coconstruction
Elvis targets language structure
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Prime Vocabulary
Retelling the story
Identifying missing elements
Interactive discussions using target forms
“have you seen…?” “where is…?”
• Generative narratives, editing and re-telling
• Concept development (I’ve had enough)
• Question forms (where, have you…)
Modelling
Topic extension
Topic switching
Expansion
Asking questions:
closed or open
• Prompting
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•
•
•
•
•
•
Glossing
Drilling
Repetition
Clarification
Persistence
Drilling and practice
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