Project: Create a Visual Schedule (that includes Maya's AAC symbol language) is completed! Finally. And it looks pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. Check it out: Again, I made the visual schedule to support Maya's interests. She's into knowing what's going to happen next (we've made schedule on wipe-off boards when she's upset about stopping an activity to show her that we have to do a-b-c, and then you can play with the bus again). However, even if your child isn't super into schedules, I've seen a lot of stuff online (and heard from therapists) that schedules can be beneficial to have on hand and refer to. (But don't take my word for it, feel free to talk to your own therapy folks and see what they think.) Here's a step-by-step guide on how to recreate this visual schedule: Note: I built this schedule horizontally (instead of vertically) to support pre-reading skills. We read from left to right, and it's nice to expose little ones to this idea. 1. Setting up the background: I got the idea to use a frame as a schedule background from a blog reader, and I loved it! Prior to seeing her frame I was going to just stick velcro on the wall, but the frame makes it look so nice and finished. I used a 12" x 36" frame. For the background I picked up a yard of fabric at the craft store (actually, Maya picked it---see the alligators?) and just folded it inside the frame. Fabric was easy to put in and will be easy to switch out when we move on from alligators. I put two rows of velcro onto the glass. I left some extra space at the bottom (you'll see why when you scroll down). Helpful hint: Attach some word cards to the velcro before sticking the velcro on the frame---that way your velcro strips will be placed far enough apart to accomodate the word cards. 2. Making the word cards: Since Maya doesn't read yet, her word cards include pictures and printed text. If your child uses (or will use) PECs or an AAC app/device, it's best to use the symbol language of that system as your pictures. (Maya uses Speak for Yourself, and so we use the Smarty Symbols that are found in that app.) In Maya's app each word is represented by a sequence of two pictures, and that's why each word card has two pictures. (You can read a bit more about that here.) The general steps for making our word cards went like this: print images, cut out images, tape them onto index card, print word at the bottom, laminate the index card, cut it out, attach velcro to the back. Time consuming, but in a channel-your-inner-middle-schooler, arts-and-crafty sort of way. Helpful hint: Use small pieces of velcro. If you use larger pieces, they become challenging to unstick, especially for kids with any muscle weakness. Also, small pieces ensures that your child won't pull hard enough to rip the velcro strip from the wall, or crack the glass in a frame. 3. What to do about word storage? When you make a schedule you're going to end up with a lot of words that aren't in use at any given time (at the bottom of this post I'm including a list of all the words that I've made so far). I puzzled over what to do with these not-in-use words. Poking around online, I found that many people kept their spare words in a binder with velcro pages (very similar to the Word Book). I didn't love this idea, because I wasn't sure where I would keep the big binder. Since our word cards are 3x5 index cards, I also thought about buying index card boxes----but again, where would they be stored? Dave came up with the magical solution: binder rings. I love binder rings---they're easy to open and close, so we can pop the cards off the ring to lay out choices for Maya, but clean up would be easy as well. So I punched holes in the sides of the word cards and sorted them into a few separate piles. This ring holds the cards for places that we go. Binder rings make storage really easy. I bought some of those adhesive hooks at the drugstore and hung them next to the schedule. 4. When the cards are done: As we move through the day Maya will be able to pull the completed cards off of the schedule and put them away. I wasn't sure what to use for a "done" area until Maya's speech therapist suggested using a folder-brilliant! I cut the bottom off of a folder, cut down a bit to make the pocket more shallow, covered the edges with tape (in a bid to prevent paper cuts), and added two small pieces of velcro to the back: Again, small piece of velcro on the folder and a large strip on the frame. When words are done, they go into the pocket. Ta-da! And so the schedule project is mostly done. I say mostly because I'm 100% sure that over the next week or so I'll realize how many words I forgot to make and be slowly churning them out. Here are the words that we started with: Go-to daily words: breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, ready (get ready for school), bus (to school), school, bus (from school), home, bedtime Places we go: park, playground, library, museum, zoo, dog park, grocery store Stuff we do at home: toys, paint, color, dollhouse, read, draw, puzzle, play dough, chalk, play kitchen, choice time Miscellaneous words: therapist's names, learning time, mouth exercises, bath (Note: There aren't a lot of details in the morning and evening routines because I'm planning on making a little morning checklist and a little night checklist.)
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Nearly a year ago, I wrote about Maya's great love of characters. At the time she was fairly determined to learn the name of every cartoon character under the sun, and to have them all added to Mini (her talker). (You can see that post here.) Soon after that blog post, I found the old game Guess Who at a thrift store and grabbed it. I didn't totally remember how the game worked, but I know that it's a favorite among SLPs and teachers because it can be used to practice labeling with adjectives, discussing characteristics, and asking questions. I knew that Guess Who would be most compelling for Maya if the human faces were replaced with some of her beloved characters . . . and so that's what we did. It took a little fiddling to get the dimensions right, but eventually they were perfect. The document containing all of the characters above can be downloaded here . . . and if you don't like those characters, feel free to use the grid and just add pictures for your preferred people! Hint: Print this on cardstock so that you can easily slide the characters in and out. Oddly, it's taken a year to post this---I have no idea why I didn't put it up when it was first created (I think that maybe I shared it on my Facebook page and forgot to write something here?). I only noticed today because I scrolled back through my blog to find the printable sheet (we needed some replacement tiles) and realized that somehow I never put it up. In case you're curious, this is what Maya's character page looks like today: And we've got a new one growing, too: (we also have Disney princesses, but they started out on a separate page) For what it's worth, we still walk the line of figuring out when to add every-single-new-character she encounters, and when to wait a bit. But these pages sure are invaluable when she wants to chat with new kids in a waiting room or other similar situations. I imagine she uses it with her friends at school, too. Kids need the vocabulary of other kids, even when that vocabulary includes hoards of cartoon characters :)
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Disclaimer #1: I am not a doctor. This is my best estimation of pediatric audiology 101. I had it checked by an audiologist, so that I don't grossly mislead you, but I don't profess to be a hearing expert. Disclaimer #2: I am also not a real blogger. I wrote this in Word, and it took me a few days to get it as simple as possible, but I had font issues with copying & pasting it. Sorry that some parts have abrupt font changes. I don't know enough html coding to fix it. Over the past few weeks, I’ve learned a lot about ears, hearing, and data analysis. Now I’m going to share it all, so saddle up for some scientific good times J The Ear First things first, here’s a brief education in Pediatric Audiology. I present to you: the ear. As you can see, the ear has three zones---outer, middle, and inner. Sound waves travel into the outer ear and cause the ear drum to vibrate, which causes the “three ear bones” to vibrate. Those vibrations then travel through the cohlea (the snail-shaped thing in the inner ear) and the cells in the cochlea send information through the auditory nerve to the brain, which tells you what you are hearing. There are 2 families of causes of hearing loss. The first is conductive, meaning that the sound does not get properly "conducted" from the outer ear all the way to the nerve in the back of the ear system, due to a myriad of issues that could arise anywhere along the pathway. (This is common in children who might have fluid in the middle ear, ear infections, etc). The second source of hearing loss is sensorineural, meaning the the sound can be conducted through the system properly, but there is a disruption along the neural pathway. Since Maya had clean, properly fitted, functioning ear tubes (which were checked immediately prior to the ABR), we are expecting her loss to be sensorineural and *not* conductive. Additional tests that will be done on July 5 will (hopefully) rule out a conductive component. (It’s possible that there could be a combination of sensorineural and conductive components, but that will likely leave me with more questions, so I’m hoping that things will be simple. Ha ha ha.) So that’s the anatomical side of hearing loss. Now, let’s look at some data. (Note: the data that I am about to show you is not Maya’s. It is made up. Although I share a lot, I don’t feel right about sharing her medical data---that should be her choice. When I asked her if I could post her data online, she was noncommittal. So I made up some data and my super audiologist friend created this audiogram based on it, for illustrative purposes). The Audiogram I present to you: an audiogram. The numbers across the top, from 125 to 8000, represent pitch (or Frequency) of sound, going from low pitches (left) to very high pitches (right). The numbers along the side, from -10 to 120, represent hearing level in Decibels, going from very soft sounds (at the top) to very loud sounds (towards the bottom). The goal of hearing testing is to figure out the softest level that a child can detect each of the different pitches (so if your data line was right up near the top, you would have great hearing . . . if you were at the bottom, profound hearing loss.) Here’s the same audiogram with some color coding to make it easier to see the zones. The green zone is where children with “normal” hearing would show up. Yellow is “mild hearing loss.” Red is “moderate hearing loss”. The lines represent the child’s approximate hearing (X= her left ear, O= her right ear). So the quietest sound this child can hear would be around 40 decibels, while the quietest sound that children with normal hearing could hear would be anywhere between 20 (for some kids) and -10 (for the supersonic hearing kids) decibels. You can see on the audiogram that this child has mild hearing loss in the mid-frequencies (1000 Hz) and moderate loss as the frequencies increase (2000-4000Hz). The other color-coded zone on the audiogram is that blue/grey “speech banana”. The speech banana is represents the volumes and pitches of average conversational speech (if you want to get more technical, it represents the average conversational pitches and volumes of 2 people with normal hearing talking at about 5-7 feet apart). Here, the child’s hearing thresholds are within the speech banana. That suggests that she has access to the sounds necessary to develop spoken language. A child with this type of hearing loss could still responds well when spoken to, even from another room, like Maya does. However, this speech may sound much softer to her, and if there is background noise it would become difficult for her to hear and understand conversational speech. But here’s what’s really interesting. Maya’s hearing loss follows a loosely similar pattern to this made-up data, in that her hearing loss is slightly more pronounced at high frequencies. When we heard that her impairment was more significant at higher pitches, we thought “Well, what’s high pitched? Dog whistles, microwaves beeping?” What we didn’t know what that every speech sound has its own frequency. Check out the letters on the audiogram . . . you can see that the j-m-d sounds are low pitched, p-h-g are in the middle, and f-s-th are high pitched. The configuration of this child’s hearing loss would suggest that she's getting the high frequency consonants f,s, th, etc. inconsistently, or missing them entirely. So, even a child with mild hearing loss can have speech issues, because they just can't hear certain letters. (That might be an overenthusiatic use of bold/underlining, but it was a big lightbulb moment to me.) The letters in the 1000-2000 range would probably be inconsistent or unclear as well. And why is there no data below 1000 Hz? That’s because the background noise in the operating room makes it impossible to test low frequency sounds. (And this is why more testing is usually necessary after a sedated ABR, to gather data on the lower frequencies and to check on that whole conduction thing I mentioned before). So, Back to Maya We’ve always thought that Maya could hear well, because of her responses (“What does an H say?” “Hhhhhaa”). However, our apartment doesn’t have a lot of background noise (like school will) and kids with hearing impairment are apparently highly adaptable and skilled at compensating. The knowledge that she is hearing impaired is certainly making us re-think the times when she “stops paying attention.” Did she just decide to suddenly ignore us, or is it that she just couldn’t hear/understand the last set of directions? I’m also rethinking some of her oral-motor issues. If I say, “Maya, say ‘dada’” and she replies “Baba!” is that because she couldn’t get her mouth organized enough to say “dada” or because she misheard me? Who knows. But you can bet your bottom dollar that I’ll be taking some good before-hearing-aids/after-hearing-aids observations and videos for comparison’s sake. The Take-Home Message I’ve done a lot of reflecting on the roles of parents, doctors, and various clinicians in diagnosing hearing loss. Especially in terms of the advocacy, vigilance, and thoroughness that all of the players have to bring to the table. If I had to sum it all up in one sentence, I would say this: “If at first you don’t succeed (in getting clear audiological data), try, try again.” Also applicable, the good old “When you assume (that your child hears normally because she understands and responds to you most of the time) you make an ass out of u and me." (Well, not me. Just you.) Jokes aside, the big picture thing that I’ve learned is that hearing loss can be very tricky, because young kids are highly adaptable and learn to how to work around their weaknesses. So, if you have a child with speech delays, do your best to get clear audiological data. Even if you think that your kid can hear. Really! I almost cancelled the ABR when I realized a few days beforehand that I can stand in the kitchen and say “What does a ‘B’ say?” and Maya can respond from the living room “Ba!”. I thought, surely, if she can hear that I said B (instead of D or P) from a room away, without seeing my lips move, then her hearing must be fine. But it’s not. Make sure that you are working with an ENT that you trust, and explore the possibility of hearing impairment. Every time our ENT said “Oh, has it been 6 months? Let’s get her in for the behavioral hearing eval again.” I would roll my eyes and dread the appointment---which typically ended with a breakdown (on Maya’s part) and frustration (at spending our time in another appointment that yielded not much information). But thank goodness we all stuck with it.
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from the smart people at www.praacticalAAC.org Perception Maya loses her balance and falls regularly. She walks the way a bowling ball rolls down a lane with bumpers---diagonally, occasionally veering into a wall and bouncing back to continue crookedly the other way. She seems unaware that her mouth often hangs open, which leads to drooling issues. She often has a hand or fingers in her mouth. When you speak to her, she may or may not look at you, or in your direction. If you talk to her when she is involved with something else it’s quite possible that she won’t even look up, and you’ll wonder if she’s hearing, or able to process, anything that you’re saying. She may or may not answer yes/no questions reliably (favoring “yeah”) and so when you speak to her you wonder if she’s able to understand what you’re saying or just answering automatically. You may know her (alleged, per her mom) favorite topics, and try to engage her in conversation, only to be met with blank, open-mouthed silence. You may have heard that she can (allegedly, per her mom) use a fancy communication device, and you turn it on (thinking “this is way too complicated, with far too many buttons”) and put it in front of her and she looks away, and you say “tell me something with your talker” and she stares at you or slumps in her chair and smiles, teetering too close to the edge and looking sure to fall. ----------- When Maya is excited, she can move with speed that I never would have imagined a few years ago. I hold my breath when she runs, each unsteady step seeming sure to lead to a vicious fall, but I am impressed with the way that she usually manages to steady herself. The surge in speaking that has happened over the past 10 months tells me that she’s starting to coordinate her mouth muscles in new, wonderful ways. Maya is clever and surprisingly funny. She likes to laugh and to make people laugh and will tell “jokes” that are only funny to preschoolers (like telling us that it’s rainy on a sunny day, or telling us that she wants an alligator for dinner---each followed by a cackle). She is creative, pretending that she’s taking her dolls for a walk not to the grocery store or the doctors, but to the amusement park where they all ride roller coasters. She has a memory that consistently surprises me (if I tell her before school that she can have a cookie after school, you better believe that her first words off the bus in the afternoon are “cookie, please”). I wish I knew how her brain processes things----all too often I see her focused on something so intently that I’m nearly sure she can’t hear me at all, only to have her suddenly turn and answer my question a minute or two later . . . as if I were rudely interrupting earlier and now that I’ve given her some space she’ll comply and answer my question. She has reminded me about numerous appointments that I would have forgotten (“Monday! Speech therapy!”). She is a master manipulator, and has learned to avoid questions and demands by creating a situation that requires the adult to abandon their request and responded to her instead----like threatening to drop something important, or dangling off furniture so that she needs to be repositioned, or putting her head down and acting as if she’s so tired that she couldn’t possibly continue. She keeps us on our toes. Perception drives expectation When Maya was two and a half she was evaluated by the preschool section of the DOE (among other things, these evaluations determine whether children have impairments significant enough to qualify for a center-based preschool, where all therapies would be provided on site). Her scores qualified her for services across all domains (speech, physical therapy, etc) but one number stood out: her cognitive functioning was in the 0.04th percentile for her age. This meant that out of all 2.5 year olds, Maya was in the lowest half of a percent, cognitively speaking. Based on the data from these evaluations, it seemed that Maya was severely, severely impaired . . . a reader of these reports could expect a child that was close to vegetative. Unable to walk, unable to speak, with almost no receptive language (about 2 words), leaving her unable to understand anything said to her. The lowest of the low. She needed a therapeutic preschool, where they will hopefully be able to make some kind, any kind, of progress. ----------- When Maya was two and a half she was evaluated by the preschool section of the DOE, strangers who arrived with a flourish, loudly asked many questions, and then disappeared. She was shy, and her responses ranged from nervous to puzzled to noncompliant. The woman who would go on to determine her “cognitive functioning” was late, unengaging, and, well, not very good. The results come in the mail a month later, and while it’s never fun to get crappy test results, we see them for what they are (biased, ridiculous, a means to an end and nothing more). Maya is signing, making animal sounds, playing in an imaginative way (little animals go in the barn, little people sit in chairs for a pretend birthday party, etc), and shows clear understanding of a million little things all day long. She’s got preferences and opinions, and she is determined. She needs to go to a therapeutic preschool, where they will hopefully be able to recognize her amazing potential, and have the skills to work with a child with a sharp brain but an uncooperative body, to help her gain movement, knowledge, and the ability to communicate what’s going on in her head. Expectation drives opportunity Before Maya met her preschool teacher, the teacher had already met Maya. Although we didn’t have the concise, powerful sound bite that “expectation drives opportunity,” we had that understanding (Dave and I were both teachers, and we watched students rise to high expectations year after year) and we were certain to help Maya’s staff set the bar high for her. Prior to the first day of school, they received a packet of information about her, and video clips that showed some of her skills and translated her signs. We had already exchanged emails about her, and the main messages were “don’t let her trick you into thinking she doesn’t understand you---she always does” and “push her---she will keep impressing you if you keep pushing her.” Maya had been assigned to the smallest class, the class of kids who are, by and large, the neediest of the school (that’s where those evaluations put her, and it turned out to be fortuitous, because the staff in that room was fantastic). Her teacher saw the strengths in all of the kids, and pushed. When she showed me ideas for a communication board, we ran with it at home, and turned it into a word book. The teacher embraced the word book and then supported our quest for assistive tech, despite never before having used a full, dynamic communication system in the classroom. ----------- When the assistive tech evaluator (L) met Maya, she didn’t expect much at all. L assigned her a low tech device, despite our insistence (and Maya’s demonstration) that she needed so much more. L said “I only give these devices to students who can show me during the course of the evaluation that they are able to use it to make sentences.” This boggled my mind, as I couldn’t imagine preschoolers picking a system up so quickly---yet I was sure that Maya could do it eventually. “How old are the kids you typically give it to?” I asked, and she replied “9 or 10, usually. Some are a little younger.” ----------- We were not willing to let L’s expectations control Maya’s opportunities, and fortunately, Maya’s teacher agreed. She kept her expectations high (and we hoisted the bar up a giant notch when we came into school with a new, huge AAC app, set the iPad on the table, and said “Yeah, we’re sure she can do this.”) . . . and because of this, we laid resources in front of Maya and let her try it all. She had opportunities, particularly the opportunity to be pushed and supported into a large AAC system, that the majority of 3 year olds simply do not have (although I’d like to change that). Opportunity drives achievement L, the assistive tech evaluator who determined that Maya should only use a simple device, had a plan for Maya. She explained that we shouldn’t overwhelm her with a system that would be too big, or too complicated . . . it would only lead to frustration for Maya, who then might reject the system and cease trying to communicate with it at all. We should start small. Maya would have a device that gave her access to 32 words at a time, a number that was small and manageable. Because the teacher could create 8 sets of 32 words, she could have a set for art, a set for lunch, etc. It might take time, but over the next year Maya would learn how to access the words, possibly even achieving some success with creating simple phrases and sentences. ----------- We downloaded the big, full AAC app, and we had a plan for Maya. We would present words slowly, but (because of the very smart design of the app) she would always be able to touch a button that made every single word available to her. We would model as much as we could. We wouldn’t force anything, but we would become AAC users ourselves, immersing her in it, and we would leave the door open for her to follow us through (and maybe we would nudge her along a bit, too). Grammar, mistakes, times when she pushed the talker away, a favorite word pressed ad nauseam . . . none of it mattered if she would be able to say things that were on her mind. We so wanted to know what was on her mind. If we were painting, we wanted her to be able to say “grandpa” if she wanted to paint grandpa---not to be limited to a predetermined set of 32-words-that-someone-else-thinks-Maya-might-want-to-say-when-she’s-painting. We wanted her to have all of the words, to be able to choose her words at any moment, the same way that any other 3/4/5 year old speaking child can . . . and she did. She told us about the weather, she counted, she spelled her name. She told us her ideas about what we should do on a given afternoon, what we should eat for dinner, what song we should sing. She told us that she loved us, and who she played with at school, and that her ear hurt (it was an ear infection), and who she wanted to Skype with. She showed creativity, the ability to analyze information, the ability to make connections, (kind of impressive) memory, wittiness, kindness, and sarcasm. She could communicate, truly. Achievement drives perception In the fall, Maya will start kindergarten and leave the security of preschool behind. To find the classroom that will be the best possible fit for her next year (the most perceptive leading to the highest expectations and granting the greatest opportunities, so to speak) we have been assessed, evaluated, and interviewed within an inch of our lives. In recent months we were asked (by the DOE) to tour certain schools, and several requested that I bring Maya for the tour/interview. We toured the facilities, heard about class sizes, visited potential classrooms (with Maya wandering right into the middle of the action, of course). The school personnel had looked over her case, watched Maya boldly step into the classrooms, and smiled in a satisfied way that said yes-this-will-be-a-good-fit. Until we returned to their offices, and I put the talker in front of Maya, then ignored her and spoke with the other adults. It only takes a minute or two of ignoring before she starts speaking up (although if you try to interrogate her she can hold onto a stubborn silence for.ev.er.) . As she tapped out a full sentence to request a snack or a drink, I could see a flicker---“oh, wait a second . . . “---and as I gently led her into more creative territory (what do you want to do today, who should go with us, what do you think we’ll see there, hold on---what day is tomorrow, again?) the flicker grew, and they were wide-eyed, surprised by this quiet girl who had tricked them. And maybe (hopefully), surprised by their misassessment. And, in a mere minute, a huge perception shift. In the following minutes, the comments that Maya “was too advanced” and “wouldn’t be a good cognitive fit here” and “clearly needs to be somewhere where she will be challenged” and “is full of potential, wow!” In the space of only three minutes Maya’s achievement with AAC reshaped their perception of her as a learner which raised their expectations for her academic potential and offered her the opportunity to not be relegated to an ill-fitting, limiting classroom . . . In a month-ish, she’ll start in a new school, with a new staff and new classmates and not a single person that she knows. And so the cycle starts again . . . and I’ll be sending over a new packet . . . because I know that my girl isn’t easy to read, and I’m going to try to shape their perception, to show them Maya that I see---manipulative, sassy, stubborn, clever, and full of potential.
I am an overplanner. It's a characteristic which has generally served me well . . . I overpack (but am rarely unprepared), I'm an excellent troubleshooter (bring me a lesson plan and I'll show you the areas where things may unravel), and I'm a solidly good editor (just don't check this blog too carefully, since I often just think "eh, good enough" and run with it). So when we decided to try to help Maya switch from a full-sized iPad to a mini iPad and realized that she would need a keyguard (which doesn't exist), I was fairly sure that if I sat and thought about it for long enough, I would be able to create one. And not just create an eh, good enough one, but bang it out of the park on the first swing. (cue the laughter) Yeah, it didn't work . . . not initially, anyway. But I did learn a few things, create something decent on the second try, and figure out some tips and tricks that I think would be helpful to any parents/professionals who decide to do something similar on a tablet/phone/iPod. Background: Maya is using a full communication app called Speak for Yourself. Her talker is an original iPad in an iAdapter case, outfitted with a durable keyguard. The keyguard is a gamechanger for her----preventing a large number of mishits, allowing her to communicate rapidly and accurately. Here's the problem: the iPad + iAdapter are big. She's a little girl. It's challenging for her to carry the device, to set it up on a table, etc. As soon as I saw the mini iPad and mini iAdapter I knew they would be a much better fit for her----but there was a big problem. Due to the large number (120) of cells in the SFY app, there is just no way for any company to make a plastic keyguard for it---the strips of plastic would be slivers, bound to splinter off. We waited for a different keyguard to hit the market (sure that someone would design one) . . . but no luck (yet). Finally, I decided to see what I could figure out on my own, and this is the best that I've been able to do (so far). mini iPad/case (left), full sized iPad/case (right) What I used: screen protector (any old screen protector is just fine), Viva Decor Glass Effect Gel Pen (transparent color), pointy q-tips This glass effects pen was undoubtedly the perfect choice---it goes on slightly opaque, which allows you to see what you're doing. It dries clear, hard, and without heat . . . so you don't have to be concerned about heating the iPad screen, as you would if you were to use hot glue. It comes in a squeeze bottle and it's not challenging to make lines that vary from fairly thin to pretty thick. It's also very forgiving---easy to wipe up with a fingernail or pointy q-tip if you happen to make a mistake. (Or many mistakes. Not that I would know anything about that.) Important tip: If you're going to create a keyguard on a screen protector, you must do it after the screen protector has been applied, otherwise you won't be able to smooth out the air bubbles. First apply the screen protector, then you make the keyguard on top of the already applied screen protector. about to start This shows how the gel goes on opaque but dries clear. I had applied a second (wet) coat to the half on the left, while the right shows the first (clear, dry) coat. My Really-Well-Planned-First-Draft-In-Which-I-Made-3-Crucial-Mistakes Even thought this draft has a few key design flaws, I think the pictures do a good job of illustrating what the keyguard looks and feels like: The Stuff That I Messed Up Crucial Mistake #1: Think about every screen configuration, and account for it as best as you can. I tried to do this, but didn't fully succeed. Have a look: 1. If applicable, make sure to leave space open for the slide-to-unlock bar! (I remembered to do that!) 2. If your app contains a scroll-able pop-up screen that always pops up in a fixed location, leave a space open to make scrolling easier. (This is the word finder box in SFY, which always pops up in the upper left hand corner of the app and is scrollable). 3. Don't forget the keyboard! If your app has an in-app keyboard, take it into consideration. This is where things started to fall apart for us---with one layer of gel, the keyboard looked fine, so I stopped thinking about it. By my fourth (ever widening) layer, many of the keys were obstructed----you could still press them, but you couldn't see what letter you were pressing. Considering that literacy is so essential to AAC users (and, well, everyone) it's not very nice to obstruct the key labels. Here was the first draft. Oops: Good luck finding the P, the Y, the . . . well, about half the letters, actually. To correct this I had to get a little bit crazy. I ended up building something that slightly resembles a maze, with small openings to account for the letter labels. There was much squinting and muttering during this process. I did the easy, non-keyboard-involved part first: And then switched back and forth between the screens to figure out the gaps. I also took a screen shot of the keyguard screen and had it open on my laptop when I was working on the main screen, to make things a bit easier. *if you've got an eagle eye you may notice that the horizontal lines are slightly higher in this picture that in the original keyboard shot---the reason for that is coming up 4. Think outside the app---what about the main settings page for the iPad? Luckily since the gel is directly on the screen, if you accidentally cover a button that you need to push, you can just push on the gel and it will activate the button (that worked in the first draft picture below). However, if anyone else will need to do any programming or work controls on the device, you might want to keep things as clear, readable, and accessible as possible. First draft, not very accessible: Second try, with the "Enable Programming" row cleaned up: Crucial Mistake #2: If you need to obscure something, obscure pictures---not text. Literacy is the big goal---don't take the words away. In my first draft I tried to follow the lines between the buttons perfectly, but as I added (more aggressive) layers and the lines thickened, some of the text was obscured: (sigh) In the second draft I made the horizontal gel lines just slightly above the divide between the buttons. It's hardly noticeable that small amounts of the picture bottoms are missing. Crucial Mistake #3: Leave space for extra layers. And apply extra layers carefully. Don't get all the-first-one-went-on-so-thin-and-easy-that-I-can-put-this-next-one-on-more-thickly-and-save-time. The time you save in layer application won't seem so sweet when you've accidentally obscured text or buttons and realize you need to start over. What We've Ended Up With: I've corrected the mistakes above. It's helpful, but not amazing---Maya would still benefit from something that would prevent more mishits. (She hits buttons with her knuckles while she's reaching for something else with her pointer finger.) That being said, it's only been a week, and we're going to sit tight and see how much she's able to refine her movements and increase her accuracy. And I'm probably going to add a few more layers. Happy keyguarding :)
Thank you to the families who sent in pictures of their AAC users this week! (I didn't even manage to get a picture this week.) I have loved seeing, and sharing, photos of AAC users and their families/teachers/therapists. I am going to continue with the AAC Family posts throughout the year on the last Friday of each month---so feel free to email them my way ([email protected]) at any time. Without further ado . . . This is Charlie from Nottingham, UK, showing off his skills using his new Talker with the PODD app . . . even on horseback! This is Lily Grace, age 5, checking out the sea otters at the aquarium with her papa. Lily Grace uses a PODD book. This photo is a selfie of Alyssa Hillary (22), of Yes, That Too with laptop showing desktop and text to speech app. The speakers aren't really showing up (off to the side) but the set-up is a Windows 8 machine with eSpeak and Logitech speakers, for part-time AAC use by a graduate student and TA (that'd be Alyssa, taker of picture and person in the picture). Joshua, 5 years old, using Speak for Yourself. Hosea (4) using Speak for Yourself at a pumpkin patch in Florida. Mirabel, age 3, getting a treat after her audiology appointment. Two modes of communication . . . saying "donut" on the talker followed by signing "please" . . .one very clear request! (Which was promptly rewarded!) Lemmy in Virginia using SFY on his iPad! He's just starting out and still a bit excited (as you can see from that blurry hand haha). He's exploring babble with his mom. Lemmy has CVI, so his buttons are rainbow colored with high contrast black and white icons. Felix showing off his talker with its new red cover! Less than a year ago, Harry (now 3) used a 20 location PODD book to announce his mom's pregnancy on Facebook . . . and now he's using the 60 location PODD pageset on an iPad (on the Compass app) to chat while his newborn sister sleeps! (Congratulations on becoming a big brother, Harry!)
Sometimes the best way to get someone’s attention is to stop giving them yours. Have you ever heard that saying before? “Just ignore it!”
Although the phrases "communication breakdown" and "communication repair" may be new to you, the concept isn't. I guarantee you've experienc...
Although the phrases "communication breakdown" and "communication repair" may be new to you, the concept isn't. I guarantee you've experienced many of this situations, especially if you have children, or a spouse. A communication breakdown happens when there's a disconnect between the sender of a message (the speaker) and its receiver (the listener). cartoon source Think about how often this happens in daily life--even for adults with normal hearing and typical speech skills (the ability to speak loudly, to clearly articulate sounds, etc). Maybe I take special notice of my own communication breakdowns because I hate repeating myself----but it happens pretty often. Now imagine how often it would happen if you couldn't speak clearly. Listen to Maya speak in the video below. You may be able to guess what she's saying, but it's more likely that you won't. In the second loop of the video I provide context and captions---clues that serve to repair the breakdown, and everything becomes more clear. Maya's speaking life is more or less one big communication breakdown. I expect that this will shift, that as her articulation improves she will be more understood, but I also expect that the shift will happen slowly. Unfortunately, people are so eager to understand her speech, to validate and encouraging her speaking, that they often jump in, make assumptions, and kind of run her right over. She'll say "bug" and they'll reply "Bus? Yes, you rode a bus to school. Your bus is yellow, right? Do you like to ride the bus?" More unfortunately, when these breakdowns happen Maya tends to just stare blankly at her listener, or wanders away to something different. Rarely (very very rarely) does she take the initiative to stand her ground, to tell the listener they misunderstood, to try to get her point across. She doesn't try to repair the breakdown, she gives up. This isn't unexpected, really. It's taken her a long time to speak at all, and if she tries and it doesn't work . . . well, then what? She's got a limited repertoire of speech sounds, and it's hard to think on your feet and come up with another way to more clearly express something that you couldn't say the first time. More than that, communication partners speak quickly, change topics quickly, and move on quickly. Life doesn't pause while you try to come up with another way to say "bug." She also has had a lifetime's worth of experience of not being able to keep up verbally. Frankly, I'm consistently impressed at her dogged pursuit of speech, and the amazing proliferation of speech and sound attempts that have occurred over the past 2 years. And, while sometimes she can use her talker to clarify what she's saying, sometimes the word (or sentence) she was saying just isn't there---or maybe she doesn't think to switch from speech to AAC. And so, communication repair has become a huge target of ours. We are determined to empower her to become frustrated when people don't understand, to assert herself and say "No, that's wrong!", and then to draw on a variety of tools to help clarify and re-communicate her point. Step One: Provide the Tools I started by creating a page in Maya's talker (she uses the Speak for Yourself app) that can be easily used for communication repair. The ideas for the words and phrases on this page came from a variety of SLPs and AAC families, gathered primarily in a few FB groups. (A lot of these came from a great draft in the SFY user group.) If you're an AAC person, there are two things to note. First, this page uses a fair number of phrases and sentences. In general, I like having one button per word, but I think that in times of communication breakdown an AAC user should be able to protest/redirect very quickly. Second, I have maximized the motor planning of a SFY user by stacking the buttons in the same location as things that they are related to on the primary page. For example, the phrase "slow down" is located in the same area (right column, fourth button down) as the word "down" on the primary page. The information presented below, including the list of repair phrase and the color coding, can be downloaded and printed here. Here is a master list of the phrases included on this page--since the buttons can only hold a certain number of characters, it's difficult to guess what they all mean. (The word in parentheses shows which location the word is under, when they are related.) Top Row: I don’t understand (I) I understand. okay (OKAY) Ask me a yes or no question (ASK) Put that word in my talker. (PUT) I need help to find the word I want. (HELP) Second Row: You don’t understand (YOU) Do you understand? Are you listening to me? (ARE) What do you mean? (WHAT) I have no button for that. (NO) Third Row: Something from the past. Something from today. (TIME) Something in the future. I have a question. (HAVE) I give up. (UP) Fourth Row: That’s not what I said. (NOT) the opposite of Slow down. (DOWN) Fifth Row: It starts with I will spell it I will give you a clue (THINK) This person is a clue This place is a clue You aren’t close You’re getting closer You’re very close You got it! Start over Sixth Row: It rhymes with I changed my mind (KNOW) I’m talking about (TALK) That’s not right (RIGHT) I’ll tell you how close you are. Try to guess (TRY) Can you say it again? (AGAIN) Seventh Row: It sounds like This is frustrating (FEEL) Listen to me! (HEAR) I want to tell you something (TELL) A question An idea (SLEEP) A place (THAT) A thing (THIS) A person (FRIEND) An action (WALK) A feeling An event (WHICH) Bottom Row: It’s important It’s not important Never mind I need a new word (NEED) Wait! I have something to tell you. (STOP) Be patient with me (BE) The color coding is as follows: Orange= the most important buttons I want her to use (kind of assertive buttons) Blue = questions Bright yellow = strategies Greyish purple = hints Peach= things that I wanted to look like a clump White = everything else Step Two: Teach the skill This is clearly the more difficult step. How do we get her invested? We've learned that she is much more likely to use a new communication skill if she's had the opportunity to practice it . . . but it's difficult to practice repair. If you're the listener, it's hard to model how she should give clues (and sometimes it's hard to realize you've misunderstood in the first place). If you try to create fake misunderstanding scenarios, it's a gamble whether the AAC user will play along. And the idea has to be explained, too . . . "hey, if I don't understand you you should tell me to stop, ok?" Enter one of our awesome speech therapists, who created a fantastic social story to introduce the idea of communication repair. The book starts by giving voice to the frustration of a communication breakdown, then moves on to lay out the two important parts of communication repair: stop the listener and let them know a breakdown has occurred, then try to use other tools to relay your point. Here's what the book looks like: Maya wanted to be dancing in this picture :) The entire book can be downloaded here (as a PowerPoint file) and can be modified with your own photos or screenshots. The book was introduced featuring one strategy from her communication repair page, "It starts with . . . ". This is a great technique for Maya, and one that she used spontaneously in the past, but she never had a button to basically say "now I'm going to tell you the first letter." New pages will be added to the book as different strategies are introduced and practiced during speech sessions. I'm going to send a copy into school and have shared it with our other therapists, so that they know what we are working on and can be mindful of potential communication breakdown and our repair strategies. I hope that this page will help Maya become a more assertive communication partner. She has the right to be understood, and she has the right to say "Hey! You're not correct! Stop talking and listen to me!" Now it's our job to make sure that she has enough practice with it that it will jump to mind when a breakdown occurs, and that she feels like it's worth her time and effort to work through the repair process.
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I am an overplanner. It's a characteristic which has generally served me well . . . I overpack (but am rarely unprepared), I'm an excellent troubleshooter (bring me a lesson plan and I'll show you the areas where things may unravel), and I'm a solidly good editor (just don't check this blog too carefully, since I often just think "eh, good enough" and run with it). So when we decided to try to help Maya switch from a full-sized iPad to a mini iPad and realized that she would need a keyguard (which doesn't exist), I was fairly sure that if I sat and thought about it for long enough, I would be able to create one. And not just create an eh, good enough one, but bang it out of the park on the first swing. (cue the laughter) Yeah, it didn't work . . . not initially, anyway. But I did learn a few things, create something decent on the second try, and figure out some tips and tricks that I think would be helpful to any parents/professionals who decide to do something similar on a tablet/phone/iPod. Background: Maya is using a full communication app called Speak for Yourself. Her talker is an original iPad in an iAdapter case, outfitted with a durable keyguard. The keyguard is a gamechanger for her----preventing a large number of mishits, allowing her to communicate rapidly and accurately. Here's the problem: the iPad + iAdapter are big. She's a little girl. It's challenging for her to carry the device, to set it up on a table, etc. As soon as I saw the mini iPad and mini iAdapter I knew they would be a much better fit for her----but there was a big problem. Due to the large number (120) of cells in the SFY app, there is just no way for any company to make a plastic keyguard for it---the strips of plastic would be slivers, bound to splinter off. We waited for a different keyguard to hit the market (sure that someone would design one) . . . but no luck (yet). Finally, I decided to see what I could figure out on my own, and this is the best that I've been able to do (so far). mini iPad/case (left), full sized iPad/case (right) What I used: screen protector (any old screen protector is just fine), Viva Decor Glass Effect Gel Pen (transparent color), pointy q-tips This glass effects pen was undoubtedly the perfect choice---it goes on slightly opaque, which allows you to see what you're doing. It dries clear, hard, and without heat . . . so you don't have to be concerned about heating the iPad screen, as you would if you were to use hot glue. It comes in a squeeze bottle and it's not challenging to make lines that vary from fairly thin to pretty thick. It's also very forgiving---easy to wipe up with a fingernail or pointy q-tip if you happen to make a mistake. (Or many mistakes. Not that I would know anything about that.) Important tip: If you're going to create a keyguard on a screen protector, you must do it after the screen protector has been applied, otherwise you won't be able to smooth out the air bubbles. First apply the screen protector, then you make the keyguard on top of the already applied screen protector. about to start This shows how the gel goes on opaque but dries clear. I had applied a second (wet) coat to the half on the left, while the right shows the first (clear, dry) coat. My Really-Well-Planned-First-Draft-In-Which-I-Made-3-Crucial-Mistakes Even thought this draft has a few key design flaws, I think the pictures do a good job of illustrating what the keyguard looks and feels like: The Stuff That I Messed Up Crucial Mistake #1: Think about every screen configuration, and account for it as best as you can. I tried to do this, but didn't fully succeed. Have a look: 1. If applicable, make sure to leave space open for the slide-to-unlock bar! (I remembered to do that!) 2. If your app contains a scroll-able pop-up screen that always pops up in a fixed location, leave a space open to make scrolling easier. (This is the word finder box in SFY, which always pops up in the upper left hand corner of the app and is scrollable). 3. Don't forget the keyboard! If your app has an in-app keyboard, take it into consideration. This is where things started to fall apart for us---with one layer of gel, the keyboard looked fine, so I stopped thinking about it. By my fourth (ever widening) layer, many of the keys were obstructed----you could still press them, but you couldn't see what letter you were pressing. Considering that literacy is so essential to AAC users (and, well, everyone) it's not very nice to obstruct the key labels. Here was the first draft. Oops: Good luck finding the P, the Y, the . . . well, about half the letters, actually. To correct this I had to get a little bit crazy. I ended up building something that slightly resembles a maze, with small openings to account for the letter labels. There was much squinting and muttering during this process. I did the easy, non-keyboard-involved part first: And then switched back and forth between the screens to figure out the gaps. I also took a screen shot of the keyguard screen and had it open on my laptop when I was working on the main screen, to make things a bit easier. *if you've got an eagle eye you may notice that the horizontal lines are slightly higher in this picture that in the original keyboard shot---the reason for that is coming up 4. Think outside the app---what about the main settings page for the iPad? Luckily since the gel is directly on the screen, if you accidentally cover a button that you need to push, you can just push on the gel and it will activate the button (that worked in the first draft picture below). However, if anyone else will need to do any programming or work controls on the device, you might want to keep things as clear, readable, and accessible as possible. First draft, not very accessible: Second try, with the "Enable Programming" row cleaned up: Crucial Mistake #2: If you need to obscure something, obscure pictures---not text. Literacy is the big goal---don't take the words away. In my first draft I tried to follow the lines between the buttons perfectly, but as I added (more aggressive) layers and the lines thickened, some of the text was obscured: (sigh) In the second draft I made the horizontal gel lines just slightly above the divide between the buttons. It's hardly noticeable that small amounts of the picture bottoms are missing. Crucial Mistake #3: Leave space for extra layers. And apply extra layers carefully. Don't get all the-first-one-went-on-so-thin-and-easy-that-I-can-put-this-next-one-on-more-thickly-and-save-time. The time you save in layer application won't seem so sweet when you've accidentally obscured text or buttons and realize you need to start over. What We've Ended Up With: I've corrected the mistakes above. It's helpful, but not amazing---Maya would still benefit from something that would prevent more mishits. (She hits buttons with her knuckles while she's reaching for something else with her pointer finger.) That being said, it's only been a week, and we're going to sit tight and see how much she's able to refine her movements and increase her accuracy. And I'm probably going to add a few more layers. Happy keyguarding :)
A few weeks ago, Maya accurately (and surprisingly) used the word "cubicle" during speech therapy. There was a character hiding in a poster, and the expectation was that she would say "behind the desk" . . . but instead she said (via Mini, her talker) "behind cubicle." It seemed too specific to be accidental (she has several thousand words in her device, and she picked cubicle) . . . but no one could remember even teaching her the word cubicle. Some probing the next day revealed that, oh yes, it was a deliberate selection (that story is here). When a 6 year old who can't speak correctly uses the word cubicle, adults pay attention. When an AAC user uses sophisticated, appropriate vocabulary, it is a strong reminder that not being able to speak isn't indicative of decreased cognitive functioning. Sometimes, the best way that we can help the AAC users in our lives (whether they are your family members or children on your caseload) advocate for themselves is to make sure that they have a robust, colorful, extensive vocabulary. And there are at least three important reasons for this, as far as I can tell: 1. It's more motivating to use exciting words. Maya wasn't motivated to talk about which items were big and which were small when presented with a field of items . . . but she was interested in jumping in when we added giant, huge, enormous, tiny, and some others. 2. A large vocabulary provides the user with a better likelihood of being able to say exactly what they want to say. A young AAC user could see a school bus drive by and think "That bus shines like the golden sun, roars like a lion, and speeds by like a racecar" . . . but without a large vocabulary, he may only be able to say "Bus yellow loud fast." (And honestly, I'm not sure I would even try to share my complicated thoughts if I could only produce "bus yellow loud fast.") 3. As mentioned above, communication partners are influenced by what they hear. If an AAC user is relegated to only using simple words, then their thoughts sound simple, no matter how amazing they might actually be. If teachers, therapists, and family are only hearing simple words, there is a subconscious lowering of the bar. A child who can say gigantic instead of big sounds like someone who needs more words, more opportunities, more conversation. It's a cycle, right? If an AAC user is given a lot of words, they can use a lot of words, which causes others to raise their expectations and presume competence . . . and then those communication partners will program more words. The more I thought about this cycle, the more it felt exactly like one of those "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" children's books . . . so I made an AAC themed book that follows that pattern. If you're interested in printing and sharing, it can be downloaded here. (click to enlarge pictures) For another great story about presuming competence and programming exciting words, check this out. If you're interested in thesaurus style printable books to teach some interesting synonyms, this blogger has created some (one is free, the rest are for sale). If you have time to create some of your own, all you need is some time with thesaurus.com and some clipart. (And if you do that, please email them to me! Not kidding.)
As easy as it is to activate a capacitative touch screen sometimes that ease can make it difficult, causing accidental hits or activation for individuals or students who have difficulty with finger…
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Over the past week I've gotten a few inquires about Maya's iPad case, so I thought it would be best to do a review here. (As usual, I am not affiliated with this company. They don't even know that I exist.) The Basic Info Maya's iPad is in a case by AMDi called the iAdapter. (She uses an iPad1, and therefore the original iAdapter. They make an iAdapter2 for the iPad2.) It is a hard black rubberized case that I assembled with a screwdriver (you don't just pop the iPad in and out, once it's in there it pretty much stays in there). You can find the full product information and specifications about the iAdapter here. The Pros We bought this case for a few key reasons: 1. External speakers: We anticipated that the iPad would be serving as Maya's voice . . . and she deserves to be LOUD!!! From my (extrememly non-technical) perspective, the iPad speakers just aren't all that. If Maya is in a noisy classroom, restaurant, or grocery store (like we were today) and she says something with the iPad, I want to hear it, loud and clear. These speakers are no joke. They have 3 settings (as seen in the middle of the pic below)--HI, LO and OFF. 2. Button cover: Maya learned very quickly to push the button on the iPad--to turn it off, to exit an app, to pull up the keyboard. Since there's only one button on the entire thing (and most kids are a fan of pushing buttons) she would just push-push-push-push and drive me crazy. I had to hold my thumb over the button when we were using the iPad, which was irritating. This case addresses that issue with a small plastic sliding piece that can cover the button. It's challenging enough to move that Maya can't do it. Very helpful. 3. Durability/carry-ability: This is a tough case. Toddler tough. I love the carrying handle (although Maya generally picks it up with two hands on the sides) and the fact that it just feels durable. I don't worry about it falling off the couch (hey, it happens) or getting too banged up in her backpack. 4. The stand: The stand comes with the case and props the iPad up at a great angle. It's sturdy and doesn't tip or get pushed over. A long groove in the back of the case lets the stand kind of lock in. (You can see it in the pic above.) The Cons These are the issues that I have with the case. (Remember, though, I'm not a techie type of gal. It's possible that I'll list my grievances and someone will reply "Hey, you're kind of an idiot and just don't know how to use the case" . . . if that happens, I'll come back and edit my list.) 1. I wish there was a way to monitor the power level. Because the iAdapter has a speaker system, it has to be charged. The problem is that I can't tell how much battery life is left. I basically charge it every other night, but that's just a guess. I wish there was a way to see how much juice was left. 2. I initially had issues with charging the iPad. Weirdly, when I screwed the case together tightly the fit was so snug that I couldn't get the iPad charger cord all the way in. I had to loosen two of the screws slightly. That's annoying because I would like to feel that the case is super secure fitting. *post modified: I was wrong about this. At a reader's urging, I retightened the screws, and sure enough, the charger fits in---it does take a bit of wiggling, though. I guess I was being too gentle when I tried to insert it before. Anyway, I take this one back! *post modified 1/30/12: I orginally had "#3-I can't turn the screen off" here. But, sure enough, someone with the same case wrote on my Facebook wall that there is indeed a (very tiny) awake/asleep button. Big enough for me to use, but too small for Maya to find. Very clever! 4. It would be nice if the screen was covered. Before this case we had an Otterbox, which felt a little more indestructible because of the hard plastic protective piece that would clip on over the screen. It would be nice if the iAdapter had some sort of shell that could attach to the front and protect the screen. 5. It's expensive. But considering that it's a hard core case with great speakers and unique features, it seems fairly priced. (It's also wheelchair mountable) The bottom line I liked the ruggedness of the Otterbox Defender slightly better, but we eagerly moved to the iAdapter for the reasons listed above. The speakers in particular are a huge bonus. While the cons are irritating, they are definitely outweighed by the pros (for us, anyway). *You can see Maya using her iPad, in the iAdapter case, in many videos on the blog. This post has 2 videos, and each one shows the iPad (and case) from a different angle: http://niederfamily.blogspot.com/2012/01/progress-report-on-communicating-with.html
Happy almost 2016! With the new year often comes a renewed energy to tackle new projects, or to re-tackle old ones. And what better project to focus on than modeling for the AAC users in our lives? We all know that it's the most important thing that we can do to support people who are learning to use (or learning to master) AAC (supported by both anecdotal evidence and by research) and yet sometimes it's hard to make it work. It takes time, it can feel awkward (if you're struggling to find words), and it can be overwhelming (what to model? how many words? how often? etc). But you have to do it. You just have to. So do I. Over the summer I hosted a modeling challenge that was great---I learned things, Maya gained a bunch of new words, my fluency increased dramatically, and I became so used to having a talker with me that it actually felt strange when I didn't have it nearby. But I couldn't keep it going. Like many other abandoned projects (or resolutions), a few off-kilter days turned into a few non-attempted days and then it just slipped away. The thing about a few bad days is that they make it hard to remember how good the good days were---how many days you had worked hard for, the effort that you put in. You know what makes things easier to remember? Data. (Oh man, I love data.) Resolutions (and other projects) are much more likely to stick if there is some sort of data being tracked. Some sort of check-in. Something that keeps you accountable, and also serves as a confirmation that you are working on something---you have goals. You are doing big things. You are awesome. The tricky thing about the data collection is that it needs to very carefully balance between being-meaningful-enough-to-really-collect-data and not-being-a-lot-of-work-because-really. So here's my proposal: we (re)commit to modeling, and we collect data. We do it in a way that will yield real accountability (and information), yet also won't be that taxing. I've made some data forms (which you can download, at no charge). Here we go: The Tracker Components: Daily tracker grid Week in Review summary chart "New Stuff" comments box Reflection comments box Month in Review summary chart Monthly reflection box Monthly goals box How to use: This is really simple, guys, but I'm going to go ahead and break it down, because why not. Step 1: Fill in the month (blue box) and the week (purple box) and print the tracker. The document has 5 weekly trackers built in for each month (it's a 3 page document). Step 2: At the end of each day, select the appropriate face/rating to reflect your modeling that day (in the blue box). Here's how to choose: 0/Sad face = It just didn't happen. I didn't touch a talker today. 1/Neutral face = I touched a talker, but not for long. Minimal modeling. 2/Happy face = I did it! It was a good modeling day! 3/Celebration face = I am a modeling superstar! Pick the face matches that matches your modeling that day (important: this is about your modeling, not about your child's interest or AAC use---just rate yourself) and circle it or shade it in. That's it! That's the only daily tracking commitment that you have--it takes about 4 seconds. Step 2.5: Yeah, I said 2.5. The next step is to shade in the "Week in Review" chart(the purple box). It makes a little bar graph to summarize how many days you spent in each 0/1/2/3 rating zone. You can either do this on a daily basis or at the end of the week (which is why it's Step 2.5). Step 3: Use the notes boxes. The first box (blue) can be used to track words that you add, combinations or skills that you're targeting, etc. The second box (purple) is a great spot to keep track of victories or failures, make notes about your child's use, etc. You can write in these daily, or at the end of the week. If you need more space, use the back of the page (I recommend printing one-sided to allow for this). Here's an example of what a completed two weeks could look like: Step 4: At the end of the month, fill in the "Month in Review" chart. Then write a few reflections on the month, and set a few goals for the month ahead. Here's a sample of what that could look like: Step 5: Check in on Facebook. There are a few ways to increase your odds of sticking with a resolution: data tracking is one way (check!) and involving friends/community is another. Let's build a community of AAC family members, friends, and professionals who are committed to daily modeling and data tracking. At a minimum, I will put up a weekly modeling check-in (every Friday morning) on our FB page (Uncommon Sense Blog), and you can share your successes, questions, struggles, and photos of that week's tracker :) Tips/Tricks: Hang this somewhere that you're going to be confronted with it. I'm taping mine to the cabinet where I keep our daily medicines---unavoidable. I may even tape a pen on a string next to it (kidding-not-kidding). For the first month, your only job is to write on this paper everyday. That's it. If you shade in the "0/Sad face" boxes every day for the first month, you are a success. You have followed through. You have tracked the worst month you will ever track, and you will move on from there. But write on the darn sheet, no matter what. The first month is, at a minimum, about getting AAC modeling on your mind on a daily basis---even if the interaction is "Oh man, I really need to up my modeling game." If you are a January resolution zealot, go with it. Take copious notes. Fill the back of the modeling sheet with details about each day. Staple extra pages to the packet. And know that if you run out of steam some day, and start simply circling that day's face, you are no less successful than you were when you were taking all-of-the-notes. It's not accidental that this is collecting pretty minimal data. I wanted the effort to be low enough that any beginner-to-AAC, or any not-really-a-beginner-but-SO-busy-communication-partner, could get started without hesitation. I expect that some people will find this to be simplistic. I'm ready for that. Let's use this for a month or two, trade ideas about what's working and not working, and roll out another version in February/March if it feels necessary. Or, if you decide to make an alternate version, share it in one of our Friday posts. If this works for you, stick with it. Whatever works is awesome. Let's do this. First, download the tracking document here (by the way, the preview on Google docs looks sloppy, but the formatting corrects itself when you download the document). (Edited to add: Mac users, the formatting won't work for you. Download the Mac friendly version here---you'll have to write in "week one" etc in the margin, I couldn't get vertical boxes to work!)Also, if you want to download the directions/rubric/samples included in this post, I've made a downloaded document that you can get here. Next, come on over to the Facebook page on Friday (Jan 1) and say hello to your fellow resolutioners. (You can also come by now and say hello on the getting-started thread---but I'll make sure to have a let's-go-do-this post on Friday morning.) Last, embrace your awesomeness. Modeling posts to get you started: Getting Started With Meaningful Modeling Some modeling videos! Simon Says: Model One More Word More Modeling Resources
