[ Post a Response | Articulation, Language, and Fluency ]
Posted by care slp
on 1/6/2009, 5:53 pm, in reply to "Nonverbal autistic students"
204.218.240.105
I feel your pain. The little one on my caseload is now 5, as independent at ever - always prefers to just "do it himself" and eliminate the need for speech/talking. I've begun using a "Go-Talk 4" (Attainment Company) with the idea of building an expressive language system. I started with one level, i.e. 4 color choices.
AB is highly motivated by anything Pixar or Disney 'toon; often soothed by carrying around a DVD case of his choice -- he absolutely let's us know when he wants a case he has spotted or to change a case he brought to school with him. O.K., the idea for the 'system' is that he will choose one of the buttons to convey information. I collected pictures of his favorites (Cars, Toy Story, Lion King, Bob the Builder, etc.)and sheet protectors, cut out squares of the 4 colors in a size that covers an 8.5 X 11 in paper with 3 rows of 4 cards, and used my amazing powers of multitasking movement and speed to regulate his distance from the items, to keep the loose color swatches covering the 'reward' picture, and to intervene with any/all of his possibly destructive actions all in the attempt to make something productive happen. ;o)
He needed a little time to 'explore' the Go Talk and see what it did (I'd forgotten to plan for that) then began pushing the buttons to make the Go Talk speak. Once again my amazing powers of multitaking movements and speed came into play to respond to his 'speech'. The idea was that each time he 'said' a color I would remove that color from the reward picture. When he 'said' a color that was no longer present I would respond, "I don't have any ___ cards." It didn't take him long to realize he needed to pick something else and then to realize he could be more selective to have particular cards removed.
He was rewarded by uncovering the pictures and more-or-less willingly worked on several pages during a 15-min session. A second activity that is apparently rewarding for him is when I repeat what he has vocalized through babbling. Whenever our original task wasn't working we would switch to the babbling activity. Afterwards we could go back to my task. AB was somewhat fascinated that I would 'say' whatever he vocalized. This activity started in SEP '08 and 06 JAN '09 is the first time he repeated after I copied him - a small breakthrough.
Back to the 'expressive language' system: Now I've begun using an old, plastic 4-section floppy disc holder with colors that match the Go Talk and dropped pictures of items in front of the color card. When AB 'says' a color I name the item for him, much as when one answers a child's "what's that?" when looking at picture books. I'm working toward pairing associations comb/hair, washcloth/face, bath/body etc. to present them verbally ( ___ goes with ___ )when he 'says' a color, and later see if he can answer "what goes with ___?" when I have one of the pictures and the 4-part holder has the associated picture on a color background. The thought here is that we can use the color idea and change the vocabulary with the pictures and the 'teacher' speaking the picture/vocabulary to give him feedback.
Admitedly, this process is working on a lot of things at one time. It holds good potential for AB. Later, when there are some specific comments he can use in the classroom we can change the Go Talk to those words/phrases and have him carry it around for use.
AB seems to have some apraxia for most new words in his vocabulary. Since we first heard him say individual words 2 years ago he has been unable to use new words at will. He has built a repertoire for "want ___" and "no ___" for foods and sensory options, otherwise he uses grunts, vague gestures, and works up to tantrums when he isn't understood. Mostly he's a pretty happy-go-lucky kid who goes along with the crowd, just does so nonverbally.
He has gained the ability to repeat, as you noted with your student. You seem to see the same problem with that - what good will repeating do him when he needs to communicate something that he can't grab himself?
A 3rd activity we have is PowerPoint presentations with 'body parts' vocabulary and Bob the Builder and Woody pictures I made for him to watch as I read. I'm using the "when AB says ___ then he can see Bob's/Woody's ___" format; attempting to eliminate the requirement for repetition.
We've been working in 2 X 15-min and 1 X 30-min session. We are switching to 2 X 30-min sessions this week. We seem to be able to switch back and forth with the activities to keep things going for our 30-min sessions. I know there will need to be some changes as we go along; for now the plan is flexible. ;o)
I was very excited to see your post as it gave me a place to share something that is exciting for me with someone who can understand the excitement value. I hope I was able to make most of the elements for this technique clear.
Notes: Our PTSA bought our first "Go Talk" for the spec ed staff. We have no full day spec ed classes so the student spends much of his day in a regular, age-appropriate classroom (currently a Kinder class) with special ed program assistant present as well.
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