2001 Conference Proceedings
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Designing Dynamic Displays for the Beginning
Communicator
Linda J. Burkhart, Special Educator
Technology Integration Specialist
6201 Candle Ct.
Eldersburg, MD 21784
linda@Lburkhart.com
http://www.Lburkhart.com
Children at the beginning stages of communication need access
to large amounts of vocabulary. However, visual, attentional,
cognitive, and physical challenges often prevent the child form
being able to utilize a communication board or overlay that
provides a large, rich set of vocabulary or to independently
switch between smaller sets of vocabulary. Dynamic display
augmentative communication devices present options for arranging
vocabulary in a series of simpler displays. This is especially
important for beginning communicators who face severe and
multiple challenges. Years of experience have taught us that
these children do well with activity based displays that are
organized consistently from one page to the next. Adding the
component of active control that the dynamic display provides,
children can be more successful in communicating. This increased
vocabulary set needs to be carefully organized to make this
possible for the child and not be overwhelming
Introduction
Dynamic display augmentative communication devices are now widely
available. While price, durability and portability are still
major issues, progress in these areas has been made. Organizing
vocabulary on dynamic display devices continues to present a
challenge. Some pre-programmed vocabulary sets are becoming
available to guide us, but it is still crucial to customize for
an individual needs of the beginning communicator.
For the purpose of this paper, beginning communicators will be
defined as young children, and children functioning at young
levels. who do not have strong receptive language skills, and are
not yet effective at using speech to communicate expressively.
Many of these children will also have multiple challenges that
affect their ability to easily access voice-output devices.
Clinically, beginning communicators have learned to use
augmentative communication most effectively in an "immersion"
environment where the use of the devices and picture symbols are
modeled through an Aided Language Stimulation approach.
(Goossens', Crain, and Elder. 1992) Building receptive language
before expecting expressive language in natural play experiences
builds a rich foundation for language development. For this type
of approach to work, large numbers of activity-specific
vocabulary sets are presented one at a time. The child has access
to a wide variety of communicative functions and the ability to
build phrases with a single overlay or language board.
Many of the static display devices that have been available to
the beginning communicator over the years have had major
limitations. Typically, the beginning communicator has been
provided with a beginning voice-output device. This appears to be
a logical practice and it is assumed that as the child shows more
communicative competence, he will be able to handle a more
sophisticated device. The problem with this approach is that
these devices are often very limited in the amount of vocabulary
that may be stored in the device at one time. Re-recording new
sets of vocabulary throughout the day, has not been practical in
most cases. Backing up vocabulary and reloading it with a
computer or disk drive has also proved to be cumbersome in daily
practice.
Early voice-output devices such as the Wolf, provided a large
memory for synthesized speech that allowed for numerous overlays,
that once programmed, could easily be changed for a student. Of
course, there were disadvantages to this device, for example,
initial programing of overlays was difficult and unfamiliar
listeners found the voice hard to understand. None the less, the
capability for numerous activity-based overlays, was a powerful
tool for the beginning communicator. With the next generation of
devices, the voice was greatly improved by using digitized speech
and programming was made easier by allowing a simple recording
function. The limitations of these devices inadvertently created
situations where students were provided much smaller, diluted
vocabulary sets, than was provided with the Wolf. Memory was
limited to only a small number of overlays before the device had
to be re-recorded, or loaded with another set of vocabulary. As
mentioned above, this extra step was often not practical in day
to day use. Providing the child with activity-based overlays that
changed with each activity became impractical. Nonetheless, these
moderately priced devices were often prescribed for the beginning
communicator. More expensive devices with larger memories were
becoming available, but not as frequently used for the beginning
communicator. The need to change overlays on these static display
devices has always been a barrier to ease of use. Devices that
utilized codes on a single overlay to access a larger set of
vocabulary, were often difficult to use for the beginning
communicator.
Dynamic display devices offer the beginning communicator an
opportunity to access a much larger set of vocabulary, while
keeping any given page simple and easy for the student to access.
By providing a means for students to change pages themselves,
active participation is increased and success is possible in much
larger number of activities throughout the day.
Principles for Designing Displays
The following are some guiding principals that will help to make
the organization of vocabulary on dynamic display devices simple
and effective for the beginning communicator.
1. Customization for individual needs is crucial, especially
when access is difficult. Access will be a major factor in
deciding number of vocabulary items and placement of these items.
Designing of the page as well as selecting of vocabulary should
be a team process with the family being a critical part of the
team.
2. Once an arrangement is agreed upon, program numerous pages
with activity-specific vocabulary based on typical activities in
the child's day. These activity-specific pages should include a
wide variety of communicative functions that enable the child for
example to request, comment, reject, protest, question, tease,
direct action, express opinions, feelings, humor etc. If
additional vocabulary is needed for a specific activity, provide
it as a "next page" set up with the same design. Provide a master
page with sub-category pages to organize these pages, but start
the child on the activity page until the use of the master page
and sub-category pages have been modeled many times for the
child.
3. Provide quick access from every page with a set of navigation
buttons that will allow the child to quickly branch to a "chat"
page for general social interaction, the master page and other
pages of user-specific, urgent messages. Leave space on each page
for a set of these buttons, even if the child is not ready at
first to make use of them.
4. Chat pages, or sections of chat pages, should have generic
locations for recent, current, and up-coming news that can easily
be re-recorded without having to find new pictures each time.
Branches from the chat pages can lead to "story" pages of
significant events as well as a variety of greetings, partings,
conversational vocabulary, context setting phrases, and repair
strategies.
5. On all pages, select vocabulary that easily lends itself to
the use of Aided Language Stimulation. By including vocabulary
from both sides of a conversation, the teacher, therapist, parent
or other child will find that modeling the use of the system is
much easier. Understand that the success of the system for the
beginning communicator is often contingent on how well it is
modeled to the child within various functional situations and
used as a receptive language learning device as well as an
expressive device.
6. Make use of simple branching (go to next page or go back) to
allow the child to turn pages as one might in a book between
related pages of vocabulary.
7. For sequential vocabulary, make use of natural branching that
presents the next logical vocabulary to the child without having
to select a button to go to that page. For example, the next part
of a song or simple play script. This strategy is especially
important for the child who uses scanning to access the device
and who is only able to handle a limited number of vocabulary
items at one time. One item on the page should allow the child to
break out of the sequence if desired, such as "all done."
8. Use principals of "Natural Mapping" to locate vocabulary and
buttons. For example, go to next page could be on the right to
simulate the conventions of turning pages in a book and go back
would be more naturally positioned on the left. Navigation
buttons should be set apart and look different from vocabulary
buttons. Individual vocabulary should be positioned in a manner
where left to right phrase and sentence building is facilitated.
Items that appear on more than one page should be located in the
same location on each page or at least as close as possible to
the same location. A useful strategy is to create a template with
the common elements and use it when creating each new page.
Consider utilizing background coloring with black and white
pictures as described in Goossens', Crain, and Elder (1992) to
provide visual organization to the page and facilitate its use
for aided language stimulation.
9. Program for growth, by initially placing less on a page for
immediate success, but leaving spaces to add vocabulary without
having to change the page layout. This may be done by planning
for the larger amount of vocabulary, and then selecting the most
powerful items with which to begin. In this way, placement and
size of individual items will not change as the additional
vocabulary is added. Adding vocabulary should be on-going and
follow a previously agreed upon plan. Keep a notebook or extra
page in the device to jot down additional vocabulary items as
needs are discovered in various situations. This additional
vocabulary may be then incorporated into the existing structure
of pages at a more convenient time.
10. Provide the child with access to the alphabet with a message
display for speaking spelled words. This will allow the child to
play with sounds and sound combinations that may facilitate
emergent literacy skills and generate novel ideas. Don't assume
the child is too low to benefit from this type of page. Use this
page to model words that are not programmed into the device and
allow the child to play with this page along with all the other
pages in the device.
11. Consider providing the child with "clue" pages branched from
the chat page or master page to help set the context and/or
pragmatic intent of a communication. These pages may be linked to
sets of vocabulary that go beyond what might be on individual
activity pages. For example, "I will tell you who" that branches
to a people page, or "something is wrong" that branches to
problems page, etc. Make sure that these pages also include
vocabulary items that allow the child to talk about category
items such as on the people page: where is?, made me mad, got in
trouble, is going, is proud of me today, etc.
12. Include pages that allow a child to talk about the daily
schedule. These pages may be branched from the master pages or
the chat pages and possibly from a button on every page -
depending on how important this is to the child. In addition to
listing the schedule items, include vocabulary such as before,
after, when, not today, this is great, I don't want to, etc. on
the same page.
13. Include easily accessible pages that allow a child who
demonstrates frequent behavior problems to easily request
attention, escape, request for tangibles and sensory needs.
Durand (1990). Offer these functions within activity specific
pages when possible, for example in math class, "I don't
understand, can you please help me with this" - to request
attention or "May I get a drink?" to express need for a break.
14. Pages should be printed out and used in a book form with
tabs to provide a light-tech system, when the device is not
available or when positioning in a specific situation limits the
child's independent access. The light-tech boards may be used
with partner assistance if access is an issue. The dynamic
display device should always be considered to be one aspect of
the child's communication system, not the only means by which the
child communicates.
15. For the beginning scanner, consider the use of two switch
step scanning before teaching automatic scanning. With this
method, the device only advances to the next item when the child
activates and releases a switch. Once the desired item is
highlighted, the child activates a second switch to select it.
Even though this strategy requires the use of two switches
instead of a single switch it often eliminates the timing factor
and allows the child to take active control. Another advantage is
that the device waits for the child's attention instead of
demanding on-going concentrated attention. This allows for the
child to utilize other non-verbal strategies and maintain
frequent eye contact with the communication partner.
16. Keep in mind that motivation for use of any of these devices
will be increased if the vocabulary lends itself to shared
enjoyment with other individuals.
Resources
Blackstone, Sarah. "Dynamic Displays", Augmentative Communication
News, March 1994, Vol. 7, No. 2.
Burkhart, Linda. "Designing Dynamic Displays for Individual
Learning Styles of the Beginning Communicator" Handout and
proceedings: 7th Biennial Conference of ISAAC in Vancouver, B.C.,
Canada
Burkhart, Linda "Organizing Vocabulary on Dynamic Display
Devices: Practical Ideas and Strategies, Paper presented at Sixth
Biennial Conference of ISAAC in Maastricht, The Netherlands,
October 1994.
Carlson, Faith. DynaSyms Manual and User's Guide, ©1992
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PA 15203
Durand, V.M. (1990), Severe Behavior Problems: A Functional
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Goodenough-Trepagnier, Cheryl. "Design Goals for Augmentative
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Goossens', Carol, Crain, Sharon, and Elder, Pam. (1992).
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