The students will create a context for a specific population, i.e., adults with developmental disabilities, regular education 3rd -4th graders, child with Down syndrome in a preschool classroom, a child with autism in regular education 3rd -4th graders, an adult who had a stroke in inpatient rehab, etc. You may design the low-tech AAC either for a specific client (like a specific child with Down syndrome) or make it appropriate/modifiable for multiple clients within that population (adults who had strokes and are in inpatient rehab).
Based on that chosen context, students will provide a list of items appropriate for the identified population. These would be items you would place in a container if we were physically turning this in. For example, for an Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) container, the students may choose bubbles, blocks, switch activated toys, etc. Or, for an adult acute population, the students may choose newspapers/magazines, crossword puzzles, checkbooks, snack items, remote controls, etc. that would reflect possible preferences or activities for a population that was over 50 years of age. Once the items have been chosen, then the student will develop a low-tech communication notebook that provides choices of the items, as well as pages that will allow for development of language appropriate to that context. The format will be for context dependent vocabulary, and the size and configuration of the symbol system will be consistent with that population.
Students will choose a specific population and write a one paragraph summary (double spaced) of the target population.
Students will write an additional paragraph describing the language level of that population. Written work for submission must be in Word format.
Students will make a list of developmental/age/language appropriate activities, toys, and/or objects to place in the container. Creativity in identifying items that would be of interest to the chosen population is encouraged.
Students will develop a master communication page, providing choices of the activities included in the container. Students may use non-copyrighted pictures from Google, personal functional pictures, other age/developmental-appropriate symbols, and/or another standardized picture communication symbol set. You may also use one of the following websites (free trials available on some). You are not expected to purchase any symbols or anything for this project! Please choose one symbol system and use it consistently. Multiple symbol systems/styles are confusing for clients of all ages and levels. So, if youre using Google images, make sure they are either all photographs or all symbols (like a stop sign). The only exception is if you choose an existing symbol system from below but add a personalized, live photo like of a family member.
Picture Communication Symbols (PCS or PECS) a library system of 18,000+ pictorial graphics that represent words, phrases, and concepts; Boardmaker software https://www.boardmakeronline.com/Login.aspx
Widgit symbols: a system of 11,000 symbols for an English vocabulary of more than 40,000 words https://www.widgit.com/
Pictogram: 1,500 white-on-black picto-images that are designed to reduce figure-ground discrimination difficulties https://www.pictogram.se/
Blissymbols: developed to function as an auxiliary language for international written communication; 100 basic symbols that can be used singly or in combination to encode virtually any message http://www.blissymbolics.org/ (current: 5,000 authorized symbols) less transparent and more difficult to learn
https://www.makaton.org/shop/shopping/browseStore/Starting-out-Core-Vocabulary
Students will develop additional pages for his/her activities, including related vocabulary, verbs related to the vocabulary, as well as other parts of speech appropriate for the developmental level of the population chosen, in order to provide access to AAC for a variety of communicative functions. A minimum of 5 context specific pages are required. The pages must be prepared in such a way that they are ready for use. Students may use strategies to prepare the pages that are presented over the semester as examples.
As you will not physically turn in a notebook, you will turn in the written portion, the list of items that would be in the container.
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