What an interesting day today. Most of our time was exploring the program and working oon our case study. In my opinion, Proloquo2go is a very phenomenal program allowing users the opportunity to have a voice when they may not normally have one in many situations. Users are given the opportunity to clearly describe their wants, needs, emotions, tasks and . They can engage in joint communication and develop relationships with others.
Some things to be considered when planning for the students with Proloquo2go are not only the needs and wants of the students, but also the visual and motor access/ability of the student.
In my school students use static communication
boards. Brittany has Downs Syndrome and uses a vertical strip of Velcro for his boards. Both Danielle and Garrett use a former CD case holder for all their communication needs. It is time consuming to create all the boards in Boardmaker. Then they have to be cut, mounted, laminated, cut again and Velcroed.
Where to begin in communication? Positive reinforcement. I see our EPAs carrying around small ziplocs with treats. Kind of reminds me of the parrots in a zoo. When they say what their trainer wants them to say, they get a seed. Same idea here. If you do this when I show you this board, then you get a cracker, chocolate chip, gold fish. Apparently the Healthy Food Policy doesn't apply, and rightfully so.
I found the most challenging part of the case study to be building in choices and depth. We had details about our grade 3 girl, but the biggest challenge, for me was asking myself (and Emily) about going too deep or not deep enough into the boards. I liked having the perspective of having Lacey, Stephanie and Gerri present their interpretation in class. It was similar to what we will present, yet different. They put real emphasis of her social development and having boards that will say complete sentences to build relationships with her peers. We focused on basics but constantly questioned the depth of our folders, was this necessary, was it too much or should we go deeper. It is an immense amount of work and decision making. It is a "living" document in some sense and nothing is final.
I wanted to find a video that showed that Proloquo2go wasn't just for students in school. That adults of all ages could use it and for various reasons. You don't just have to be a student in the school system to have AAC devices!
I found the most challenging part of the case study to be building in choices and depth. We had details about our grade 3 girl, but the biggest challenge, for me was asking myself (and Emily) about going too deep or not deep enough into the boards. I liked having the perspective of having Lacey, Stephanie and Gerri present their interpretation in class. It was similar to what we will present, yet different. They put real emphasis of her social development and having boards that will say complete sentences to build relationships with her peers. We focused on basics but constantly questioned the depth of our folders, was this necessary, was it too much or should we go deeper. It is an immense amount of work and decision making. It is a "living" document in some sense and nothing is final.
I wanted to find a video that showed that Proloquo2go wasn't just for students in school. That adults of all ages could use it and for various reasons. You don't just have to be a student in the school system to have AAC devices!
No comments:
Post a Comment