Example 5 – Class worksheets

Mrs C. is a great teacher but likes what she calls her security blanket – a large number of prepared worksheets, for days when everything goes wrong and her head refuses to function!

In fact, she is highly organized and the worksheets are the basis of her scheme of work for each term. Each worksheet set is stored with eight sets of appropriate symbols for completing the worksheet. The children have a piece of Blu-tack in each location where they are to place a symbol; if they finish quickly they can glue their symbols in place. She also creates computer-based versions of each worksheet, and the children take turns to do the tasks on paper or on the computer. She is creative in her choice of symbols for each of the sentence starters.

Key skills and equipment

The key skills for the above examples are the ability to:

• use symbol-processing software to write
• use grid-making software to create grids

The key equipment is:

• symbol-processing software (Writing with Symbols 2000)
• grid-making software (Writing with Symbols 2000, Clicker, Inclusive Writer)
• printer

Scenario 1b – Making books

Communication aid users may have quite complex vocabulary set-ups for their general communication. However, it is often difficult to give easy access to specialist curriculum vocabulary. Books such as those used by Rebecca (see below), which have subject specific vocabulary, supported by symbol, picture or word, can give this vocabulary in just the right places. Access to this vocabulary may need to be by a different, possibly low-tech, means – pointing, eye-pointing – but it will enable curriculum access. Sue, who works with pupils with learning difficulties, finds that her pupils may well understand the science that she teaches, but are unable to handle the vocabulary without some visual aid. She has worked on designing a specific set of science vocabulary which indicate the concepts. The symbols remind the pupils of the concepts and allow them to demonstrate understanding. This technique has proved very successful with some of her pupils, enabling them to take a science GCSE.

Example 1 – Rebecca’s communication books

Rebecca has no speech, but enjoys social interaction. Her mother, Wendy, makes small communication books covering the different aspects of Rebecca’s life, so that she can communicate. The example here is from a book about their holiday. The book uses double pages with a picture or photograph on one side, and a grid of eight symbols, that Rebecca can point to, on the other side. Meeting Rebecca for the first time, a new friend may not know what to talk about, but the photographs in the book give a prompt to starting a conversation, and the symbols give Rebecca relevant vocabulary for each situation.

She does not have a complex task to identify vocabularies from a categorization system. As time has gone on Wendy and Judy, the speech and Language Therapist working with them, have refined the book structure so that Rebecca has just one book to carry. The pages are laminated to make them more durable.

You can see the excitement on Rebecca’s face when she has an opportunity to talk. Clearly this approach has provided a realistic method of widening Rebecca’s social world.

Books for older readers

While there are plenty of suitable books for children, these cease to be appropriate as pupils become young adults. One way around this is to create books for pupils. Creating books with symbol-processing software has the added advantage of incorporating symbol-enhanced text for the pupils to read; something not usually available in commercially-produced books. The books can be made more attractive by adding a picture or photograph to each page and writing a caption to go with it. This can all be done on the computer and printed out; or the picture and printed text could be mounted together on sheets of paper, laminated and bound.

Key skills and equipment

The key skills for the above examples are the ability to:

• use symbol-processing software to write
• use a digital camera or scanner to put pictures and photographs on your computer
• incorporate the pictures and photographs into documents

The key equipment is:

• symbol-processing software (Writing with Symbols 2000)
• printer
• a digital camera or scanner

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