Level 1 – Intentional communication

At this level, the child’s intention to communicate can be inferred from their behaviour. They are able to divide their attention between two stimuli – say a person and an object or activity that they are interested in – and will look purposefully back and forth between the object and the person to signal their wish. They may ‘still’, squeal, hit, pull an adult’s hand towards objects etc. – it is up to the adult communication partner to work out, from careful observation and the context, what behaviours are being used as communication.

Tip: Many cause-and-effect programs contain several sub-programs, each suited to very different developmental levels. Great care needs to be taken to select programs and settings appropriate to the child's developmental level. At this level the child should be able to touch the screen anywhere - not just directly on the item - or touch a switch once for something bright, bold and obvious to happen. Examples are Ghost train, Catherine wheel and Wakeup, on Touch Funfair, Touch Games 1 and 2, respectively, and SwitchIt! Patterns, set to whole pattern for one switch press.

Scenario 5

In Mrs B.’s Primary One class a single message VOCA is passed round to each pupil in turn (including the speaking pupils) for the “Good Morning” routine (it says “good morning, good morning, I’m here, I’m here”) as a response to the “good morning” greeting song sung to each child.

Key skills and equipment

The key skill for the above example is the ability to:

• record a message into a single message VOCA

The key equipment is:

• a single message VOCA

Scenario 6

In Mrs P.’s class, the key is preparation. She and her staff have made a large bank of play mats, song boards and story / symbol reading charts. All toys, games and symbol materials have a sheet attached, with ideas about messages to go into VOCAs to be used with them. In many cases, VOCAs are stored in hanging plastic bags along with the story books or set of materials. Classroom staff just record the message(s) written on the back of the materials.

Key skills and equipment

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

• audit and organize equipment and resources
• create good instruction sheets on how to program and use VOCAs
• gather together (bagging) resources that go together (use a photo of a VOCA if the are not enough real devices available to go in each bag so that everyone at least knows what they are looking for)

The key equipment is:

• digitized VOCAs
• resources (overlays, topic grids, books, toys, pictures, symbols, etc)

Things to think about:

• ensure simple technology use is sociable and communicative
• ensure simple technology use is always attached to meaningful activities
• integrate early language / light-tech activity into classroom routines and the curriculum to be delivered

Scenario 7

John is uninterested in most toys, but seems to like stories. A few story books have been assembled, each with one line of text per page and a repeated line in the story, e.g. ‘My Old Teddy’. For each book, an eight-location PCS symbol chart, and matching set of single symbols, have been created and laminated.

When it is time for the repeated line the adult pauses in the story and looks expectantly at John. If John does not respond at first the adult looks at him and looks at the Talking Buddy (single message VOCA), then looks back at John. John hits the Talking Buddy that says “Poor Old Teddy!” and has a matching symbol on top of it. He does not yet recognize the symbol on its own, but can pick it out with the support of the familiar position and colour of the Talking Buddy.

To make the activity more interactive, a story group has been established (which meets each day during Literacy Hour). John activates the repetitive line “Poor Old Teddy!”, in alternation with Louise, who hits one saying “Oh no!” (later they swap around). Toby points out the appropriate symbols on the symbol chart. The teacher does not progress with the story until Melanie hits a Chipper (single message VOCA) with a “turn the page” message.

Key skills and equipment

The key skill for the above example is the ability to:

• record messages into single message VOCAs

The key equipment is:

• three or four single message VOCAs

Scenario 8

Joshua is relatively passive, but has learnt, through repeated physical prompting, to press a switch to turn on a tape recorder with a music or story tape.

The next step is to build in more control and more choices for Joshua. He now chooses the tape he wants by eye pointing to the right box, attached by Blu-tack to an E-Tran eye gaze frame. At first he chose from two; now he can choose from three or four. He never chooses the distractor (a tape he hates but another pupil is obsessed with).

To make this activity functional and sociable, Joshua directs class group activities and games. He recognizes and correctly selects the ‘Morning circle’ time tune first-thing each day. He directs ‘Pass the parcel’ by controlling when the music stops and starts. This gives him a lot of power and status in the class and is helping his self-esteem.

Key skills and equipment

The key skill for the above example is the ability to:

• attach a switch to a battery-operated tape recorder or connect a mains tape recorder to a switch via a PowerLink

The key equipment is:

• E-Tran eye gaze frame with relevant easily distinguishable tape boxes
• tape player with switch attached via a battery adaptor or a PowerLink

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