Making materials

For pupils with little or no speech and little or no literacy, we need to find other ways of representing language, in order to make it possible to assess the child’s level of inner language, and to work on language development at an appropriate level.

As well as causing expressive problems, language impairment can be associated with difficulties in understanding the meaning of the words and sentences that other people say. Pupils who have receptive language problems may respond better to materials presented visually.

Children on the autistic spectrum with speech, language and communication difficulties very commonly respond well to visual stimuli where they may not process or respond to auditory stimuli, and are able to make use of pictures both for receptive language and for expressive communication. This will often be within the context of a highly structed communication teaching approach such as the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS).

Computer hardware and software provide the means to generate materials in which language content is represented by photographs, pictures and symbols, that make word meanings clear and illustrate grammatical relationships in a simple way.

ICT is, therefore, a key tool in enabling teachers to make language visible, tangible and manipulable – even for pupils at very early levels of development (i.e. pre-reading). ICT can help to make materials that are:

• relatively quick to produce
• personalized
• attractive and motivating to pupils
• easily edited and reused

Where pupils have severe language and communication difficulties, there will be a heavy demand for materials making extensive use of graphics: photographs, pictures and augmentative communication symbol sets. Although some materials are available off the shelf, it is often best to create new materials that are highly personalized and adapted to the curriculum and classroom projects. ICT will support the teacher to design and make such materials.

Choosing hardware

Where graphics are concerned, for best results, go for fast and powerful computer equipment and lots of memory. The following basic hardware will make the task much easier and quicker:

• digital camera
• scanner
• fast colour printer (with facilities to produce A3 and A2-size printouts, if possible)
• photocopier with enlarge / reduce (colour photocopier if possible)
• laminator (preferably able to take matt laminate and do ‘poster’ size)

(Do not overlook the fax machine as a means of exchanging materials between schools.)

There will also be a need for all sorts of basics such as replacement colour printer cartridges, symbol display folders (or photo albums), Velcro, laminator pouches – remember to budget for these!

Making resources to create a communicative classroom

Picture and symbol use has to become part of the daily routine if it is to have an impact. The whole school / classroom environment will be translated into a graphic environment. Adults in the classroom will act as ‘role models’ and will point to key symbols as they talk, rather than expecting the pupil to use symbols on their own with no example to follow (Aided Language Stimulation; Goossens 1999).

Paper-based graphic materials will include:

• visual schedules and timetables
• labels for objects around the room, banners, posters and captions for wall decorations
• a graphic Menu for snack and lunch choices
• graphic Story Boards and Song Boards (Goossens, 1999)
• graphic topic vocabulary boards to go in ‘corners’, (e.g. library corner, colour table, painting corner) and for specialist subjects, such as music, project work and use in aided language stimulation
• graphic weather charts, timetables
• ‘loose’ graphics, duplicates of charts in use, cut up for matching games, lotto, etc.
• overlays for overlay keyboards, symbol ‘tops’ for simple VOCAs
• worksheets
• adding graphics to wall charts or Passports so that the pupil themselves can participate in making them, and can 'read' them.

Tip: If you have a pupil in your class who could benefit from use of symbols it may be salutary to look around your classroom to see how many symbol materials are evident. If there are very few – or none – what message does this give to your symbol user about the respect his / her communication system is awarded in your classroom environment?

Scenario 19

Mrs C.’s classroom is just such a symbol environment. She has individual symbols (all laminated) alphabetically stored in card index drawers; bundles of symbols for specific tasks are hung in bags with category labels on a curtain wire stretched between two cupboards; sheets of symbols grouped for specific tasks are kept in plastic packets with work sheets where appropriate. She has found it faster to quickly cut up these sheets than trying to find lots of separate paper symbols. She does an induction session for anyone who is working with her, so that they know how she stores the symbols (and therefore where they are to put them back when they are finished with them). She is regularly asked how she manages to be so organized and replies that she was always rushing and hassled so decided to spend one half term making, laminating and organizing the symbols and other associated resources. Having done it she finds it easy to keep to the structure and feels ‘on top of it’. Having spoken to me it was song time, so she grabbed the ‘body parts bag’; each pupil was given some symbols and “Little Peter rabbit had a fly upon his…” was under way.

Key skills and equipment

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

• commit the time and energy to setting up a system
• use a computer program to generate symbols

The key equipment is:

• a computer running a symbol program
• a laminator and printer
• lots of plastic file pockets, strong polythene bags with handles

Graphic resources for an individual pupil

Pupils using graphics as part of their personal communication system will need both paper-based and computer-based materials. Pupils on specialized education intervention programmes such as PECS and TEACCH, will need an extensive set of pictures and visual teaching/behaviour control materials to structure their day and establish routines. Design and creation of these may be a task shared with the speech and language therapist, but it is advisable to have the means of production of these within the school or classroom, for everyday use. Ideally an assistant could be trained to produce materials as specified by teacher and therapist. These might include:

• PECS pictures - ie. individual pictures to represent every familiar toy, food item and activity (for pupils on PECS programmes, Frost & Bondy, 1994)
• visual schedules / timetables
• visual reinforcement systems, eg. 'wait' cards
• symbol teaching games such as picture dominoes
• new vocabulary flashcards
• personal communication boards and / or communication books
• overlays for static display VOCAs
• printouts of dynamic display VOCA pages

On the computer:

• development of a symbol vocabulary for use on a dynamic screen VOCA (or the addition of individual new vocabulary items to an existing system)
• on-screen symbol exercises and worksheets
• establishment of a folder of downloads and screen shots of pictures and symbols taken from websites and favourite software, for printing out and incorporating into low tech materials and/or importing into on-screen exercises

Scenario 20

Tom has cerebral palsy and is using a Cameleon VOCA with level C of the Ingfield Dynamic Vocabulary. The pages have been personalized and additional pages have been added to cover the term’s topic, science, and the reading scheme. The screens have been printed out via the Print Screen command using a colour printer. These printouts have been laminated and are kept in a file. A piece of foam has been stuck on the top right-hand corner of each sheet to separate the pages, so that Tom can turn them over himself. The pages approximately one and two thirds of the way through the file have a lolly stick (well washed) attached to them, so that Tom can flip several pages at a time if he is aiming for one of the bottom pages.

For a while Tom had become very dependent on his SNA and would not work without her at his side. A Talking Buddy Button (single message device) was placed on his tray with the message “Can I have some help please?” that he could use to attract attention. This has helped to wean him from his dependency on adults and he will now get on with his work for a while without her beside him.

Since Tom is a switch user he is slow to answer in class and started to give up trying. Paper charts are sometimes created before or during a class so that Tom’s SNA can row / column scan for him (he nods when it is the correct row or column) to give his answer quickly. Where appropriate he also uses his file in this way. Charts appropriate to Tom’s toilet needs are kept on the window sills of both of the toilets that he can access.

Tom also needs overlays for the IntelliKeys Keyboard that he uses to answer a series of questions independently, from a limited number of possible answers, in a relatively quick time using his switches.

Key skills and equipment

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

• use common sense and ingenuity – to plan ahead and identify how Tom is going to complete each task during the day as independently as possible
• create pages in Talking Screen software and sometimes in Clicker 4; print out and laminate them as necessary
• create overlays for IntelliKeys keyboard

The key equipment is:

• Talking Screen, Clicker 4, IntelliKeys, IntelliTalk, Overlay Maker
• laminator

Picture / symbol-support for literacy

(See also Unit 1 – Literacy and Recording – Using symbols, pictures and sound)

Pupils with language and communication difficulties will commonly also have difficulties with literacy, and will benefit from picture and symbol support which makes text meaningful, gives access to information and brings success with reading attempts. Useful materials will include:

• graphic story reading charts
• detachable stick-on graphics for favourite story books and reading schemes
• personalized books with photos of friends and family, and with graphics (both on paper, and talking books on computer)
• graphic story writing frameworks

This ICTS website is maintained by Inclusive Technology.