Scenario 6 - Intentional: Referential

One of the many considerations when working with a pupil who has sensory, physical, cognitive and communication difficulties is that these disabilities all interact with each other. Consider, for example a pupil with severe visual impairment, seeking improved literacy but showing difficulty in developing Braille or keyboard skills. It is tempting to assume that difficulties in typing and writing are a result of physical or sensory impairments, or both; e.g. the inability to see, lack of sensitivity in the fingertips, lack of interest. However, mitigating the effects of physical and sensory impairments may offer only a partial solution. Attention also needs to be paid to underlying literacy difficulties which may be complex (as this text is not intended as a tutorial on early literacy, we do not pursue what these issues might be). How might these be addressed? You need to resolve three main problem areas; identifying how the pupil will:

• see (and / or hear) what is on screen: issues of cursor size and speed of movement, foreground and background colour, auditory prompts
• select the items on screen
• know what to write and then write it

Problem solving is much more complex when multiple impairments are involved. At this level of communication pupils are on the cusp of moving towards developing a formal language system. But the very complexity of impairments may lead you to embark too quickly on a programme of literacy.

Example 6a – Using an on-screen grid

Clicker and Writing with Symbols 2000 are two examples of framework programs, which both offer useful routes to introduce reading and writing to early learners. Instead of having to become familiar with a keyboard, words and phrases can be clicked on and pictures, symbols, photographs, and illustrations used to support reading and writing. For pupils with low vision, clear, well-contrasted images can be introduced, and foreground and background colours adjusted to suit.

Key skills and equipment

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

• complete tutorial for Clicker or equivalent
• explore sample grids
• create a grid with two to four images
• set up foreground / background colours to suit one pupil with visual impairment

The key equipment is:

• Clicker 4 or Writing with Symbols 2000
• user interface suitable for pupil (e.g. touch screen).

Example 6b – Recording sound and adding to grid cells

For pupils with low vision or visual-perceptual difficulties it can be helpful to add auditory prompts to cells. This can be done either using sounds supplied with the software or by recording your own sounds.

Key skills and equipment

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

• use a microphone to record sounds, adding to cells in grid-making software (examples of digitized sounds are included in grid-making software e.g. sounds of animals – additional digitized sounds can be obtained or recorded by yourself)
• use the right mouse click to activate sounds
• replace right mouse click with switch

The key equipment is:

• Clicker 4 or Writing with Symbols 2000
• microphone, PC equipped with a reasonable sound card, e.g. SoundBlaster
• switch, with interface that allows right click of mouse to be emulated

Example 6c – Recording speech and adding to cells in grid

If not already tried in Example 6b, record your own speech or the speech of another pupil and add it to appropriate cells in your grid. With pupils who are early communicators it is important to use digitized speech as opposed to the computer’s synthesized speech. Using a co-operative peer provides an additional ‘me too’ factor.

Key skills and equipment

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

• record speech appropriate to individual cells in grid
• use the right mouse click to activate recorded speech
• replace right mouse click with switch

The key equipment is:

• Clicker 4, Writing with Symbols 2000 or Inclusive Writer.
• microphone, PC equipped with a reasonable sound card, e.g. SoundBlaster
• switch, with interface that allows right click of mouse to be emulated

Example 6d – Auditory scanning

For pupils with some vision, enhancements to contrast and size, reduction in image complexity and the number of items on screen can prove helpful, as can the addition of sound cues. There remain some pupils who, because of severe visual impairment or poor visual processing skills, cannot see or interpret visual presentations on screen. If they also have physical access difficulties they may not be able to use a switch to scan an array of items and select from that array.

Note: Using technology to scan and select items is described in detail in Unit 8 – The development of switching skills. Scanning requires the pupil to have a number of skills, e.g. understanding the relation between what is on the array (for example a set of symbols) and the associated spoken message activated by hitting the switch, and activating the switch at just the right time.

For a few pupils with severe visual impairment and physical access difficulties, auditory scanning is sometimes a better choice than visual scanning, even though the temptation is to make best use of a pupil’s residual visual function. Clues in favour of trying out auditory scanning include:

• visual skills: pupil good at seeing static, well-contrasted objects; has difficulty switching visual attention between tasks
• auditory skills: good hearing; good auditory processing; able to attend to and follow several conversations in different settings; able to deduce from auditory clues alone what is happening.

Key skills and equipment

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

• set up and investigate auditory scanning
• set scanning rate and type to suit
• understand basic issues involved in auditory scanning

The key equipment is:

• grid-making software offering auditory scanning, or voice output communication aid
• switch, with interface
• microphone and sound card

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