aac e-book: an early intervention to promote communication

AAC E-Book: An Early Intervention to Promote

Communication in ToddlersAicha RochdiRichard Hurtig

Vannesa MuellerDebora Downey

Peggy Daugherty

The University of IowaASHA 2005

Abstract

The use of E-Books allows the introduction of lap reading activities for children with developmental disabilities that should facilitate the development of vocabulary necessary for the introduction of AAC systems in toddlers prior to their enrollment in preschool programs

For Developmental Disabilities:Getting an Early Start

• Introducing AAC with Infants & Toddlers

• Enhancing language development with early intervention

• Making the child an active participant in conversation

• Early home literacy experiences provide important support for the development of language skills

• Vocabulary development occurs through visual scaffolding by way of the graphics

• The narrative nature of text provides the child with a rich set of syntactic and semantic models

• Listening comprehension is enhanced by the auditory nature of parents’ participation

Importance of Lap Reading for Language Development

• Lap reading provides an interaction that supports the development of language and thinking

• Lap reading provides a natural activity to support the adult in assisting and facilitating the child’s development and ability to respond in a linguistically relevant manner

• Lap reading supports a collaborative thought process that facilitates the child’s problem solving skills

• Lap reading interactions allow the child to practice the skills that are requisites to internalize the thought processes critical to both cognitive development and subsequent educational achievement

Importance of Lap Reading for Language Development

Visual Literacy as Prerequisite for AAC

The Chicken-Egg

Problem

The Case for Using E-Books With Children With Developmental

Disabilities

• The absence of adequate verbal abilities and postural/ physical limitations make normal lap reading difficult.

• The absence of recognizable verbal output by the child, limits the child’s ability to respond to parental queries that are an essential component of lab reading interactions.

Vocabulary Building -1

• Linking physical object with photo of object

• Linking photo of object with graphic of object

• Linking graphic with word or phrase

Vocabulary Building -2

The Hypernym Problem• Represent TYPE• Represent TOKEN

Vocabulary Building -3

• Knowing objects by experience

• Connecting symbol to conversational function

The Case for Using E-Books With Children With Developmental

Disabilities

• The absence of adequate verbal abilities and postural/ physical limitations make normal lap reading difficult.

• The absence of recognizable verbal output by the child, limits the child’s ability to respond to parental queries that are an essential component of lab reading interactions.

Concept of an AAC E-Book

• E-Book allows electronic manipulation where child may not be able to manipulate real books

• E-Book allows child to be an active participant in lap-reading activities

• E-Book allows learning of symbols in narrative/ communicative context provided by lap reading

• E-Book allows for enhanced parent-child interaction

• E-Book can support language development through social interaction of lap reading

Book

Page Response Elements

AAC BoardElements

1

2

Giving the Child the Ability to Manipulate a Book:

E- Book Navigation Example

Concept by Cheryl Christian

Photographs by Laura Dwight

Example of an E-Book Page

This is a picture from a real book.

These are buttons

that allow you to turn

pages.

If you click on this, I

will sign, “I am Sam”.

Click on any of the words I will speak

them for you.

Click on these videos and I will sign the individual word from the sentence.

The E-Book can also ask questions

about the story.

Example of a Comment PageThe E-Book can comment on the story

and ask questions.If you click on Sam’s hat, you will go to this page.

Example of a Question Page

Clicking on the answers will take you to a different page.

Early Toddler Book Examples:Counting & Rhyming

One, Two, Three! By Sandra Boynton

SIX is fun for a running race.

F forever fooling

Personalized E-Book Examples:Linking Content to Every Day Life

A Day in the Life of Brittany

?

We climb before we ride. After we climb, we ride.

We climb before we ride. After we climb, we ride.

before after

We climb before we ride. After we climb, we ride.

That’s right!

We climb before we ride. After we climb, we ride.

Oops!

Click here to

try again!

Narrative Book Examples:Introducing Vocabulary in Language Rich Contexts

Corduroy was just waking up when the first customers came into the store in the morning. And there, looking at him with a wide, warm smile, was the same little girl he’d seen only the day before.

Late that evening, when all the shoppers had gone and the doors were shut and locked, Corduroy climbed carefully down from his shelf.

Signing E-Book ExampleLinking Sign to Text

the title of the story is

The title of the story is Goodnight Moon.

Goodnight Moon

E-Book Example for Bilingual Children

Longue Courte

Bas Fort Bas Fort

Tips For E-Book Construction

• Identify set of utterances you want to introduce into a child’s expository repertoire

• Identify one or more age appropriate published books whose content introduces those utterances or collect pictures of the child’s environment which depict the vocabulary you want to build

• Construct a story board to guide making a personalized daily activity based book for a child

Minimal Tools Necessary For Making Your Own E-Books

• Computer with scanner• Digital Camera• Microphone• Microsoft PowerPoint• Computer with touch screen or alternative

means for child access

Iowa E-book Creation Tool

The University of Iowa is developing a software tool that will permit parents, teachers and clinicians to create E-books with sound, video and animation. The tool will allow use of both digitized speech/sounds and text-to-speech in at least 8 different languages. The tool will operate on any Microsoft Windows XP platform. We anticipate that the tool will be downloadable from the Iowa Assistive Devices Laboratory website in the Spring of 2006. The laboratory is negotiating with children’s book publishers to arrange for adaptation of popular children’s books for use as E-books.