Image 3 - Language Explosion During COVID School Closure
POSSIBLE SILVER LININGS OF COVID-19 PRECAUTIONS & STAYING AT HOME As we began providing teletherapy services for our clients us- ing AAC, we started to receive feedback from families that they were feeling more comfortable with the devices and vocabulary, that they were enjoying the opportunity to participate direct- ly in sessions, and that many of them were noticing increased communication from the AAC users they were supporting. On May 11, 2020, roughly six weeks following the beginning of school shutdowns across the United States in response to the Coronavirus pandemic, a parent posted the following question to the LAMP Words for Life Users Facebook Group: “Anyone else’s child having an explosion of language (verbal or AAC) since being in quarantine with siblings and parent all day long .... everyday for over a month. We have seen extreme growth in language and expressive ability. Curious if others have seen same result.” The post generated a great deal of engagement including 268 reactions and 105 comments. In total, 72 of the comments were from parents or therapists/interventionists answering “yes” or “no” to the question posed. The other comments were either supportive comments, questions or responses to questions or comments. There were responses from 56 individual parents and 16 in-
technology to allow for a better signal. In some cases, AAC users do not have access to their high-tech speech-generating device due to repairs or devices being kept at school. Reminders need to be given about providing auditory feedback if individuals are pointing to symbols/words on a paper-based system. Natural Consequences can be provided by either the clinician or the in-person communication partner depending on the con- text of the activity. It is important to model natural interaction and avoid using words such as “push, show or press”. Encourage in-person communication partners to continue to respond to all attempts at communication, to generalize words, and to par- ticipate in brainstorming sessions to determine how else they might target vocabulary covered in a session. As in in-person therapy sessions, maintain the focus on lan- guage development. This is language therapy. The modality is different and now the service-delivery is different as well, but the focus remains the same. We have found continued success during this time, and while there are certainly some challenges, it seems there are some decided benefits to this time for some of our AAC users and their families / support systems.
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October / November, 2020 | www.closingthegap.com/membership Closing The Gap © 2020 Closing The Gap, Inc. All rights reserved.
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