planning. This concept is no different than the opportunities that children without disabilities get when learning to use new tools.
the student signals the partner using whatever physical method is the easiest. You might setup switches connected to a voice output communication aid (VOCA) with messages such as“that’s the one” or “no, not that one.” However, if the student is having trouble with switches, it’s best to have the student use unaided communication strategies, such as gestures and/or facial expressions. Keep in mind, when teaching language, you want to focus on communication—not accurate switch use. With the motor demands at a minimum, professionals can even use PAS to teach students the vocabulary and layout on SGDs. This allows students to develop a mental map of their vocabulary to make it easier to layer on physical switch access component. The other bonus to PAS is that it can also be done auditorily using partner assisted AUDITORY scanning (PAAS). This is an ideal method for students with vision issues as it requires no vision. See Linda Burkhart’s work for a wealth of resources on students with complex needs and PAS and PAAS: https://lindaburkhart.com/ PLAN SWITCH OPPORTUNITIES THROUGHOUT THE DAY: One hour of switch work a day isn’t going to be enough to help our students develop the physical skills for switch access. Our students have extremely challenged motor skills and will need time to develop the movement and the fluency for using switches. According to the Fitts and Posner stages of motor learning, it takes ongoing repetitions to learn a motor pattern with automaticity where the student can do the movement without thinking about it. Therapists determined that once movements performed by children with cerebral palsy were automatic, it became easier for them to process the cognitive and language components behind switch use (Beauchamp et al., 2018). According to Burkhart (2004), new neurological connections that lead to learning these movements to the level of automaticity require thousands of repetitions that include purpose and variation. MODEL, MODEL, MODEL: Part of developing motor planning is knowing what the activity is and what the outcome looks like. The adults need to model switch use. Once the adult models, there should be no requirement that the student copies the movement. Adults need to model and move on to show the student how the activity works. GROWTH OCCURS OVERTIME: Take into mind that our students may not initially be proficient with using switches - this takes time and teaching! Some students might take a couple years to become a reasonable scanner. For these students, it is not necessarily about immediate, accurate, independent switch use to access AAC. It’s about students learning to communicate with robust vocabulary on an AAC system, regardless of the access method. LET STUDENTS MAKE MISTAKES: Given our students’ limited experiences with switches, it is important to give them ample opportunities to experiment and make mistakes in order to build problem solving skills which ultimately contributes to motor
THE POWER OF PERSONALLY MEANINGFUL : Start out with things that students care about. This type of intrinsic motivation drives attention and engagement which leads to the development of motor planning. Learning to use a switch may be hard, and even abstract for many students. The best way to teach this abstract concept is to layer it on top of something students already know. FOSTERING ENGAGEMENT: Be careful about parking students at the computer on their own with switches - unless the student really wants that. For students who need more feedback, success of learning rests on the social interaction in real life contexts. Involve peers! When planned correctly, switch activities should be fun, interactive and a great way to foster relationships! FOCUS ON SOCIAL INTERACTIONS & ATTRIBUTING MEANING: This is something we do naturally for young children when they do something random and make errors. It is natural that young children would make errors because they don’t know enough about what they are doing. Adults respond to children’s random attempts and errors to teach them what it means. Adults tell the child what they saw and then they make a connection between the child’s behavior and the something real in the activity. It’s important to do the same thing with our students using switches who are learning so many new skills! For example, a student briefly looks at the computer with a game and then look down at switch and starts to bang it. Adult response: “I saw you look at the computer screen. Oh look-there is a game there! I wonder if that is what you were thinking about! Look- we can press the switch to play it! Let’s do it together.” Over time, attributing meaning to students’ random behaviors builds their conceptual knowledge and awareness about their actions. USE A FRAMEWORK AS A GENERAL GUIDE: It’s important to not have switch activities be drill based and mastery based. Students need to be exposed to lots of different types of activities. Our students need systematic teaching which starts with a purposeful activity, knowing the type of motor demands and language demands of the task and how it needs to be graded for the student. The Stepping Stones Framework to 2 Switch Scanning (Burkhart, 2018) is an invaluable resource for students who will eventually be doing switch scanning to access AAC. It breaks down the cognitive and motor concepts of learning to use switches with suggestions for activities based on the students’ needs. To see Linda’s presentation, go to ableU (from Ablenet) www.youtube.com/@ableu InclusiveTLC has an extensive Switch Progression Roadmap which can be downloaded from their website. It is a guide that describes the different physical skills needed for switch access, along with a wide range of appropriate activities and the needed AT.
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