on. By attributing meaning, partners can help shape students’ behavior. Over time, students begin to learn the meaning of their behaviors. See Table 4 for examples.
Table 4. Attributing Meaning
What I Do FORM (CONTEXT)
What It Means FUNCTION MESSAGE Probably signaling enjoyment
What YOU should do (PARTNERS)
What you should SAY and MODEL (PARTNERS) Model using their AAC device or light tech board. “I see your smile. I think you LIKE THAT.” “You are hitting your device a lot. I think you really have something to say about this page! Let’s stop and read it again and talk about it.” The partner pauses. Marcus stops banging on the VOCA, looks up at the partner, reaches out, hits and tries to grab the book. The partner excitedly responds, “Yes let’s look at that page! It says…” “I think I heard you say some- thing. I wonder if you want to talk about the letters. Check it out! “A” is the first and last letter of your name! And there is “g.” “G” is the first letter in your best friend’s name “Gary.” The other letter is “x.” Hmm-I can’t think of anything that starts with the letter “x” right now. But, it is on your alternative pencil way at the end of the alphabet.” At the end, Adriana doesn’t look, but she smiles and vocalizes loudly.
During a sound awareness activi- ties, Ellie smiles when hearing a tongue twister During shared reading, Marcus repeatedly taps and bangs a VOCA. He appears to be focused on the VOCA and not the book.
Respond and model
Unclear
Respond and model with encouragement.
Perhaps unconnected to activity
During an alphabet game, Adriana doesn’t make a choice when given 3 letters (a, g, x). She will just hang her head down, but occasionally vocalizes.
Unclear
Respond with encouragement.
Perhaps unconnected to activity
USE PARTNER ASSISTED SCANNING TO ACT AS THE STUDENT’S ‘POINTER’ Partner assisted scanning is a way for students to make choices when they cannot physically point to all of the choices. Using partner assisted scanning is especially helpful for students who have problems with “visually guided reach” (a characteristic of CVI). This is when students have trouble looking at something and reaching for it at the same time. Partner assisted scanning is simple. For auditory scanning, the communication partner verbally states choices and when the student hears or sees what they want, they make a yes or no response in some way, e.g. a facial expression, vocalization, head movement, a VOCA programmed with “that’s what I want.” The communication partner lists each choice, pausing between choices. Students frequently don’t choose something the first time, as they may want to hear all of their choices a couple of times. Cycle back through the choices at least three times. Keep talking to a minimum, so students can think and respond. Auditory plus visual partner assisted scan- ning techniques also consider what the student is looking at while options are listed. Looking and listening at the same time can be difficult for students with CVI. It is important to collaborate with the TVI when determining which visual supports will be appropriate for an individual student. The complexity of visuals may vary based on the familiarity of the task and the environ- ment. Go to Project Core (www.project-core.com) for a Quick Reference Guide about partner assisted scanning. Case Study: Independent Reading. Ale loves to listen to his favorite books during independent reading time. Ale has early Phase II CVI and has trouble looking at most books because they are visually too complex. He has a handful of books that have been simplified to accommodate for his limited vision. His teacher makes sure that he also has access to e-books with longer stories and rich vocabulary, so that his language develop- ment and exposure to books aren’t restricted to what he can see. On this day, an audio book is used because it not visually complex. Ale needs to choose his own book; his teacher offers him 8 choices of books, and includes “something else” as the last option. Due to
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