Running Head: Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Technology Mentorship: Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Andrea Colvin

University of Alaska Southeast

EDET 668, Dr. Lee Graham, April 9, 2017

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Introduction

As a special education teacher who works with a wide array of students, one aspect is

knowing the different technologies that can help students access the world in an efficient and

effective way. I approached another special education teacher at my school and asked if she had

any technology that she wanted to learn. One of the students on her caseload recently got funding

through the government to supply an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). The

device is called a Tobii Dynavox. Within this device is an app called Compass. The app has

many different categories to choose from filled with topics for the child to use to communicate.

The student got the device at the end of January 2017 and now staff needs to be trained on how

to use the device and how to train the child to use it as well.

Review of the Literature

The Tobii Dynavox is in the category of AAC. Literature supports the use and

implementation of AAC devices of students with disabilities. Many factors contribute to a

successful application of the AAC device such as mindset, prompting, collaboration, and

modeling. One study done with graduate students seeking a degree in special education, used

literature for the students to give perspectives of the individuals that have disabilities. The book

the students read was about a girl with Cerebral Palsy who get an AAC to help her speak. One of

the students said, The device not only gives her speech, it gives her the power to make choices

(Vicki, 2016, p. 164). The book expanded the knowledge of AAC and Assistive Technology

(AT). Having a perspective from a student's point of view and knowing the full potential of the

devices is crucial for teachers when they teach students how to use the devices.
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Successful implementation of devices requires multiple professionals who collaborate to

make the most useful experience for a child. Collaboration between Speech Language

Pathologists (SLP), Occupational Therapists (OT), Physical Therapists (PT), psychologists, and

behavior specialists can assist all parties in joining ideas for giving the student what he or she

needs to communicate (Lund, Quach, Weissling, Mckelvey, & Dietz, 2017). Along with

collaboration between parties, SLPs agree that a participation model is the most effective when

teaching a student to use an AAC device (Lund et. al., 2017).

Meaningful participation is key for students learning to use an AAC device. The student

must have a reason to communicate to be motivated to learn a new device (Thiemann-Bourque,

Brady, Mcguff, Stump, & Naylor, 2016). Modeling combined with a natural context and various

interaction techniques increases not only the expressive language, but also the receptive language

of the student learning to use the AAC device (Sennott, Light, & Mcnaughton, 2016). One

interaction technique found to be very successful is the Least-to-Most Prompting Procedure.

This procedure starts with the least amount of prompts and uses more prompts if the child needs

them. The prompting starts by asking a student a question and waiting for them to respond using

AAC, the next level of prompting is giving a verbal cue to the student, and graphic modeling, or

showing the student how to do it (Finke et. al., 2017). AAC devices are most commonly used

with students who have Autism Spectrum Disorder, but they can also be used for students with a

wide array of disabilities (Finke et. al., 2017).

Methods

Participant

The participant of this study is the Speech Language Pathologist-Assistant (SLP-A) at a

school serving grades 2nd-5th in a small school district in Alaska. The SLP-A has had much
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experience with an app called Proloquo2Go which is typically used for students on the Autism

Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as type of AAC. The SLP-A has had contact with a representative

from the Tobii Dynavox company and has worked with the device for two weeks.

The goals that the SLP-A has for this mentorship range from troubleshooting on how to

use the device to creating documents that others can use for the device. Some of the specific

goals for the student with the device are for her to communicate with her peers and request her

needs. The mentee would like to become proficient within the app to make this possible. One

area specifically is getting images onto the device and using them within the app. Another goal

that the mentee has is making lesson plans to teach the student how to use the device. Once the

student knows how to use the device, the mentee would like to create a document so other adults

working with her also know how to use the device and app.

The mentee expressed that one big concern is the students behavior and emotions. The

student will hit adults around her when she is upset or wants something that she cannot

communicate. The mentee and I decided that this was an area that we would like to address as a

first concern with the student. We will teach the student to use the app for expressing both

positive feelings and negative feelings. We will start with positive feeling so the student has a

positive association with the device. For each of these, we will create a lesson plan, get the

device ready, create supporting visuals for the lesson, and then write supports for others. After

the third step, the SLP-A will try the lesson with the student, we will create the supports for

others based on what went well for the student and what needs to be changed.

Timeline

Each week, on Wednesday, the mentor and mentee will sit down and work for 30 minutes

on the designated goals. If there is not enough time, the mentor and mentee can meet on
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Thursday or Friday. One aspect of the mentorship that the mentor and mentee both thought were

very important was to set aside time for questions and to troubleshoot the device at the beginning

of each meeting.

Figure 1. Timeline of events and topics

Week 1 February 8 - Set-up Mentorship - Get input from team on behaviors (positive and

negative, preferred activities and snacks currently).

Week 2 February 15 - Discuss questions to be answered/Troubleshoot, Create lesson plan

for teachers for happy/social emotions - what do we need in the app? Supporting

visuals?

Week 3 February 22 - Discuss questions to be answered/Troubleshoot, Setup compass for

happy emotions lesson

Week 4 March 1 - Discuss questions to be answered/Troubleshoot, Write up supports

needed for others who work with her

Week 5 March 8 - Discuss questions to be answered/Troubleshoot, Create lesson plan for

Teacher for anger emotions - what do we need in the app? Supporting visuals?

Week 6 March 22 - Discuss questions to be answered/Troubleshoot, Setup compass for

behavior lesson

Week 7 April 1 - Discuss questions to be answered/Troubleshoot, Write up supports

needed for others.

Week 8 April 8 - Discuss questions to be answered/Troubleshoot, Rewrite and generalizes

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supports for school wide use so staff knows phrases to use that correspond with

the technology.

Data Collection

Information will be collected through annotated notes and a reflective journal after each

meeting. I will record questions, observations, and process in the journal. A shared document on

Google Drive with the mentor and mentee so that she can post questions for us to talk about

during our meeting and her thoughts on what needs to happen for the student. The mentee will

write an evaluation on the impact of my mentoring at the end of the project with guided

questions provided by the mentor. Documents of the lesson plans, screenshots of the device, and

the support documents will also be included in the final report.

Results

Mentorship Description

The mentor and mentee met for a total of 5 formal sessions and 3 informal sessions.

Week 1 the mentee shared that the students was using the device with peers. Discussion occurred

about having a peer model using the device. Student has been playing go fish and using device.

Something that went well during the time with the student was having a peer during the speech

time. The student is very motivated by her peers, so she will want to use the Dynavox. As soon

as we sat down to create our happy emotions lesson plan, the SLP-A stressed the immediate

need to get the student to express what she needs. She is increasingly hitting paras around her

and we need to know what she is needing. We wanted to incorporate both of these things, social

interaction and expressing needs. Before getting it all set up, we gave the students supports to use

quickly right now that correspond with the Dynavox. We talked about what the student needs to
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be communicating. I used my knowledge about behavior and gave a few suggestions. I asked her

when the hitting occurs most often. The mentee talked about how sometimes it seems random,

but it also seems to happen on days that she seems sick or tired. I took a picture of the device and

we talked about what icons should be used for her to quickly say what she needs.

Week 2, student played go fish and play dough with a peer. This is a very powerful

time for the student, I reflected with the mentee that peers can really make a technology device a

positive time for the student. It creates motivation for the student to speak so she can connect

with her friends. She used a button that said I feel sick and pointed to her stomach. We talked

more about what icons we should give her quick access to. I created a low-technology print out

of the screen. This flip card is something I have used in the past with students and the mentee

was very interested in using it. Because the student is only using the technology device in the

speech room, we wanted something that could be used immediately to give her a voice.

Week 3, student used flip card, low-technology twice and pointed to I feel sick and

threw up on both days. This was great news for both the mentee and myself. We figured out part

of what she is trying to say. Part of giving a voice to students who cannot speak is guessing their

needs. Giving this student access to expressing what she wants to say is a priority. The mentee

was very excited about the student using the card to express what she has to say. We talked about

making a quick sayings page on the Tobii Dynavox and came up with many ideas about what

should be included. We could not, however, figure out how to create a new page on the device. I

took a screen shot of the device and edited the picture to make a print out to use in the mean time

until we could solve the problem. The mentee wanted there to be positive sayings, questions, and

needs to be present on the print out. We deliberated and searched for the right sayings and came

up with an example page and common phrases for the student to use.
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Week 4, behavior specialist in town to teach SLP-A to use Tobii Dynavox. Both mentor

and mentee learned to use the Tobii Dynavox from specialist. She gave showed us how to set up

pages and gave us advice to use three different pages. This was very useful and overall the way

we got the most implementation out of the device. The behavior specialist helped train other

special education teachers and paraprofessionals that work with the student. She game

demonstrations of what to do if the student tries to escape and what to do if she starts to hit. The

mentee and I worked together to write down what she said so that it can be streamlined among

all those that work with the student.

Week 5, the mentor and mentee reflected on learning with specialist. The mentee and I

both found the consultation from an outside source incredibly beneficial to the implementation of

this device. Although our goal initially was to get the student expressing her emotions, the need

for her to say what she needs became the forefront of our work together. The student at this point

was using the technology device in three locations, the speech room, her general education

classroom, and the special education classroom. Because the SLP-A and I both had a common

moral purpose of giving the student a voice, we gladly welcomed the ideas and thoughts of the

outside consultation. We could practice on the device and help each other learn because we had a

partnership.

Mentees Evaluation

The mentee was given a short survey to fill out about the effectiveness of the mentor.

Three questions were rated on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being lowest rating and 5 being the highest

rating. The first question asked, How beneficial was the time spent with your mentor? the

mentee rated a 5. The mentee and I were very efficient with our time together. Every time we

met, she came with questions and I came with products and ideas from our last conversation. I
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saw my mentee daily because we work together with many students. I could quickly check in

with her and ask how things were going with the Dynavox. This made us have deeper

conversations because we were already caught up on so many daily occurrences. The second

question stated, My mentor listened to me and helped me with new technology, the mentee

rated a 5. Our work together would be considered a level 1 collaboration, I provided many

materials for the mentee and helped her with ideas on how to implement it. Because the

technology was new to me as well, this mentorship had some complexities that would not have

been encountered if I had already known the technology. I heard what the mentee wanted and

helped her achieve those goals. The main goal was to have the Dynavox be used within multiple

contexts. This was achieved by the end of our work together.

The third question said, My mentor came up with new ideas to promote usage of the

technology, the mentee rated a 5. Most of my ideas were from a low-tech standpoint to get the

student used to the icons and when to use them. This technology needed training for all adults

that work with this student. We worked together to make ways that the adults around her could

also help the student use the device. This includes the low-technology communication so the

adults were also used to responding when the student tried to communicate. When asked, What

were you expecting to achieve while having a mentor? the mentee answered, Support and

advice for the new AAC device. From the beginning of this mentorship, the mentee and I made

very clear goals for how to implement the device. The device was brand new and nobody in the

district even knew how to use it. The mentee expressed from the beginning that she needed

support and someone to talk her questions out with. She was taking on a new task and was facing

a disruption in her work. Having me there to mentor her, she was able to ask questions and have

me to help her solve problems.

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Question 5 asked, What were some beneficial things your mentor did to promote your

learning? the mentee answered, She gave great ideas on how to support the students behavior

and came up with new strategies. My experience with behavior was very beneficial to the

mentee. She has specialties in communication and paired with my experience working with

supports for student behavior, we were able to implement the device for this student. This

mentorship required both of our backgrounds to come together and collaborate so that we could

give this student her voice. The mentee responded, Nothing, to the last question that asked,

What is one thing you would change about your mentoring experience? The mentee got

exactly what she needed form this mentorship. One thing that I would change about our

mentorship would be a time that we could research more about the device. I would also like to

have more time and continue working with the SLP-A and the student. The goal would be to

make this student feel comfortable using the device with any other person within the school.

Discussion and Conclusion

I began this mentorship with no experience with the Tobii Dynavox. I had some

experience with high-tech AAC devices and ample experience with low-tech AAC tools. The

work with the SLP-A consisted mostly of generating new ideas for what was currently

happening. We did not follow the plan we had made at the beginning of the mentorship. The

student seemed to express using alternate communication (ex. running away & hitting) that there

was a more pressing topic to cover with the Dynavox. When using AAC devices, it is important

to program the device for the interest and importance to the individual using it (Vicki, 2016).

Helping the SLP-A with the low-tech modes of communication for the students behavior and

remedial communication was a means for the student to communicate with those around her. At
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the beginning of the mentorship, the Tobii Dynavox was only being used in the speech room. By

the end of the mentorship, it was being used across multiple settings.

One of the most beneficial aspects of the mentorship was the outside consultant that came

to teach the SLP-A and other staff how to use the Tobii Dynavox. The collaboration with

professionals who know how to use devices and understand student behavior are instrumental in

successful usage of AAC devices (Lund et. al., 2017). Starting simple and slowly teaching the

student to use the Dynavox will allow for the student to learn to fluently use the device. Working

with peers who can model the device has not only been motivating to the student, but has given

insight for the SLP-A to program the device to better fit her needs (Thiemann-Bourque, 2016).

Overall, I learned a lot and enjoyed this mentorship. Working with a colleague has been

beneficial not only to her, but to me as well. Papa (2011) states, Adult learners by the nature of

their characteristics will learn best when in a mentoring environment. In this environment the

educational leader acknowledges that he or she is a learner as well (p.101). Many conversations

opened me up to new ideas and made me realize how I can help other students communicate,

even if they dont have this specific device.

Giving children a voice is something we try to achieve for all students. The ones that

cannot communicate to begin with require the most planning and have the most pressing needs.

Communication is fundamental to functioning within our world today. Giving this student a

voice is a strong, ongoing moral purpose for the team surrounding her and helping her achieve

this goal.
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References

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Effects of a Least-to-Most Prompting Procedure on Multisymbol Message Production in

Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder Who Use Augmentative and Alternative

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doi:10.1044/2016_ajslp-14-0187

Lund, S. K., Quach, W., Weissling, K., Mckelvey, M., & Dietz, A. (2017). Assessment With

Children Who Need Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC): Clinical

Decisions of AAC Specialists. Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools,48(1),

56-68. doi:10.1044/2016_lshss-15-0086

Papa, R. (2011). Technology leadership for school improvement. Thousand Oaks: Sage

Publications.

Sennott, S. C., Light, J. C., & Mcnaughton, D. (2016). AAC Modeling Intervention Research

Review. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities,41(2), 101-115.

doi:10.1177/1540796916638822

Thiemann-Bourque, K., Brady, N., Mcguff, S., Stump, K., & Naylor, A. (2016). Picture

Exchange Communication System and Pals: A Peer-Mediated Augmentative and

Alternative Communication Intervention for Minimally Verbal Preschoolers With

Autism. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research,59(5), 1133-1145.

doi:10.1044/2016_jslhr-l-15-0313

Vicki, D. (2016). Young Adult Books: Helping to Prepare Teachers for Augmentative

Alternative Communication. International Journal of Special Education,31(2), 161-168.