TRANSCRIPT - Let's Talk About Vocabulary Today we're going to talk about vocabulary. Selection for Independent activities core personal and academics with Shannon Page so excited to have Shannon back because I tell you this is the one conversation. That I constantly was having as a TBI with my folks is how to pick that right vocabulary. What are we going to use? What are we going to do? So I'm so excited to have her here and talk to us today. Whoa, okay, music. Hello. Alright, before we start, our goal is to build a community of practice for technology that is allow us to support each other when we are teaching our teaching technology to our students in the spirit of that goal. This is an interactive session where you can participate and converse with each other and our speakers be advised that this session will be recorded and posted on our website for later viewing in our TSBBI professional development library and by registering you're giving us permission to publish the contents that may include your image or voice. So our session norms, feel free to speak up if you have any questions. And the one thing I constantly forget to do is to say my name before I speak. I'm Donna. Hey, if y'all didn't already know. That allows our participants who are blind or visually impaired to know who is speaking and those of us who are looking at the big gallery of pictures to know who we need to focus on. So if you have any questions you can speak up or type it in the chat. Everyone should have the ability to unmute themselves. I said it that way, but there's no guarantee that it'll work. We know how technology is. So I'm going to hand everything over to Shannon. I'm going to stop my share. And here we go. And I'm gonna start my share so everyone can see my screen. Yep. Okay, perfect. And let me get my. Chat and then Donna, will you you will watch the chat and if there's questions I am all about interrupting. As you said, this is an interactive. And so I'd rather not lose the top. They can have to rethink about where we were later, so I don't mind being interrupted during the presentation. Perfect. I will monitor the chat for you. Bye. Alright, and I am Channon Page and these are some of my coworkers and we all work for the Texas Technology Access Program, and we all work for the Texas Technology Access Program, and we support all of you. Through providing assistive technology across the state so Anyone who's, I know we're primarily working with vision impairments if you're ever looking for that right device or that right tool. Often you can, contact us and we can lend devices for 35 days. So we are a resource that is federally funded and we are here for you. Our goal as a part of the AT. Which is the federal fund that basically provides my paycheck. That we need to promote independence for all Texans with disabilities. That's vision impairments, but you know that there's not a disability that's clean cut. And so, typically when we have disabilities or individuals with disabilities, there's often, variations in how they're impaired even if they have the same label. So. Our goal is really to get the right fit because we know if it is the right fit, the right tool, low tech and high tech. That it's more likely the individual will use it. And progress and use it for independence. So the the mission for our group is to increase access for people with disabilities. Provide them more control over their immediate environments. And then really just promote that independence independence is huge and every individual from a 2 year old all the way to someone who's in their nineties they have a right to that independence to their greatest extent possible. We and it's up to all of us to promote it. And one of the ways that we promote that independence. Is sometimes by providing the language. Or the support. So that the individuals can meet their own needs. And if they don't have the right vocabulary to meet their own needs. Then how can they make the right request or. You know, advocate for themselves. So the top of today's speech is core vocabulary and more what do they want to say? And it's mostly geared. I'm gonna kind of talk about those emerging communicators where we get started. But really it's also about enhancing. Kids at all ages and adults. So if you've got someone going into a transition program, how do we give them the vocabulary for that environment that they might be working in? And so there's some processes in order to make sure that we're supporting the individuals moving forward and giving them the vocabulary. And terminology and an understanding of what they want to talk about. And we'll do a couple activities during the presentation to To kinda hone in on why it's important. But right now what I'd like you to do is in the chat I want everyone to put in one thing they're looking for to it could be a trip, it could be a gift, it could be time off. What is one thing you are looking forward to over the winter break? And I'm hoping everyone does get a winter break. So everyone in the chat just Just type in one thing. We got moving, rest. Family, 2 with family. Rest, time off, rest. So we got rest and family are big on on on this group. So what I want you to think about this is if I was fun time, I wanna go with you, Linda. And what we want to start thinking about is If we were sending kids. Would they be able to? Communicate in those environments when they go off in this winter break if those were their choices. So It's not a one size fits all because If Donna is going to be moving, I don't want to give her the rest vocabulary. I want to get her vocabulary she's gonna need for that move. So I have to have that. Ability to know where she's going to help set her up for success in regards to choosing vocabulary. Likewise, Lilian needs to rest. And so depending on this individuals cognitive level and vocabulary level and grade level, I need to make sure that they've got the vocabulary to request the things that they might need to rest with. Maybe it's watching TV. Maybe it's sitting on the couch. Maybe it's in a bed. But that vocabulary is going to be totally different in regards to a topic. That Donna would need for moving. So we have to be cognizant of those elements of what vocabulary they need. So. Once again, today is going to be an overview. This is a 1Â h session. There I'm pretty passionate about vocabulary because I think vocabulary is one of those things that we need to consider. That can make or break the success of an individual and how we prep them, especially for those kiddos who are very complex, your kids who are deaf blind that would be using the tactile symbols. It becomes imperative to give them the vocabulary because they don't have, we. We are starting just from scratch. And if they demonstrate success because we're giving them the right vocabulary versus they demonstrate failure because we're giving them the wrong vocabulary, we can shut them down and they'll start becoming learn they'll start having those behaviors of learned helplessness from the very beginning. And one of my very first students was actually a little girl. She was one of the first, she was one of back in 19 or in 2,001. She was the earliest surviving twin. In Texas Children's Hospital. And so because of the medications they gave her, she was vision impaired. And she had lost her sight and, there were some hearing issues, but for the most part, her hearing was fairly good. And. When we worked with her, I wish I could go back now and work with her again, but I had all of these miniature objects. So we would work a lot on labeling. And she could identify and match with these little objects. But they were all nouns so it didn't really support her academically. So if I could go back and help one student, it would be that student because I gave her a lot of nouns. She could label all food items. She could label all bedroom items. She could label all bathroom items. But I didn't give her I had her just those 2 years and I didn't give her that foundational vocabulary to make her successful in an academic environment. Books. We, well, we did some of those common nouns. But positionals and we didn't do some prepositions but I really sold for short in regards to her interest being able to talk about what she wanted to talk about. Expanding on that. And I could do better. So I want you to learn from my mistakes and we'll move on. Doing better as a group. So the objectives for today are really listing 3 types of vocabulary embedded in like communication devices, which could be low tech or high tech tactile symbols. Describe 3 strategies to promote communication opportunities and compare and contrast personal vocabulary, academic vocabulary, and core vocabulary. Personal and academic vocabulary are sometimes considered fringe. So you would have those 2 big components core and fringe and we'll talk more about that as we move forward. So the next thing we're gonna do is we are going to look at our cell phones. And we're gonna look at the vocabulary we've used in our last text message. And, if you look on this one, this is, just a screenshot of Ron Weasley's. Interaction. And he's talking so he says oh no the vampire ones When is it due tomorrow? There's no way we can get it done in time. Where's Hermione? Let's look in the library. I'll meet you there. Brilliant. So in this text stream about getting a homework assignment done. Just in that very short snippet, look at the nouns that were used in that tech stream. The nouns were time, Way, Hermione, Library, and Vampire. Look at all of these other words. Oh no, when? Where? The one, we, you, I, it is can get look like. All of those other words are not easily represented by pictures. But they make up more of the conversation than those 5 nouns. And those 5 nouns, if I went into the bathroom, I could not use them. If I needed to get help in the bathtub, I could not use them. If I needed to get help getting ready for bed. I could not use them. But I could use all of those other words. Many of those other words. So. Moving forward, we're going to do a quick activity. And if you open this padlet. That I put on here. We're gonna work together and I want everybody in one column Let me, add the link. To the chat also. In one column, I want you to touch this little plus. And I want you to add some of the words in your last text message that are nouns. And then what are 10 of the other words that are in your text message? So you just hit the little plus and you add your own word. So I'm going to share this. And it's in the. It's in the chat. Okay. You put it in the chat so everyone should be able to, oh look at all these little bobble heads I have up here, that means people are seeing it. And just write in your nouns, there because I want you to really understand that. The nouns that you use are personal and you're gonna see that there's gonna be significant differences in the nouns. But the other words, you're gonna see some, similarities. Should be able to just hit this little plus and. And Well, I also have to refresh. There it is. So we got town weekend Sunday pickle ball. Toy barby somebody's getting a Barbie for Christmas. Get these good nouns and then. Go ahead and put your other words in. And what I often say is, By not giving the children and the learning communicators, the correct vocabulary that they need to communicate with. We almost hold them to a higher standard than their typical peers and you'll hear me say that. Because they have to be more creative with what they say or they sometimes often just don't have the words to say what they want to say. Sorry, can be used in any environment. Training. Is this the up? So this one can be used in any environment. This one is huge. That's one of those first ones. Now you and I, so this should be not pronounced. So the pronouns, I'm gonna move over here. Cause those are those words that are not specific. So That's good. Refresh again. They're coming in. So this is good. You want do. Love. So here's what we're looking at. When we have all of these words, we can say so much more. And love can be a noun or a verb. I love you or it is love so it can be either one. But. When you're looking at these, I want you to look at these are actual conversations you're having today. And so how do we start from promoting our kids to have real conversations? And not just become label makers. I don't care if you can label 300 words if you can't communicate your wants and needs effectively I've actually sold you short. And so part of that is really thinking about what vocabulary you need. So this is a pretty important topic. Alright, so we're gonna move this aside. Great job. Any thoughts or comments? In regards to that activity. This is a good activity I do with parents sometimes when parents are. Concerned about why I'm picking the vocabulary words like this and that versus they're doggy and, grandma who only visits once a year. Because I wanna make sure that I give them vocabulary, we can really communicate within any environment. So what you're gonna notice is in the second column, something with this one back over here. You're gonna hear me call these nouns or vocabulary. So these are the core. Or I'm sorry, French vocabulary. These are your fringe. You're gonna hear me call these other words, or vocabulary. And a big way to think about it is these are words that are not easily represented by objects. More pictures you can't tactically feel them because they're abstract. Nouns are things that you can represent by touching often, person place or thing, by being somewhere by listening. So they're easier to represent and so they're often used more. But they're very environmentally specific activity-specific, subject-specific. And so they're not really conducive to communicating in every environment. I'm gonna move forward. So core vocabulary when we talk about corporate category, or vocabulary are pronounced. So that would be he, she. And so I don't need to know his name is Bobby if I have he. Or if someone wants to use they that's fine. I don't have to have names if I'm using these different pronouns. I can use them in any environment, not just the environment. So if it's a doctor, I'm only using that doctor in that medical environment. Or in a play activity regarding medical, but what if we're on a farm? I might not need that word, doctor. Prepositions also are used in every environment. So you go out any door that you're in. So out and in on and off, put the book on the table. Put the cereal in the bowl. Put the water in the bathtub. Put the paper towel in the trash. So you've got those prepositions get on the bus. Go in the car. So those prepositions can be used in any environment. Demonstratives. If I use the words this and that. Then I don't need to teach a label. So if I have. Oh, I should have had objects, but let me grab some objects here. Oh, look at this. I have an enlarged timer. And I have a phone. I could tell it an individual, do you want this one? Or do you want that one? And just by using this and that, I can give them 2 choices in any environment with any words. And, Galvan Tatenhoven will look at an activity sheet that she created. She would actually have a this bucket in a that bucket to promote that demonstrative of this and that. And then you've got your common verbs. Go. You have to go so many places during the day. So that's one of my first words because transitions. Are very powerful and transition cause anxiety and when you have students with anxiety they have behavior problems because they don't know where they're going. So I wouldn't, I was talk to individuals and I said, If I drove to your house and picked you up in 5Â min. And just kind of grabbed your hand and put you in the car buckled you in and started driving. And then I went an unfamiliar route and you couldn't hear the sounds that were familiar to you and you couldn't see the sites that were familiar to you. And I didn't tell you where you were going, so you couldn't prepare your body for what you would need. To be ready for when you get there. So are we going to a circus? Are we going to the ice cream store? I going to the doctor to get a shot? Am I going to the beach? So each of those you mentally prepare yourself because you're going somewhere. And if you don't have a way to tell kids where they're going, every time they get in the car is going to create that opportunity for anxiety. So Think about if I did that to you. How you would feel so. Would you just be like, yeah, we're going somewhere. I don't care where I'm going. No, it would be like, where are we going? And how long is it going to take? How long until I'm there? What are we gonna do? So Go is very powerful and it's one of the first things I advocate teaching for kids. And I teach you, I teach my people working with especially emerging communicators to find the familiar places they go and let's give them a representation, whether it be a tactile symbol, whether it be a word. But let's tell them where they're going. Is it the bank? Is it the playground? Is it grandma's house? Is it the church? Is it the school? Is it the doctor's office? But let kids have those words of where they're going and then it's we're going home. We're going to school. We're going home because if I pick you up in 5Â min and I put you in the car and I say, hey, we're going to the doctor's office mentally you kinda figure out what you need to be ready for that environment and kids do the same thing but we don't honor them with the vocabulary they need to prepare their little bodies and guess what we get? Meltdowns. Hmm, because they've got anxiety. So let's reduce that in anxiety by even giving them some objects that they might. Be familiar with from that environment. So those are all strategies we can do. So verbs come in verbs. Stop teaching them to do go going places. Stop and go. Teaching them to eat. Eats a good one. Look. Here. Listen. So those are all touch field. Those are all some of those. Common verbs they need. Now, adjectives are huge, hot, cold. Perfect. They did a study and they said individuals with disabilities, often left. As 21 year olds not able to tell significant others that they are sick and or hurt and identify where they are hurt. So I often work on. Now is that I do work on our body parts and then. Common descriptors. So where are you hurt? Is it a big hurt or a little hurt? And you can do examples of giving them something big and something small to teach those concepts. Adverbs fast, slow. And then just a few common nouns body parts would be one of the common nouns that I would use and All of those are not all of those words that I just talked about are not easily represented by objects. And so they're not off and picked as the first words to teach kids. We want to teach them apple, banana, but we only eat a very small portion of our day. So, Mayor, Benji is a researcher out of, Louisiana and They took a study. A research study and they followed hundreds of toddlers around. And with the toddlers, they then looked at which words all toddlers use. They took out those. Those words that were specific to an individual. They looked at all of the words that these toddlers use. And these are the first 26 words, the most common 26 words that most toddlers use. So look at this, how, how you can control your environment. You go, I go, no. Yes, more. Some, all done, finished. So these are all the words that kids can use to control their environment. And that's what you want to really think about. What words? Do these individuals need? To control their environment and understand their environment. And progress in their environment. So in contrast. They also then. Took all of the text messages so all these college students shared all of their common text messages. And these are the first, these are the most common, 25 text message. Words and so why are we sending our kids to college? I don't know. I paid for college for 2 kids and this is where we get. So, okay, good. And I will tell you for my son who's 30 now. I don't think he's ever surpassed that because I pretty much get, yeah, okay. Those are the 2 texts I get from my son. My daughter gives me novels because she's got toddlers and grand babies. I don't think so. Sure. That's all I get from my son. But it's his communication. So 9 of the words. On these 2 lists are exactly the same. But none of these are words if I were to have you write what the first words you were going to give to a student or a child or an adult. I bet you none of these words would probably be on it. If you haven't taken this course and really had that time to think about it. Now, these are the core words, but it doesn't mean we discount the fringe words. So, I often interview parents when I'm taking on a new kiddo and I will ask them what their favorites are and I create like a favorite sport for that individual so that we have representation of what their favorite toys are. So if I interviewed all of you and said, what are your favorite restaurants? It's gonna be different. So I want to make sure that if I were developing a communication system for you, I would have your favorite foods and restaurants. What you even pick for me versus my husband is gonna be quite different mine is coffee ice cream his is everything else I just want my coffee, my ice cream, not happy. And it's even better if you put that ice cream in my coffee and then we're happy. So your fringes all the other words that are not those. Forward. So when you think about core words, think about those site words that they give to kindergartners, those sight words are core words because kids can use those words and manipulate them to tell little stories. And so there's a reason they pick out those 50 site words in kindergarten and then they move on and add those next 50 to 100 in first grade because those are very important words for kids to manipulate. To tell their stories. So your fridge are all of the other words they're less frequently used, but they're very relevant to interaction. So if Donna and I were talking about going out to dinner tonight, we would need the words for the restaurant. We would possibly need direction words. We would need what we're going to be ordering off of the menu. But if we were going to a movie, we wouldn't need all of those words. So you have to really be thinking about what the interactions are going to be and where you're going. Your fringe words often consist of nouns. They're still very important, but they make up about 20% of a child's communication versus the 80% of those core words. And those. The answer is still necessary for that vocabulary growth because we don't want kids stopping at that 25 first words and then being done. But we do want to make sure they have those. Words for safety. And to get my point across, I'm going to share one of Gel and Tatton Hope's videos. And you don't really need, so this is a video and you've got access to it. So let me cut this off. Actually, I'm gonna go a little bit farther and then I'm gonna share it with you, but I'm gonna share a video with you in just a second. Let me move forward. Alright, so vocabulary is always individualized. So you'll have your core when you're working on developing a system for an individual, which is all your high frequency words with very few nouns. But then when you're looking at the rest of the words, you want to make sure that if you're working with a younger child, you've got those basic concepts, colors, shapes, and numbers and and even adults use colors, shapes and numbers. One of the first things I said to Don when I got on is, look, look, my blue shirt matches my, my little emblem. So even adults use those color words because they're universal. They're very easy to communicate with. Numbers. Well, how many pieces of chicken do you want? And then shapes because often if you don't have a word for something we teach kids descriptive vocabulary, it's the round one in the middle or it's the square one on top. So those basic concepts are very important because many things can can be described by using those very simple words. Shannon, this is this is Donna. I think that was one of our conversations that we had years ago. I think it was you and I that if a kiddo is learning a lesson about Mars and they don't necessarily have the Mars. Correct. Vocabulary they still have for round, red and all those descriptors. That would be able to allow them to participate in the Mars lesson. Correct. Which one is Mars? It's the fourth one. It's the red one. It's the one next to. So you've got all of that other vocabulary where you don't need to. So you've got all of that other vocabulary where you don't need to hyper focus on that Mars or any other nouns because of that descriptive vocabulary. Correct. The next thing is, Especially as we start moving into those transitions because we often sell those kids short. We expect them to go into a job somewhere, but we don't teach them that vocabulary they're going to need to move into that profession. So if they're a vet tech they need to know what some of those tools are like a collar and a leash and a dogs and a cats and Female male dogs and, some of the, gloves and, shots and stethoscopes and whatever their their role is going to be with those animals they need to have that vocabulary versus a plumber they're going to need putty and tape and pipe and PVC pipe and I'm not a plumber, but I've had some good plumbing done and I pay attention. Don't ask me to fix anything. And then content words, but then medical. So content would be like your math words, your, your science words based on those lessons. But then medical is really important for all. Once again, because I want kids to be able to tell me that their toe or their knee is hurting and it's hurting really bad or just a little. So and then you want some of the personal ones, that, people use that are environmentally specific. So if you call like I'm the knowna. So my grandkids better have Nona on their communication system so that they can ask an owner for anything that they want and I will give it to them. My daughter used to have a blanket that was a Bobo and if she didn't have her Bobo. Then she would have a major meltdown. We couldn't ride in, we actually bought a second Bobo that stayed in the car so we wouldn't forget it because 2Â min into it we'd have to turn around and go back and we always forgot. So if if she was asking you an unfamiliar person for her You wouldn't know what that is. We've got to make sure we're talking about that personal vocabulary and keeping that included for that that individual. And then you definitely want, environmental vocabulary. And often what I do to help kind of categorize is in any environment that I'm working with like in a school setting or I make sure that I have hanging in each room and each area in environmental vocabulary because they only need it in that environment. And it also kind of helps kids categorize. So if I'm in the bathroom. Whether it be tactile symbols, whether it be just a simple communication board. I'm gonna have things like sync, soap. Pants down pants shirt whatever they're gonna be doing in that bathroom I wanna make sure they've got the vocabulary likewise if they're in their science center, I want them to have measuring cups. I want them to have whatever they're using in that science. Or if they're in a play center because they're younger children, I might have, a little refrigerator. And the little food items or the baby care items that they have for that environment. But I will even in activities keep little boards with the vocabulary that's important for that activity or environment. And then, activity specific would be like baseball or gymnastics or, fishing. I'm a big Fisher woman or boating. Those would be activity specific. And so if you had a little guy that got to go boating on the weekend and they came back to school and wanted to tell you about it, you would need some of that vocabulary specific to the boat, the water, the wet, the hot. And it wouldn't necessarily need to be boat, but I got in. I felt the wind or it was blowing. It was cool and it went fast. So there's some little things they can tell you about that activity. So the thing about it is vocabulary is always individualized and we get into trouble when we decide, oh, I'm gonna teach a third grade science class, so I'm gonna make this huge vocabulary board. You're never going to meet all of the kids needs. You really need to be individualizing this vocabulary. And that's why we're going to give you some resources today to start really thinking about how to individualize it. So this is the panel of resources and this is where I'm going to show you a quick video on why poor vocabulary is so important. This is one of my favorite videos. And. I'm going to open this up and you have access to this. How I've set or structured these resources is I've got an older handout and I'm gonna put today's handout on here too so you'll have a second handout. You've got some general resources on. Vocabulary boards and then some tools on vocabulary. Selection. Gail then Tatenhoe is probably my favorite. On helping you understand why vocabulary is important. And in the center for. Literacy. Studies, disability studies is like reading and writing and that's Karen Ericsson's work. And then there's some pre made boards and then you can see some examples of some communication boards. Then we've got some different lists. And then, this passport is really important because once you do determine how an individual communicates best. And even though this is a little off of the actual vocabulary selection. Every individual communicates in certain ways the way you move your body, the way you turn your head, the way you sneeze. We all have unique ways of communicating. And these are tools that you can use, because if you're the primary, If you were the primary person working with an individual, you want to make sure that if you are ever out The show must go on and everyone else can communicate. So this is a really nice tool for you. My name is you put the child's picture here. If a substitute teacher comes in. Voila, you don't ever skip a beat. So it's got a little index. My family, my friends, special people, how I communicate, you can help me communicate by fun things. And this is really just a fill in tool all about me. You need to know this about me. I love my family. So put the family members in here, friends in here, special people. Special things that I like, things I like to talk about. Could you imagine if you walked in with a new student and you got this little book, how much easier your job would be? How I communicate. Please do, please don't. Fun thing. So I had one little boy that I worked with and he had been told no so many times, no and said that they were trigger words. And so if you told him no, he immediately melted. If you told him to sit down, he immediately melted. So I would put in here, do not say the word no, instead offer him 2 options. Would you rather this or that? And by doing that, you would prevent about 30 to 45Â min of meltdowns with that student. Fun things I like to do. Sometimes when you're meeting a new student or if a parent or a new teacher is coming in and they go into something that's entering interested, interesting to a student. You can start building that relationship in those connections. And that's huge because kids want to work with people that get them. And this will just open that door. Some things that I really hate. Things I'm working on so that you don't ever skip a beat, things I need help with, things I like to eat and drink. And what's my site like. So these are all just little things that you can kind of build a little communication book for. So I put that little resource in there and there's one that's more for adults but I think many of us are working more with students. There's some emergency considerations. And then finally, I've got some symbol sets and we're going to talk about these global symbols in a minute. But we're gonna watch this video and I want you to think about how powerful it is based on how much how many words are used in this video and how much power this gentleman has. And basically what happened was Galvan Tattenhoe was interviewing him. He's in his, I think late twenties. This is a gentleman that had no communication until he left the school systems and went under Galvan Tatenho's care because she worked primarily in vocational rehab with adults. And gave him a means to communicate. Think about the words he's using and he's actually able to taddle on his caregiver for self-protection because somebody did not come to feed him. And here what he says. Let me open this up. Hi. He says, I. Way. Wait. Or It says more. He builds his sentences word by word. Then he will repeat everything. I weigh more. But John, you've told me quite a story. Why don't you hit speak display so everybody can hear the whole story. Thank you. It was time to eat. I wear that weight. No one there. No, welcome. I pray no one here would help me eat. I would or come and say what we use or tell. Man and we she go away I wait or Well, I'm glad you could tell me about it. Is there something you need me to do to fix it? You can take care of it yourself. Excellent. So it's basically I wait more, I wait and wait, no one come to help me eat. He mad at me. He mad and mean. I wait and wait. So This is an individual that now has the power to taddle on somebody because our, our individuals, the people with disabilities are at a higher risk. For abuse. And neglect. And this gentleman was able then to taddle on somebody who's paid to take care of him and make sure he has feet, has food. And we wanna make sure that we're giving people that ability to meet their needs in that way. So that one I think is a pretty powerful one. And so I've got that one. I ended up closing it up. I've got that listed in here. In this resource because when. People are asking you why you're choosing such simple vocabulary. That's a really powerful video to show them. And I use that all the time in training. Looking forward. So what I say is make every word count. So really think about. The individual you're working with. The average conversational speaking rate ranges from 150 to 250 words per minute. Individuals who use augmented communication usually have less than 15 words per minute. And so we've got to be able to account for the environment when we're giving them the vocabulary. So you saw how long it took that message for him to say. And so how do we maximize the words? So that we're not making our individuals use as much descriptive vocabulary, how do we maximize the landscape, the number of symbols they have so that we can maximize the landscape, the number of symbols they have so that we can maximize what they have to say. So if I give a child the word dog. That's going to take up one of their symbols that they're learning. But if they don't even have a dog because we're doing a cute little puppy activity. I've kind of wasted what they could have had would be the soft furry brown one that they could actually then soft could. Describe their pillow. And so we want to think about that when we're picking and choosing that vocabulary. We want to be just very thoughtful to give them the most words they can handle. That give them the most control over their environment. So who is the decision team? A lot of times we think, well, I'm the speech path or I'm the certain part the teacher. I'm this around that. And so I'm the primary one who has to determine which words. This individual is using. And it's really a team effort and so we've got to make sure take that time to have those meetings or send some questionnaires out. The first person, the first and foremost, decision maker and how you choose the vocabulary is the communicator, which could be an cognitive communicator or even an individual that's delayed. Communicator that you work with that's vision impaired. What is it that they need to say? So they are our number one priority. It's not just pulling lists. There's so many lists online. Here's your word of the week. Here's your word of the month. Well, if you're not honing into that how quickly a child learns and what in their environment they need to say, you're selling that individual shortages just by picking those lists out. Look at medical needs, look at teachers related services, like I said, employment, family, caregivers, friends. These all have to be kind of looked at. We're determining what vocabulary a child needs. Define the purpose for their communication. Are they using a board for short term or is that long term? What are their long term needs? What do they need to know here in this session? But when they're 21 and they leave us, what words do they need to know? What do we want to maximize what they have them? Words for safety. So you just saw that individual in that video. Wait. More help. Those are all safety words heard. And then we want to make sure that we're tying the words that they have to literacy. Many of the kids that leave us don't have really adequate literacy and literacy controls whether they get jobs. And if we don't start thinking about that for the moment, they walk in the door. When we are working with those birth to 3, 3 to 5 that. Early intervention and any of those regular education settings, then. We're selling the kids short. They need to know literacy. They need to have access to words to read. And, we often talk about they don't need to know all letters, but they need to know enough to spell their names and write some basic. New words. So think about maybe they don't need Q and V and and Z because those are low frequency letters. But those high frequency letters like A and P and T, we can really start teaching them to hone in on some literacy skills just by starting with a little bit at a time. Which words do they need to maintain relationships with family and friends? So we do need those mom and dad or maybe it's known it takes care of them or and what are some of the friends that are significant in their environment or siblings. And then ultimately, what words did they need to maximize their independence? So all of these are considerations. We're thinking about vocabulary selection. We want to individualize, vocabulary for success. We want to keep in mind their primary language. We want age appropriate. We also want to keep in mind their culture. And what community they live in. First like if they live more in a farm community versus downtown, Dallas versus downtown San Antonio. All of those are gonna have different kind of community terms. What are their personal preferences? And you do wanna have an idea of their cognitive functioning not to limit them, but to make sure we're scaffolding in an appropriate way. And that's very important. So when I think of culture, I've added on this. Resource. What's called global symbols. And these are free symbols. And the cool thing about these symbols, and if you need to enlarge them or make them contrast, they've got some ability to do that. This is a free symbol set and even if you've got a child with a vision impairment. It still kinda helps you to, hone in on. Words in regards to their environment. So if you look on here, you've got different vocabulary sets. I don't have all the languages. European, you've got some Arabic. So if you think about in Arabic cultures, this is the Bulgarian one. How they do things is slightly different, the representations they have are slightly different. There's, I'm trying to find the one. That's more, Arabic. And you can see they actually go into different cultures like. Qatar, Belgium. Croatia and they vote on which symbol sets best Best represent those cultures. And so that's just a resource for you that I wanna make you aware of and it's free. And move that over. Consider, linguistic competence. What language do they have? Because if you're just regurgitating what they already know, they're going to get bored and you're going to lose them. Think about code switching and teach kids that skill. If this is how you might talk at home, but here's how we talk at school. We want to make sure they can express independent concepts with their vocabulary and complex messages. We don't want to keep them at that low level. We want to always be thinking on how we can build their skills. It's not one and done. It's an ongoing process. To develop their vocabulary. So what we have as another one of the tools in here is what's called a vocabulary needs assessment. And that's one of the resources that you'll have in here. And in that you've got ecological inventories. And that's basically looking at the environment following the child around and seeing what the other kids are doing in that environment and what that child is doing in that environment. And what vocabulary and just keep just it doesn't have to be it can be anecdotal list I used to give my pair professionals and my teachers a little core board and they would. Circle the ones that they use and which ones they didn't and then they would write words they still needed and I would give them a paper copy and it was very, very valuable tool. Then you want to interview communication partners, teachers, but this would also be parents and it could even be siblings. I used to go and talk to the older siblings of some of my students to see what they like to do at home so that I would have that vocabulary to talk about Bella their dog and it was a white fluffy poodle. The next thing you have is you want to be able to create scripts and I'm going to show you real quick in here. A document that Galvan Tatton hope put together to do just that. So if you go down here. There's some language lists. And then there's a. I believe it's here. I'm hoping it's here. Nope, it's here. Right here. It's this normal language acquisition and this is a document that Gail and Tatenhove has and it's pretty it's a good reference to give to teachers and others because it's really simple. And it's, talks about what core words are and it kind of puts, like 2 words together and then as you start putting 2 and 3 words together what the different functions of communication, so requesting versus rejection versus located like here, there, agent accident. So it kind of talks about those different reasons to communicate. She has a little normal acquisition, but what I really like is if you go to the very end. She has a scripting activity and she even gives you an example. So it's got an activity where you can say, well, we're gonna make an ice cream. What are your language? Learning goals for that student? What are the start target? Vocabulary that student would need? What are your materials to teach it? What's the general flow of the activity? And not only does she have the blank sheet, she gives you an example of how she filled it out. So she said the activity is making a smoothie. She wants the child to initiate an interaction, request reoccurrence, say the word more, say the word again. And so the material she needs would be that milk, strawberry, banana, and the blender. Some of the core word references she wants loud because that's gonna describe the blender cold because it's a it's a shake. Long the handle of the spoon. So these are some of the things she's gonna have available to work on. How's she gonna engineer the activity? She's gonna, do some timing activities and some sabotage. So if the child asks for the banana, she might give the child the strawberry so that the child or might give the child a spoon or something like that. And then some of the additional vocabulary put in, go stop and drink. And so you've got this little, easy tool to help you scaffold in activity. To teach some of that So that would be your script. You want to keep the communication diaries. So I keep, I let my paraprofessionals kind of keep an ongoing running list of things that they might need. For that child to be able to say. And then you can use some standards list for comparison. So those are those lists that I gave you the, those. 2 year old words, etc. The ecological inventory really assesses communicated. Communicative needs specific to the environment and to the individual. And it allows you then to evaluate the effect effectiveness of teaching the individual that by knowing what it is you want them to say, of teaching the individual that by knowing what it is you want them to say. By having it so if you write it down. You're more likely to follow it and then you have a better idea of what your targets are. If I just take a child into a room and say, well, that's see what they want to learn. If I take a child in and say, we're making a vanilla shake and we're gonna do put in and take out, we're gonna have a lot of opportunities to practice those words. The process of that ecological inventory is really just determining the primary environments a child is in or an individual analyze that environment for the communicative what words do they need in that environment to say. And then you just do those simple inventories and you're gonna slowly and gradually add those words not all at once. But in a in a manner where they can learn those words. And then this just talks about once once you have those words observed to make sure those are the right words, you may always be adding more. And then interview the individuals in each environment. Create, review, update as needed. It's not a one and done. We're always reviewing, we're always adding, we're always building. We're always a work in progress. Interview, interview care givers and friends that would be. Daily environments. Time spent in each environment, names of communication partners, activities in the environment, and then typical conversation topics in those environments. And then script those things out like I just gave you an example of Gelvin Tatton hope so that you really maximize the opportunities to develop that vocabulary. Owning on what your expectations are. So this one just talks about do you really just want the child to exist or do you want them to actively communicate? So if you just give them one word and you don't have any structure around it, they'll always be passive and you're teaching them to be, you're teaching them learned helplessness. But if you create these inventories and really hone in on the vocabulary that's important to this individual in multiple environments. And you provide them low and high-tech tools to use those words, you're giving them the independence for the rest of their life. And that's what our ultimate goal is. So strategies, teach and model. Or first and often teaching model fringes needed provide both use both and expect communicators to use both. And do it all the time. Considerations how much real estate what tools you have Will the vocabulary be usable in most environments? Does the vocabulary have relevance over time? If we're only talking about a volcano today, but then we never talk about it again, it doesn't have relevance over time. Does the vocabulary system allow for language to grow? We want kids to grow. Does the vocabulary promote the ability to elicit and maintain and interactions with others? Can we actually have a conversation or can you only say more, more, more? Does the vocabulary allow for personal autonomy and that's control of their environment? Do they get to say what they want to say when they want to say it? Does the vocabulary allow for referencing distant events things that they did over the weekend or things they're going to do? Rather than just the here and now so that they can learn to talk about things. That are not here because we don't often talks about talk about things that we're doing all the time. I often use the example of my 2 kids. I took them to Iowa one summer. And they were 3 and 5 and they got to write and votes and they got to ride on a tractor and they got to write in a gas truck and they got to pick corn and they got to do all of those farmy farm animal pig and cow things. And so when I came back, what would I expect? That it would be that they would tell everybody about their farm experiences would be all of those things that is not what they told anybody. And so I would have set their communication board up with all of that vocabulary. What intrigued my kids was something that nobody had ever seen before and something they had never seen before. And it was my great uncle Ray who was missing 3 fingers because he got him cut off in farm equipment and he had to pick carrots like this. And so they thought that was the most intriguing thing and I would have to account for that. Story so that they could tell people things that interested them that were novel and new. I don't need to tell you my name again, my name Shannon Page. Here's your next person. My name is Shannon Page. They already know that and kids know that and so they don't want to communicate anymore. So give him the ability to tell something that's novel and interesting. And over time. So will the vocabulary facilitate developmentally appropriate grammatical structures that comes later? Does the vocabulary allow for referencing what they want to say. So that's all I kind of have. That's a big overview on vocabulary and I cut it right down to the minute. So do we have any questions? No, no, there's, templates in here. So if you take time and then you can always contact me. So if you look on here, you've got some word list that give you some examples. Oops, wrong one. Let me go back to that. And the link is in the chat. To this as pilot. Okay. So. So you've got toggle this, you've got different lists that you can compare with. You've got some learning activities. But no, and then you've, got, I know I put them in here. So I know there's an actual, inventory in here and let me go. Okay. So if you look at Gavin Tatton Hope's resources, I believe she's got. Some data collection forms. The A/C in the classroom, I would look at that one. If you need some more specific help. You can contact it, contact me. I don't have time to go through them all. And then I believe. May have some but they're in here and I will try to send that to Donna some very specific ones such so you don't have to hunt for them. I've got 2 really good inventory, worksheets. And I don't have time to find them, but I will email those to Donna and she can email those out to all participants, okay? Nope. I love, I love the slang words. Love it. Cause I've made the mistake myself of putting that vocabulary on that would be an adult vocabulary and not the kids vocabulary. Yeah. Yeah, listen to that's listen to what the other kids are saying. And when the other kids are greeting the kiddos, hey, what's up? And they say hi my name is or hello my name is you know we need to let them interact in a way that's you know age appropriate. Oh yes. Absolutely, absolutely. Thank you so much, Shannon, where you are at the end of our time here. And I'm going to share my. Share my screen here so we can get. The last of our Business done. Starting noises for 4 year olds and 5 year olds and 6 year olds and you've got you've got Thanks, Donna. I'm putting in the Chat. As of right now, our resources will be posted on my website. Come January, we are transitioning away from my website into the professional learning library. Yay, so excited. So it'll be central. Thank you, Shannon. So you can right now get everything at the website. In this link or on this QR code. Come next week. That is the fourteenth. Yes. Oh my goodness, we're getting so close to the end. Anita is coming back to talk to us about AT and music and then we're going to wrap out our year with Stephanie Walker and the APH update.