“Communicative competence is about people. It is not about computer technology, or AAC systems. Technology is just the tool, it is the people and the interactions between them that must be our main focus.”

Janice Light

Why do we communicate?

• To express needs and wants

• To develop social closeness

• To exchange information

• To fulfill social etiquette routines

Why communicate?

1. Express Needs: regulate someone else’s behavior

- focus is on desired action/object, not participants

2. Social closeness: to establish, maintain, and develop relationships

- focus is on participants; there is no other goal

Why communicate? (cont’d)

3. Sharing information - to acquire new information or impart new information to others

- focus is on information

4. Social etiquette: brief interactions, including comments and greetings

Basic Messages

• What they want

• What they’re having trouble with

• When they need a break

• When they’re giving up

• When they’re successful and happy

Ann Heller - 12th Annual Southeast Aug. Com. Conference, 1991.

Points to remember:

• Communicative competence needs to be learned

• Success depends on identifying appropriate goals

• Different people value different skills

• Need to build on strengths of AAC users

Partner Characteristics• Tend to dominate the conversation

• Preempt the students’ turns

• Don’t give time for student to formulate response/comment

• Often fail to respond to students’ attempts at communication

• Often anticipate students’ needs and thoughts (making it unnecessary to communicate)

Partner Strategies that Promote Communication

• Engage the student

• Comment on or describe an event or action

• Wait for a response– expand on the attempt– prompt for a higher level of success– increase opportunities for communicative

interaction

Using a Prompt Hierarchy

• Expectant pause

• Open question– Ask a who, what, when, where, how question

• What do you want? Where should we go?

• Partial prompt– Ask a question that contains a choice– Give a hint or clue– Model the first few words or sounds

Prompt Hierarchy (cont’d)

• Mand (request for a response)– request an elaboration of the response– “Tell me what you want”– “You need to tell me something”

• Full Model– provide a full model for the response, then

PAUSE again (give time to respond)

Partner Focused Questions

• To develop meaningful social relationships

• Studies provide evidence that adults value partners who show an interest in others– increased perception of the AAC user’s ability

level

• Partner focused questions can aid in initiation and maintenance of conversations

Strategies that Promote Communicative Competence

• Provide meaningful opportunities for communication

• Work with communication partners– a ‘trainer” is not a partner!

• Prepare for opportunities through appropriate instruction

• Provide partner support

Strategies (cont’d)

• Work within the natural environment

• Reflect and learn from experiences

• Continually review and revise

Determine Vocabulary• Listen to peers

• Begin with generic messages that can be used in a variety of settings with a variety of partners

• Can include open-ended carrier phrases (“What are you doing…” - tomorrow, tonight, vacation)

• Include messages that initiate, maintain, terminate a conversation

Determine Appropriate Wording• Consider the following when choosing

actual wording:– age (a 16 year old should sound like a 16 yr.

old)– personality– cultural background– level of comprehension– formality vs. informality of situation (job

interview vs. chatting with friends)

When choosing messages...

• Be sure to include opposites (ex.,“cool/gross”, or “great/too bad”)

• include a message that indicates that what the AAC user is trying to communicate is not available on that particular board/overlay (“It’s not on this board”)

Messages

• Messages should be:– effective - communicate clearly to partner– efficient - get the point across as quickly as

possible– socially appropriate (worded in an acceptable

manner)

Remember….

Simply providing the vocabulary and expecting the student to use it appropriately is not enough

Interaction between AAC users and communication partners needs to be taught

Turn-Taking

• Obligatory– partner is obliged to take a turn because a

question has been asked (“What are you doing?”

• Non-obligatory– partner is invited to take a turn following a

comment or statement (“I went to a great concert”)

Non-Obligatory Turn Taking

• Increases participation in social settings

• Maintains conversation

• Shows that there is interest in the partner

• Aids in partners viewing AAC users as competent communicators

Steps to Teaching Turn-Taking

• Specify the goal

• Select vocabulary

• Provide opportunities

• Follow a prompt hierarchy

• Generalization

• Re-evaluate

• Maintenance checks

Visual Bridges

• Support ongoing communication between home and school– how I felt today– what will happen tomorrow– what happened at home last night

• Active participation in preparation– review and rehearse– organizational skills

Visual Bridges (cont’d)• Sharing information

• Transition between environments (school to home, home to therapies, school to daycare)

• Provides opportunity for student responsibility (material preparation and transportation)

• Encourages initiation and participation in meaningful conversations

Activities

• “Today at School”– reviews occurrences during the day– information put into visual form– improves recall of past events

• Format can include:– marking schedule pictures– photocopying pictures or objects– copying fill-in-the blank sentences

Remnant Books• Basically a scrapbook of meaningful “items”• Collect wrappers, tickets, etc. from field trip

or other excursions• Photographs• Digital photos• School/class pictures• Advertising media (magazines, newspaper)• Computer print-outs

The “art” of building communicative

competence has to do with the faith, the hope,

the belief, and the commitment to the right

of every individual to seek his or her full

potential.. Janice Light, 1996

Resources

• Light, Janice (1996). “Communication is the Essence of Human Life”:Reflections on Communicative Competence. Speech to 1996 ISAAC Conference.

• Blackstone, S. Life is not a dress rehearsal! Augmentative Communication News, 2(5), 1-2.

• Light, J. and Cathy Binger. (1998). Building Communicative Competence with Individuals Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication, Baltimore: Paul H. Brooks Publishing Co.

• Hodgdon, Linda, (1996). Visual Strategies for Improving Communication(Vol.. 1). Troy, Michigan: QuirkRoberts Publishing.