Beware of mirages. Mirage There are many checklists, assessments and hierarchies of skills we can...

Beware of mirages

Mirage There are many checklists, assessments and hierarchies of skills we can use to guide interventions & identify the communicative abilities of people with severe communicative impairments

PROBLEM: Communication is too complex a process to task analyse…..

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The complexity of communication learning and performance Hewett 2006

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…..because it is not a linear process

while changes in the way someone communicates can be identified and

reported on….

While changes In the way someone

communicates can be identified and reported on….

…the changes, refinements or elaborationsthat indicate an individual learner’s

increased communicative involvement simply cannot be predicted

because it is not a linear process

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A visual representation of conventional, ‘structured’ intervention or teaching

first teach thisthen this

and so on

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From: Hewett, D. (2006) ‘The most important and complicated learning: that’s what play is for!’ ICAN, Talking Point, March. www.talkingpoint.org.uk

assessments were never designed as recipes for teaching

Often the ‘ticks’ don’t correspond with the person anyway!!!!

• successful interaction often depends on– familiarity, – observation,– inferences

• made about the learner’s – ‘pre or proto-symbolic utterances’– ‘bodily movements’,– ‘changes in muscle tone’ – other subtle cues

Hostyn, I & Maes, B [2009]Interaction between persons with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities and their partners: A literature review Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, 2009; Early Online, 1–17

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input/output

input/output

input/output?

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Styles of intervention that emphasise outcome

subtly invite practitioners to assume that learning is occurring ….

because they can see the performance of communication

[Mirage]

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A visual representation of the complexity of communication learning and performance

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input/output

input/output

input/output?

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Communication is something which elaborates and diversifies with use.

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A visual representation of the complexity of communication learning and performance

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input/output

input/output

input/output?

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The manner in which communication develops reflects the ‘complex’ in

which is it is learned

In a sense we’re trapped by our own history

of assuming

we can teach communication by instruction

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Links between role perceptions of professionals and styles of interaction

• Staff in ID contexts• 2 main camps;• providers who engage in predominantly

instrumental relationships based on meeting needs • meaning makers who consider their role is to

understand their client’s moods and gestures and to try to create meaning within a relationship with them.

• Clegg, J. A., Standen, P. J., & Jones, G. (1996). Striking the balance: A grounded theory

analysis of staff perspectives. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 35, 249–264.

providers ; predominantly instrumental relationships based on meeting needs

• The majority of communication interventions by professionals with learners at very early stages of communication, are focussed on providing the learner with the means to express needs and wants and by inference, requests.

• Light Parsons & Drager [2002] There’s more to life than cookies’ :Developing interactions for social closeness with beginning communicators who use AAC in Reichle Beukelman & Light [eds] Exemplary Practices for Beginning Communicators, Implications for AAC. Baltimore ; Brookes Publishing

• Interventions to illicit expressions of needs and wants are relatively straightforward ...... easy to implement and to measure.

• Reichle York & Sigafoos (eds) (1991) Implementing augmentative and alternative communication : Strategies for learners with severe disabilities Baltimore: Brookes Publishing]

providers ; predominantly instrumental relationships based on meeting needs

• It is undeniably important for learners to gain the skills to request and indicate preferences,

however, “there’s more to life than cookies”Light Parsons & Drager [2002] There’s more to life than cookies’ :Developing interactions for social closeness with beginning communicators who use AAC in Reichle Beukelman & Light [eds] Exemplary Practices for Beginning Communicators, Implications for AAC. Baltimore ; Brookes Publishing

The use of symbols and pictographs to augment the communication of

learners who already demonstrate symbol use is a logical and well established practice

however….• ….using symbols and pictographs with

pre-symbolic and pre-intentional communicators is highly questionable.

Even as a ‘least-worst’ intervention or one that immerses the learner in a mirage of an exchange,

The use of symbols and pictographs to augment the communication of

learners who already demonstrate symbol use is a logical and well established practice

however….

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Proto-imperative

initiations to achieve

‘Behavioural regulation’

ie ‘request object or action’

initiations to achieve ;

Joint attention ie used to direct another’s attention to an object, an event or a

topic [Wetherby & Prizant 1992]

Social interaction or ‘social closeness’ [Light Parsons Drager 2002]

ie used to attract or maintain another’s attention to oneself [Wetherby & Prizant 1992]

Proto-declarative

Wetherby, A. M., & Prizant B. M. [1992] Profiling young children’s communicative competence In S.Warren &J Reichle [Eds] Causes and Effects in Communication and Language Intervention. Baltimore : PH Brookes

Bates, E., Benigni, L., Bretherton, I., Camaioni, L. and Volterra V. [1979] The Emergence of Symbols: Cognition and communication in infancy. New York: Academic Press

Bates, E., Camaioni, L., & Volterra,V. [1975] The acquisition of performatives prior to speech Merril-Palmer Quarterly 21 [3], 205-226Bates, E., O’Connel, B. & Shore, C. [1987] Language and communication in infancy. In J. Osofsky [ed] Handbook of infant development [p 147-203]

New York:Wiley.Bates, E. & Snyder, L.,[1987] The cognitive hypothesis in language development. In I.Uzgiris & J Hunt [eds.] Infant performance and

experience [pp168-204] Urbana: University of Illinois Press

Followed by

..and probably depends on

• Bates, E., et al [1979] The Emergence of Symbols: Cognition and communication in infancy. New York: Academic Press

• Stephenson, J. & Lightfoot, K. [1996]. Intentional communication and graphic symbol use by students with severe intellectual disability. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education [see page 53]

• suggest

‘the use of symbols emerges only once proto-declaratives*

are established’

* [proto-declaratives: initiations to achieve social closeness / joint attention]

Level of complexityand therefore

emergence

‘Do / get this’

‘How’s it going?’

Symbolic understanding

Carter, M., & Iacono, T., [2002] 'Professional judgments of the intentionality of communicative acts',

Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 18:3, 177 - 191

……frequent production of intentional communicative acts appears to precede the emergence of symbolic communication....

• eg attempts to coordinate goal and ‘other’

• Learners’ actions will indicate their readiness for symbols to be introduced

including:•alternating gaze between a goal and listener,•persistence in signalling until the goal is reached,•changing the quality of the signal until the goal is met,•using a signal that is ritualised or has a conventional form within a specific context,•awaiting a response from the receiver,•terminating the signal when the goal is achieved, and•indicating satisfaction if the goal is met or dissatisfaction if it is not metIacono, Carter, and Hook (1998) ;Wetherby and Prizant (1989) Harding [1984],

trial based exchanges using symbols with learners who are pre-symbolic [ mirage 2]

• simplifying a learning situation or communicative act by stripping it

down to the level of what is observable, the meaning of the actions can be confused

and the nature of the activity can easily be lost

By apparently

.... a much more complex problem

Alternating glance [eg eyepoint]

….is a relatively simple task for a learner, involving glances between two venues - ie the target item and the ‘listener’

…but when we insert a symbol or pictograph into the situation

• We add an additional venue, which requires the learner to coordinate a triple focus of attention....

Questioning trial based exchanges using symbols with learners who are pre-symbolic

• ‘Interactions to express needs and wants focus on the target object or action

........ not on the partner

• (Light 1988 cited in Light Parsons & Drager 2002).

• once the object or action is attained ... the communication usually ends’.

• (Light 1988 cited in Light Parsons & Drager 2002).

providing• this type of intervention

addresses several issues; – purposeful teaching,– obvious evidence; – straightforward data.

‘interventions to build skills in expressing needs and wants have formed the centre piece of AAC programmes for people who are beginning communicators’.

making meaning‘Interventions to promote interaction and social closeness are

• less straightforward • may be more complex to

develop

Because they ‘rely on participants being able to sustain the interaction through the active engagement or involvement of both participants’

Light Parsons & Drager [2002] There’s more to life than cookies’ :Developing interactions for social closeness with beginning communicators who use AAC in Reichle Beukelman & Light [eds] Exemplary Practices for Beginning Communicators, Implications for AAC. Baltimore ; Brookes Publishing

Learner acts/performs task

[request]

Learner receives reward

Learner enjoys reward


[request]




[request]




[request]




[request]



Trial *1Trial *2

Trial *3Trial *4


[request]




[request]




[request]




[request]




[request]Learner

receives rewardLearner

enjoys reward


[request]Learner

receives rewardLearner

enjoys reward


[request]




[request]



Operant conditioningSkinner, B.F. (1953). Science and human behaviour. Oxford, England: Macmillan.

STOP PRESSIncreased frequency of performance does not indicate increased learning

• purposeful involvement in the process of communication

usually relying on a community of practice to moderate progress

• observable behavioural responses & extrinsic performance outcomes.

usually relying on predictive goals, decided by one person ?

• Training

• Enrichment

problem

individuals who spend extended spans of time engaged in limited [eg request ] encounters,

where they achieve finite results……

[in recognisable ‘set piece’ interactions]

……..may be expected to orient to those types of encounter as the immediately profitable type of interactive strategy.

communication

• “drink please”• “snack please”• “go out”• “it is red”• “go home”• “lunch box”• “finished !”

apparently growing wisdom

“People learn to communicate through learning to make goal oriented requests”

• actually….

To a person with only a hammer, every problem looks like a nailReason J [1990] Human Error Cambridge University Press

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• ‘….parents.[ie…or the communicative partners] ‘get to the level on which their children [ or the learners] are operating and move ahead with them at a rate which shows remarkable sensitivity to their children’s progress’…[p162]

Bruner.J.,[1981] The social context of language acquisition. Language and Communication Vol 1 No 2/3, pp 155-178

….analysis of the parental contribution to successful communication learning

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Bruner.J.,[1981] The social context of language acquisition. Language and Communication Vol 1 No 2/3, pp 155-178

….analysis of the parental contribution to successful communication learning

• ….’formats’ ‘have game-like or playful quality …along with a rule structure that evolves within them

"much of what we talk about to each other is simply the hot air of companionship.... Mostly, most of us simply like to be with other people and enjoy each other,

... laugh, be companions" Hewett. D [2011]

One of the main functions of human communication is to accrue the sense of wellbeing which arises from it [Hewett 2011]

Enjoyment…… banter……

gossip….. small talk….

One of the main functions of human communication is to accrue the sense of wellbeing which arises from it [Hewett 2011]

…the crucial bridge between ourselves and others – we can only be known through our communicationBurton & Dimbleby 1995 Between Ourselves: An Introduction to Interpersonal Communication: London:Arnold

communication

Goal oriented• Do shops open on Sunday

arvo?”• “your turn to empty the

dishwasher”• “Could I have my wallet

back?” • “What time is the next

train?”• “say hi to John”

social

• “Waaaaaaaaasssssup”• “it’s a hot day again!”• “Look at that driving!”• “you’re looking well”

• “Nice runners!”• “tch….footie players!!!”• “what have you been up

to?”

Goal oriented

• “do the shops open on Sunday arvo?”

• “your turn to empty the dishwasher”

• “Could I have my wallet back?”

• “What time is the next train?”• “say hi to John”

FUNCTIONALGOAL/OUTCOME ORIENTED

communication between

professionals&

people with severe-profound intellectual disabilities

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gossip…..

small talk….

Listen……..

•AT RECESS•IN CORRIDORS•IN CLASSROOMS

task oriented, goal directed to achieve an instrumental outcomestaff member leading and directing

Interventions promoting …joint attention or social closeness

are frequently neglected..

yet these types of interaction are critical to social and emotional development and to the development of a sense of social belonging’

• Light Parsons & Drager [2002] There’s more to life than cookies’ :Developing interactions for social closeness with beginning communicators who use AAC in Reichle Beukelman & Light [eds] Exemplary Practices for Beginning Communicators, Implications for AAC. Baltimore ; Brookes Publishing

• ‘Communications where what is said is less important than the fact that something is said at all’ Pearce [1989] Communication and the Human Condition . Chicago Southern Illinois Univ Press

• Utterances that….have exclusively social bonding functions …. ….especially at opening and closing of social-verbal encounters

Senft [2009] Phatic Communication in Ostman, Verschueren [eds] Culture and Language use (p226-233) Amsterdam; J.Benjamins

‘Phatic’ communication;

Conversational speech used to communicate sociability more than information

‘Phatic’ communication;

• ….serves to establish bonds of personal union between people brought together by the mere need of

companionship and does not serve any purpose of communicating ideas

Malinowski [1923] Cited by D Hewett New Perspectives on Intensive Interaction IN PRESS

See also Burton & Dimbleby [1995] 1995 Between Ourselves: An Introduction to Interpersonal Communication: London:Arnold

…the crucial role of communication in establishing and maintaining a sense of self

Adler & Rodman [2006]………….sense of identity comes from the way we interact with other people

QUALITY OF LIFE J.O’Brien

• Presence• The right to take part in community life and to live and spend leisure time

with other members of the community.

• Participation • The right to experience valued relationships.

• Control • The right to express choices, in one’s life.

• Competence• The right to learn new skill and participate in meaningful activities with

whatever assistance is required.

• Respect• The right to be valued and not treated as a second-class citizen.

PRESENCE PARTICIPATION

CONTROL COMPETENCE

RESPECT

Quality of life

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small talk gossip…..

having a laugh

Beware of mirages. Mirage There are many checklists, assessments and hierarchies of skills we can...

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