Intro to Communication

Ann N. Garfinkle, PhD

Overview of Communication

• We do it all our waking hours• Tied to other skills/behaviors

Overview Of Communication

Communication

Speech

Deficits in Communication Skills in Aduts with ASD

• Issues related to independence• Issues related to compliance

A range of effective behavioral strategies

• Lovass vs Baer

What’s naturalistic?

• Teaching in everyday environments• Naturally occurring• Interest-based• Adults contingently respond

Why naturalistic?

• Leads to more overall communicative behavior

• Easily implemented by parents• Increases relationships

General ways to increase expressive language

• Model how to communicate• Model new words in context• Model building words into sentences• Model the basis for narratives and stories• Model words for emotion and regulatioj• Provide opportunities to talk• Provide meaningful feedback for talking• Teach social skills• Teach expanded vocabularly

Also

• Repeating, expanding and recasts• Decreased questions• RESPONSIVITY

Specific Types of Naturalistic Strategies

• Incidental Teaching• Time Delay• Environmental manipulation• (Milieu teaching)

Milieu teaching

• A set of tools to facilitate child’s communication– Setting up an interactive context between the adult

and child through play and routines– Noticing and responding to child communication

and balancing turns– Model and expanding play– Modeling and expanding communication– Using time delay– Using prompting stratgies

MT can:

• Increase the rate of communication• Increase the diversity of communication• Increase the complexity of communication• Increase the child’s independence through

spontaneous communication and decrease dependence on adult cues

Strategy 1: Engage

• Develop a platform of joint attention and engagement through social interaction and engagement– Be at the person’s level– Do what the person is doing– Follow the person’s lead– Avoid directions and let the adult interact– Avoid questions and let the adult initiate– Choose interesting and engaging activities

Strategy 2: Notice and Respond to Communication

• Notice and respond every time the adult communicates; respond by talking about what the adult is doing. Language needs to relate to what the adult is doing to be meaninful.

Strategy 3: Take Turns

• Allow the adult time to communicate and take balanced turns

• Only say something after the adult communicates

Strategy 4: Mirror and Map

• Mirroring—adult imitates the client’s non-verbal behaviors

• Mapping—adults lays language onto these actions by describing them

Strategy 5: Model and Expand

• Extend the time a adult interacts with materials

• Expand the different actions the adult does with the same materials

• Expand the types of materials the adult uses

Strategy 6: Model and Expand Language

• People learn language through modeling• Contingent modeling is the most powerful

form• Simplifying language to match the clients'

language targets help client learn language more quickly

Strategy 7: Expanding Communication

• An expansion is imitating the client and adding a little bit more

• The most powerful expansion includes the clients’s communication targets

Strategy 8: Environmental Arrangement

• EA provides the client with more opportunities to practice communicating (that aren’t directly initiated by an adult)

• Set up the environment to:– Offer choices– Pause within a routine– Wait– Inadequate portions– Ask for help

Strategy 9: Prompt Language

• A prompt is a signal to the client to do or say something

• 4 language prompts from least to most support are:– Time delay– Open questions– Choice questions– Model procedures