Look2Talk - An Update
Katharine Buckley & Clare Latham
Overview
• Background to the project
• Introduction to Look2Talk
• Walk through the stages
• Practicalities
• On reflection
• Talk Together
Background to the Project
Where did we start?
• A Guide to Developing and Using a Communication Book
• Stable core vocabulary that is available whatever is being talked about
• Recognition that extra support needed for eye-pointing communicators – not a simple adaptation!
First Attempt (2004)!
Look2Talk
• Worked on the eye pointing book on and off for 2 years • Then the Look2Talk project enabled us to try it out with
six families over an 18 month period• The project came to an end in April 2008
• Funders: Elsevier Science Ltd, Eranda Foundation, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Gatsby Charitable Foundation, Good Neighbours Trust, John Horniman Children’s Trust, Kirby Laing Foundation, St James’s Place Foundation
Project Outcomes
• Guide Book• DVD with clips of
children and tutorial clips
• Templates for Boardmaker
• Core and sample pages
• Sturdy binder
Introduction to Look2Talk
Look2Talk Communication Book
• A five-stage approach to making and using a communication book
• Core vocabulary is available from every page• Core vocabulary develops and increases along
developmental lines• An emphasis on the functional use of language • Enables achievement at identified speaking and listening
P-levels• At each stage there are suggestions on ‘readiness’, and
aims for both the learner and the communication partner• A lot of attention is given to communication partner skills• There is an emphasis on developing use of symbols
through play
Key Themes
• Ideas rather than perfect sentences
Key Themes
• Taking the pressure off
• Acknowledge difficulty of reading eye pointing – harder for the partner than the child
• Value current communication strategies – this is adding to their existing system
• Importance of the communication partner
• A team approach
Walk through the stages
Stage 1
• ‘Taking the pressure off’ led us to move away from using an E-tran frame at this stage
• Introduction– Empower the learner’s
eyes within communication (pause, watch and respond)
– Introduce photographs (for pleasure rather than choice-making)
Picture/video of child
Stage 1
• Next steps– Introduce the
individual symbols ‘more’ and ‘stop’
Picture/video of child
Stage 2
• Introduce communication book with core vocabulary ‘more’ and ‘stop’
• Suggest using either two or four topic symbols
Stage 2
What We Learned
• Encourage all family members to use the symbols too
• Help the child be in control of activities • Help the child to physically hold the toys• Be ready to change activities quickly • Change positions and allow for ‘wiggle
time’• Get the communication book out at
bedtime alongside other story books
What We Learned Cont’d
• Need to think about how the book is positioned
• May begin by keeping the book between you and your learner then move to side
• Play doesn’t always take place at a table!
Picture/video of child
Stage 3
Stage 3
• Two new core words – ‘help’ and ‘no’
• Introduce page turning within discrete activities
• Encoding
What We Learned
• Encoding can feel quite baffling at first
• Note how Milly really emphasises her eye pointing to support her communication partner
• DVD has tutorials on what is encoding, how to model encoding, and introducing the child to encoding
Picture/video of child
What We Learned Cont’d
• Make just one page around a favourite game or story book and begin by using this yourself so your learner can see how encoding works
• We started with two colours• Its the child’s communication system - if
they aren’t grasping encoding quickly, hold back on encoding for now so that their communication remains comfortable
Stage 3 Continued
Stage 3 Continued
• More symbols on the page and more core words
• Introduce a top page • Tamsin is able to use
her communication book to share information
Picture/video of child
What We Learned
• Re-tell strategy a useful way of practising the vocabulary
• An expectant pause can be used to encourage the child to join in
• Scribbling (see Karen Erickson’s work re. emergent writing)
Picture/video of child
Stage 4
Stage 4
Stage Four
• Core vocabulary now fills a whole page, but some core can be seen from every topic page
• Core vocabulary includes ‘question’ and some early describing words
What We Learned
• Changing role of communication partner
• Notice how Tamsin’s mum is beginning to challenge her a little e.g. what shall we do about it, would you like to ask me something, how can you ask me that
• Also notice that they are just using the core vocabulary to support the activity
• Eventually Tamsin does say ‘question’ ‘more’ to ask for some more
Picture/video of child
What We Learned
• Play may change so that it can tell more of a story e.g. safari park, doll’s house, cooking sets, etc.
• With the move to more vocabulary on a page, the learner needs to be given more looking time
• Also, as the play becomes more challenging, more thinking time may be required
Stage 5
Stage 5
Stage 5
• Now full range of question words
• Also words for working alongside peers e.g. idea, fair, etc.
• Bliss type strategies now on every topic page – combine, part of and opposite to
• We introduced these through games
• 8 blocks of 8 symbols on a page
Stage 5
• Sophie uses her communication book to support her homework
• Task: write a story about someone that had inspired them
• Mum selected vocab around the story
• Sophie used it in her own way to tell a story, adding in hands and legs
• Mum then reads aloud Sophie’s story
Picture/video of child
What We Learned
• A dedicated page of verbs felt important at this stage
• Communication partner’s role different again – big job holding the conversation together e.g. Sophie’s mum sometimes wrote it down to avoid losing thread
• But still a role for pause, watch and respond• Having a lot of vocabulary on one page does
reduce the number of page turns but it makes it harder to read the eye-pointing, and ‘which colour’ does get asked a bit!
Bridge to Stage 5
Bridge to Stage 5
• Tamsin became ready for some of the Stage 5 vocabulary but Tamsin and her family weren’t ready to move on to the Stage 5 page layouts
• Pros and cons
Practicalities
Changes to the Folder
• As it got fuller things started to go wrong!
• Easel files are commercially available, but are designed to hold a small number of sheets of paper
• Fine for getting started but we found that regular replacements were required
Picture/video of child
New Folder
• Designed to hold more pages, to be more durable, and to be more sturdy
On reflection
On Reflection
• Taking the pressure off in the early stages is absolutely vital
• The communication partner’s role needs to develop and change across the stages
• Families liked seeing all five stages• All families said felt would have struggled without
demonstrations (DVD)• Siblings – someone to play with, someone to talk about,
someone easy and fun to talk with, the younger the better
• Timing is important e.g. health issues, other life issues• Must not see it as a failure if symbol communication
doesn’t ‘take off’ at any given time
Talk Together
Talk Together
• A complementary vocabulary package
• Full of tips and suggestions drawn in part from Look2Talk