Language Acquisition Through Motor Planning

1. Language Acquisition Through Motor Planning Presented by Verity-Jane Hart Senior Regional Consultant -Liberator Presented by Emily Williams SLT and Danielle Aubrey SLTA Moorcroft School

2. What is LAMP? Language Acquisition through Motor Planning (LAMP) is a therapeutic approach based on neurological and motor learning principles. LAMP focuses on giving the individual independent access to vocabulary on voice output AAC devices that use consistent motor plans for accessing vocabulary. The goal is to give individuals who are nonverbal or have limited verbal abilities a method of independently and spontaneously expressing themselves in any setting.

3. Auditory Signals Five Key Elements Consistent & Unique Motor Patterns Natural Consequences Readiness To Learn Joint Engagement LANGUAGE CONNECTIONS

4. Readiness to learn: The individual is in a state to receive optimal benefit from the learning experience. Their arousal level in conducive for participation and learning from an activity. Joint Engagement: The individual will follow or direct the attention of another person to an event or object in order to share interest in the event or object. Consistent and Unique Motor Patterns: The individual learns individual motor patterns for each word, similar to how those who are verbal have an individual motor pattern made with their mouth for each word spoken, allowing the non-verbal individual to develop automaticity. Auditory Signals: When the individual has accessed the device and carried out a motor pattern for a word, they will get auditory feedback of that word. Natural Consequences: The individual should have a natural consequence to the attempt to communicate. This should be visual, social and auditory. Meaning is attached to words by what occurs when they are used.

5. How did LAMP begin @ Moorcroft? Liberator sponsored the Center for AAC and Autism’s UK visits. Lindsey Cargill, an SLP @ Helping Hands Center Contacted Moorcroft School Emily chose some students to participate in LAMP trials

6. How did it begin @ Moorcroft? • Emily attended a general information day on LAMP in March 2011. Introduced to the basic premise of LAMP and basic introduction to using a Vantage Lite. • Fed back to Danielle and started trialling the approach with a student using a Dynavox! Tricky but progress was made! • Heard about the trials and felt compelled to take part to both learn more about LAMP and offer our students the opportunity to be assessed by the experts • Moorcroft has a number of students who met with the criteria for LAMP. Characteristically non-verbal, ASD, challenging behaviour and limited response to prior interventions such as PECS. • “Brick wall”

7. Chose 3 Students • 1 – Non verbal, limited/no communication system, earlier work with modified Dynavox • 2 – Non verbal, ASD, some mild challenging behaviour, 2 – 3 symbols used inconsistently, some interaction with others when utilising Intensive Interaction • 3 – Non verbal, ASD, extreme challenging behaviour, 5 symbols, trigger words, violence to self and others, little no interaction with others.

8. Case Study – A • Student number 3 • “Wildcard” • Extract from Biography given to Lindsey :- • A is 15 years old. She has a diagnosis of ASD. She is pre-verbal. A currently has a PECS book but she does not use it consistently. Everyone who works with A feels she understands exactly what is required of her in many situations but chooses not to comply. A responds really well to Intensive interaction / TACPAC activities through which she builds trust with others. She will sign ‘more’ and ‘please’. • She struggles with adult-directed activities getting extremely angry and needs firm boundaries to comply.

9. She demonstrates extremely challenging behaviour including:- Self-harm (including hitting, pulling hair out) Aggression to others (including hitting, biting, kicking, pinching) She appears to demonstrate some sensory seeking behaviours. She will eat most things including non-food items. She does not like certain loud sounds or high pitched noises. A loves tickles games, deep pressure, playing with dried chickpeas, shredding things, bouncing balls (although she may eat them) and cause/effect games on the plasma screen. A has certain trigger words which result in violent behaviour.

10. E’s journey July 2011 – Initial assessment session with Lindsey July 2011 – First sessions with us October 2011 – ‘Top up’ session with Cindy November 2011 – Loan from ACE centre February / March 2012 – Further loan

11. Auditory Signals Five Key Elements Consistent & Unique Motor Patterns Natural Consequences Readiness To Learn Joint Engagement LANGUAGE CONNECTIONS

12. Outcomes (so far!) • A is now spontaneously using some 3 word sentences • She’s using word combinations we haven’t modelled • She is using words for multiple meetings • She is recalling vocabulary from previous sessions with no modelling needed • She’s expressing likes and dislikes • She’s tolerating changes in activity • She’s tolerating use of trigger words • Challenging behaviour is almost non-existent in our sessions • A will complete adult introduced tasks • She’s participating in shared interactions with us • BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY………

13. What have we learned about A? • She is extremely intelligent • She has a sense of humour • She has good taste in music! • She enjoys other people’s company • She isn’t frightening!

14. Since the trials @ CAA and Liberator ~ CAA UK Now a UK based Center for AAC and Autism ~ Accredited Trainers ~ LAMP Workshops See Liberator website for more details ~ Continued collaborative work with Emily and Verity with other LAMP students ~ Continued support with funding

15. http://www.aacandautism.com http://www.aacandautism.com http://www.aaclanguagelab.com/ http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Center-for-AAC-Autism/143292697749