Look2Talk - An Update

1. Look2Talk - An Update Katharine Buckley & Clare Latham

2. Overview • Background to the project • Introduction to Look2Talk • Walk through the stages • Practicalities • On reflection • Talk Together

3. Background to the Project

4. 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! Where did we start?

5. First Attempt (2004)!

6. 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

7. Guide Book DVD with clips of children and tutorial clips Templates for Boardmaker Core and sample pages Sturdy binder Project Outcomes

8. Introduction to Look2Talk

9. 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

10. Key Themes • Ideas rather than perfect sentences

11. 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

12. Walk through the stages

13. 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

14. Stage 1 • Next steps • Introduce the individual symbols ‘more’ and ‘stop’ Picture/video of child

15. Stage 2 • Introduce communication book with core vocabulary ‘more’ and ‘stop’ • Suggest using either two or four topic symbols

16. Stage 2

17. 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

18. 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

19. Stage 3

20. Stage 3 • Two new core words – ‘help’ and ‘no’ • Introduce page turning within discrete activities • Encoding

21. 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

22. 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

23. Stage 3 Continued

24. 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

25. 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

26. Stage 4

27. Stage 4

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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

31. Stage 5

32. Stage 5

33. 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

34. 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

35. 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!

36. Bridge to Stage 5

37. 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

38. Practicalities

39. 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 Changes to the Folder Picture/video of child

40. New Folder • Designed to hold more pages, to be more durable, and to be more sturdy

41. On reflection

42. 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

43. Talk Together

44. A complementary vocabulary package Full of tips and suggestions drawn in part from Look2Talk Talk Together

45. Contact Details Katharine Buckley buckley@ace-centre.org.uk 01865 759 820 www.ace-centre.org.uk