Building AAC Facilitation Skills with Tabi Jones-Wohleber: MASTER PAL Training, Module 4

September 13, 2018 by Carole Zangari - Leave your thoughts

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Ready for more AAC training materials? In today’s post, Tabi Jones-Wohleber is sharing another module in the MASTER PAL series. This 30-minute session focuses on the role of multiple modalities in AAC.

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Model as a MASTER PAL

Module 4: Accept Multiple Modalities
Facilitator Guidelines

We all use multiple modalities to communicate…speech, text, email, a gesture, facial expressions. In much the same way we encourage young children to interact by assigning meaning to their gestures, expressions, and utterances, responding meaningfully to the communicative attempts of those who use AAC validates and encourages the effort. Honor all modalities and respond by modeling AAC as much as possible(regardless of the modality used by the PWUAAC) teaches AAC. Seize the opportunity to teach and expand language. After all, multi-modal communication shapes the human experience.

For this training you will need:

Warm-up Discussion:

Thinking Prompt	Making Connections / Talking Points
How many ways do you communicate? -verbally -non-verbally -technologically	Discuss how you communicate and why in various scenarios. For example, a “look” that you give your child in church or a quick text message to your spouse to pick up milk on their way home.
How do different communication modalities meet your different needs?	Consider when you utilize texting vs. email vs. phone call vs. face to face communication. Describe how and why you vary communication with different people and situations.

The Discourse:

Topics Addressed	Slide(s)	Talking Points / Examples
Title Slides	1-2	N/A
Communication Review	3-7	Review of Model as a MASTER PAL and AAC to ensure all participants are on the same page
Introduction & Warm-up Discussion	8-11	Explained on Slides. See chart above for Warm-up Discussion
Examples of modes of communication	12-13	Explained on Slides. These are specific examples related to AAC from Warm-Up discussion.
Successful interactions involves many different modes of communication	14-15	It may not work to pull out the iPad during particular moments: sledding, swimming, at the beach, recess, field trips. Consider alternative strategies that may be more efficient or durable, such as unaided or low-tech. Gestures such as a wave may be a better way to gain attention than activating a message. To capture a moment use camera phone and then utilize the child’s system such as LAMP, Proloquo2go, TouchChat to program messages that can be shared between home and school, create a remnant book or tell about an activity with a digital story app.
Communication Partners can model on AAC even if the child uses a different modality	16-18	In order for an individual to understand the power of communication, all communicative attempts must be honored. But the onus is still on the communication partner to model their side of the interaction using the device. This teaches the child how to use their device regardless of the modality they choose at a given moment.
AAC Myths and Mythbusters	19-22	It is important to dispel myths related to use of AAC to ensure multiple modalities are honored. Slide 19 – SNUG is an acronym often used to identify the goal for how a student uses AAC. But so often we hear “but he can talk”. This requires a reflective look at whether the child’s language is “SNUG”.
Let’s Re-Cap	22	AAC is an umbrella term-it means many things. ALL language is learned through modeling (developmentally, foreign languages, AAC, etc.). “Modeling” means speak YOUR words! We all require different modalities to communicate in different environments, for different purposes, and with different communication partners. Partners can use a child’s tool to model their side of an interaction, even if the child uses a different modality.

Supplemental Handouts: Intro to Multi-Modal Communication

Video Links: NONE for this Module

Interactive Activities/Discussions

Consider using low tech boards, communication apps, or device to play a game such as HeadBanz, Heads Up or Catch Phrase.
Practice examples of home/school communication messages using varying levels of AAC. Participants can:
- Program messages onto single message buttons such as a Step by Step or Big Mack
- Make a remnant book to set the context and act as a conversational starter
- Program home and school messages on high-tech apps such as Proloquo2go, LAMP: Words for Life, or TouchChat.

Extension Resources