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Communication Aids and Strategies Using Tools of Technology

This document discusses communication aids and strategies for individuals with communication challenges. It describes how some individuals rely heavily on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) tools like picture symbols or text-based systems due to physical or speech disabilities. These AAC methods can be used alongside strategies like vocalization, facial expressions, gestures, and sign language. The document provides examples of different sign languages and how they have developed to aid communication when spoken language is not possible or desirable.

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1K views24 pages

Communication Aids and Strategies Using Tools of Technology

This document discusses communication aids and strategies for individuals with communication challenges. It describes how some individuals rely heavily on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) tools like picture symbols or text-based systems due to physical or speech disabilities. These AAC methods can be used alongside strategies like vocalization, facial expressions, gestures, and sign language. The document provides examples of different sign languages and how they have developed to aid communication when spoken language is not possible or desirable.

Uploaded by

Animelicious
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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COMMUNICATION AIDS

AND STRATEGIES USING


TOOLS OF TECHNOLOGY
COMMUNICATION AIDS
INDIVIDUALS TYPICALLY USE COMMUNICATION
AIDS TO SOLVE COMMUNICATIVE CHALLENGES
IN A LIMITED NUMBER OF SITUATIONS. SOME
INDIVIDUALS NEED TO RELY MORE HEAVILY ON
AAC DUE TO PHYSICAL DISABILITIES, MEDICAL
COMPLICATIONS, OR OTHER SPEECH AND
LANGUAGE DISABILITIES THAT LIMIT HOW
MUCH SPEECH THEY ARE ABLE TO PRODUCE.
THESE INDIVIDUALS MAY FIND THEMSELVES
MORE FREQUENTLY IN SITUATIONS OF NOT
BEING ABLE TO USE SPEECH EFFECTIVELY, AND
THEREFORE IT IS WORTH INVESTING IN MORE
EFFECTIVE AAC METHODS. FOR EXAMPLE, SOME
INDIVIDUALS MAY USE AN ORGANIZED SYSTEM
OF PICTURE SYMBOLS, OR TEXT, IN A
COMMUNICATION BOOK, MOBILE DEVICE,
COMPUTER, AND/OR ON A DEDICATED SPEECH-
GENERATING DEVICE.
THESE STRATEGIES MAY BE USED ALONG WITH:
• VOCALIZATION
• FACIAL EXPRESSIONS SPEECH
• WORD APPROXIMATIONS
• GESTURE AND SIGN LANGUAGE
VOCALIZATION
: THE ACT OR PROCESS OF PRODUCING
SOUNDS WITH THE VOICE ALSO 
: A SOUND THUS PRODUCED
FACIAL EXPRESSIONS SPEECH
IS ONE OR MORE MOTIONS OR POSITIONS OF
THE MUSCLES BENEATH THE SKIN OF THE FACE.
ACCORDING TO ONE SET OF CONTROVERSIAL
THEORIES, THESE MOVEMENTS CONVEY THE 
EMOTIONAL STATE OF AN INDIVIDUAL TO
OBSERVERS. FACIAL EXPRESSIONS ARE A FORM
OF NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION.
WORD APPROXIMATIONS
• A VALUE OR QUANTITY THAT IS
NEARLY BUT NOT EXACTLY CORRECT.
• A THING THAT IS SIMILAR TO
SOMETHING ELSE, BUT IS NOT
EXACTLY THE SAME.
GESTURE
• A MOVEMENT OF PART OF THE BODY,
ESPECIALLY A HAND OR THE HEAD,
TO EXPRESS AN IDEA OR MEANING.
SIGN LANGUAGE
SIGN LANGUAGE, ANY MEANS
OF COMMUNICATION THROUGH BODILY
MOVEMENTS, ESPECIALLY OF THE
HANDS AND ARMS, USED WHEN SPOKEN
COMMUNICATION IS IMPOSSIBLE OR
NOT DESIRABLE.
THE PRACTICE IS PROBABLY OLDER THAN
SPEECH. SIGN LANGUAGE MAY BE AS
COARSELY EXPRESSED AS MERE GRIMACES,
SHRUGS, OR POINTING'S OR IT MAY EMPLOY A
DELICATELY NUANCED COMBINATION OF
CODED MANUAL SIGNALS REINFORCED BY
FACIAL EXPRESSION AND PERHAPS
AUGMENTED BY WORDS SPELLED OUT IN A
MANUAL ALPHABET.
WHEREVER VOCAL COMMUNICATION IS
IMPOSSIBLE, AS BETWEEN SPEAKERS
OF MUTUALLY UNINTELLIGIBLE
LANGUAGES OR WHEN ONE OR MORE
WOULD-BE COMMUNICATORS IS DEAF,
SIGN LANGUAGE CAN BE USED TO
BRIDGE THE GAP.
EXAMPLE OF A SIGN LANGUAGE:
LANGUAGE BARRIER
CHINESE AND JAPANESE, WHOSE LANGUAGES
USE THE SAME BODY OF CHARACTERS BUT
PRONOUNCE THEM ENTIRELY DIFFERENTLY,
CAN COMMUNICATE BY MEANS OF A SIGN
LANGUAGE IN WHICH ONE WATCHES WHILE THE
OTHER TRACES MUTUALLY UNDERSTOOD
CHARACTERS IN HIS OR HER PALM.
EVIDENCE OF LONG USE OF SIGN
LANGUAGE TO COMMUNICATE AROUND
MUTUALLY UNINTELLIGIBLE
LANGUAGES EXISTS FOR AFRICA,
AUSTRALIA, AND NORTH AMERICA. THE
MOST GENERALLY KNOWN MODEL IS
THAT OF THE PLAINS INDIANS OF 19TH-
CENTURY NORTH AMERICA.
ALTHOUGH THEIR LANGUAGES WERE
DISSIMILAR, THE MODE OF LIFE AND
ENVIRONMENT OF ALL GROUPS HAD MANY
SHARED ELEMENTS, AND, CONSEQUENTLY,
FINDING COMMON SYMBOLS WAS EASY. THUS, A
CUPPED HAND LEAPING AND BOBBING AWAY
FROM THE “SPEAKER” WAS FAMILIAR TO ALL AS
THE RUMP OF A BOUNDING DEER; A CIRCLE
DRAWN AGAINST THE SKY MEANT THE MOON—
OR SOMETHING AS PALE AS THE MOON.
TWO FINGERS ASTRIDE THE OTHER INDEX
FINGER REPRESENTED A PERSON ON
HORSEBACK; TWO FINGERS SPREAD AND
DARTING FROM THE MOUTH LIKE THE
FORKED TONGUE OF A SNAKE MEANT LIES
OR TREACHERY; AND THE GESTURE OF
BRUSHING LONG HAIR DOWN OVER THE
NECK AND SHOULDER SIGNIFIED A WOMAN.
THIS SIGN LANGUAGE BECAME SO
FAMILIAR THAT LONG AND
COMPLEX NARRATIVES—IN
MONOLOGUE OR DIALOGUE—
COULD BE SIGNED AND
UNDERSTOOD WITHIN LARGE
GROUPS OF INDIANS OTHERWISE
UNABLE TO COMMUNICATE.
EXAMPLES OF LANGUAGE BARRIERS
• DIALECTS -WHILE TWO PEOPLE MAY
TECHNICALLY SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE,
DIALECTAL DIFFERENCES CAN MAKE
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THEM
DIFFICULT. EXAMPLES OF DIALECTICAL
LANGUAGE BARRIERS EXIST WORLDWIDE.
CHINESE, FOR EXAMPLE, HAS A VARIETY OF
DIALECTS THAT ARE COMMONLY SPOKEN,
INCLUDING CANTONESE AND MANDARIN.
• LANGUAGE DISABILITIES -LANGUAGE
DISABILITIES ARE PHYSICAL IMPEDIMENTS
TO LANGUAGE. PHYSICAL LANGUAGE
DISABILITIES THAT CAUSE LANGUAGE
BARRIERS INCLUDE STUTTERING,
DYSPHONIA OR AN ARTICULATION
DISORDER AND HEARING LOSS.
INABILITY TO SPEAK
THE INDIAN SIGN LANGUAGE WAS CODIFIED BY
USE INTO AN EXPLICIT VOCABULARY OF
GESTURES REPRESENTING OR DEPICTING
OBJECTS, ACTIONS, AND IDEAS, BUT IT MADE NO
ATTEMPT TO “SPELL OUT” OR OTHERWISE
REPRESENT WORDS THAT COULD NOT BE
CONVEYED BY GESTURES. SEVERAL FORMS OF
SIGN LANGUAGE WERE DEVELOPED TO ENABLE
SIGNERS TO SPELL OUT WORDS AND SOUNDS,
HOWEVER.
MOST OF THESE ARE AS COMPLEX AND FLEXIBLE AS
SPOKEN LANGUAGES.
IT WAS LONG THOUGHT IN MANY CULTURES THAT THE
DEAF WERE IN EDUCABLE, AND THE FEW TEACHERS
WILLING TO TRY WERE AVAILABLE ONLY TO THE
WEALTHY. IN THE MID-18TH CENTURY, HOWEVER, THE
FIRST EDUCATOR OF POOR DEAF CHILDREN, CHARLES-
MICHEL, ABBÉ DE L’EPÉE, DEVELOPED A SYSTEM FOR
SPELLING OUT FRENCH WORDS WITH A MANUAL
ALPHABET AND EXPRESSING WHOLE CONCEPTS WITH
SIMPLE SIGNS.
FROM L’EPÉE’S SYSTEM DEVELOPED FRENCH SIGN
LANGUAGE (FSL), STILL IN USE IN FRANCE TODAY AND
THE PRECURSOR OF AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE (ASL)
AND MANY OTHER NATIONAL SIGN LANGUAGES.
FSL WAS BROUGHT TO THE UNITED STATES IN 1816 BY
THOMAS GALLAUDET, FOUNDER OF THE AMERICAN
SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF IN HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.
THE NEW SIGN LANGUAGE WAS COMBINED WITH THE
VARIOUS SYSTEMS ALREADY IN USE IN THE UNITED
STATES TO FORM ASL, WHICH TODAY IS USED BY MORE
THAN 500,000 DEAF PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES
COMMUNICATION TOOLS:
• WEB CONFERENCING(BLACKBOARD
COLLABORATE/ WIMBA, ETC.)
• BLOGS
• DISCUSSION BOARD (BLACKBOARD)
• TEXT MESSAGING
• TWITTER

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