The APH Intervention Continuum
(Slide 1—Title Slide)
APH—American Printing House for the Blind
Building Independence Since 1858
APH Intervention Continuum of Communication Skills
by Kerry Isham,
Field Services Representative
(Slide 2)
APH provides a line of products which – when used sequentially - helps teach individuals with no formal means of communication methods of effectively making their wants and needs known.
Sensory Learning Kit
Symbols and Meaning
Tactile Connections
(Slide 3)
These three products help nonverbal individuals with visual impairments shift seamlessly from haphazard movements and touch to purposeful actions and use of symbols to communicate.
SLK—photo of items in the kit
SAM—photo of items in the kit
Tactile Connections—photo of items in the kit
(Slide 4)
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor – 1st stage – Trying to make sense of the world using senses and movement.
Preoperational – 2nd stage – Onset of language and use of symbols, pretending. Still lacks concrete logic.
Operational – 3rd stage – Beginning to think logically and abstractly.
(Slide 5)
We begin with the Sensory Learning Kit
Photograph of various items
(Slide 6)
Sensory Learning Kit (SLK)
Builds cognitive skills at the sensorimotor level of cognition, which is the first of Jean Piaget’s stages of cognitive development – trying to make sense of the world using senses and movement. The SLK uses highly attractive materials.
Photograph of a little girl having a roller uses on her arm
(Slide 7)
Sensory Learning Kit
An educational intervention designed to
Build a positively bonded relationship between the learner and the practitioner
Provide social experiences that facilitate access to sensory information
Stimulates curiosity
Motivates interactions
Develops skills
(Slide 8)
Sensory Learning Kit
Target population
Cognitive age: 0 -2 years
Chronological age: 0 an up
Could include
Infants with atypical responses
Toddlers with atypical responses and mild to moderate delays
Pre-school and early elementary students with moderate to severe delays
Late elementary and secondary students with severe to profound delays
(Slide 9)
Sensory Learning Kit
Can assist in increasing one’s quality of life in these areas:
Agency – control over people and events
Anticipation – something to look forward to
Participation – shared experience
Photograph of young person reclining with an object in front of him
(Slide 10)
Sensory Learning Kit
Use of Routines – highly structured activities to encourage reactions and interactions with the SLK components.
Routines
Are familiar
Are predictable
Allow for controlled pacing
Minimize sensory clutter
Are consistent
Are frequent
Are low-stress
(Slide11)
Sensory Learning Kit
Routines can address these 3 levels of sensorimotor learning:
Quiet alert – attention to stimulation provided by partner
Active alert – exploration of learning media
Partial participation – outcome directed motor sequences
Photograph of child seated in a chair with a tray on it. There is an object on the tray.
(Slide 12)
Sensory Learning Kit
Routines teach:
Object exploration
Object permanence
Imitation
Causality
Means-ends
Basic spatial relationships
Photograph of a child using a switch to turn on a light bulb. His head is being held under the chin to assist in looking at the light.
(Slide 13)
The second APH product in the sequence is Symbols and Meaning
Photograph of items in the kit
(Slide 14)
Symbols and Meaning (SAM)
Target population – students with visual and multiple impairments and pre-school children with visual impairments who are just beginning to use symbols – the late sensorimotor, early preoperational stage of cognitive development
(Slide 15)
Symbols and Meaning
Late sensorimotor and early preoperational level cognitive skills are the focus.
Again, recall from Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development that Preoperational is the 2nd stage – the onset of language, & pretending. The individual still lacks concrete logic.
Photograph of a woman and child looking at toys in a tote.
(Slide 16)
Symbols and Meaning
SAM includes a guidebook which provides strategies that help develop a strong sensory foundation for concepts about people, objects, actions, and places. Through use of these strategies, such symbols become meaningful.
Photograph of guidebook cover
(Slide 17)
Symbols and Meaning
Games and activities focus on symbology (words & objects) representing:
People: The self and others
Objects: Tangible things
Actions: Body movements of the self and others
Places: Where things are, contexts for groups of things
Photograph of 2 individuals facing each other one holding a spoon and the other a bowl
(Slide 18)
Symbols and Meaning
Once meaning is established by pairing symbols and concrete referents, additional games give individuals the opportunity to use objects and word symbols in communication contexts. Videos of each game are included.
Photograph of 4 containers with an object in each container.
(Slide 19)
Symbols and Meaning
SAM enables learners to understand:
What is it?
What does it do?
How does it relate to other things?
Photograph of the hands of a child stacking blocks
(Slide 20)
Symbols and Meaning kit contents:
2 baskets
Digital recorder
25 plastic story pages
Assessments and Games book
Electronic assessment forms
Flash drive
Large Print Guidebook
SAM videos
Sport bag
(Slide 21)
Symbols and Meaning kit contents, cont’d:
3 sizes of story bags
3 sizes of story binders
Vinyl story box liners
6 story boxes
Non-glare plastic tray liner
Vinyl tray liners
Two trays
Black Velcro strip and coins
White Velcro strip and coins
(Slide 22)
The last product in the continuum is Tactile Connections
Photograph of kit contents
(Slide 23)
Tactile Connections - Symbols for Communication
Allows teachers to create a tactile card system that is individualized for visually impaired and blind learners who have additional disabilities and/or lack a formal means of communication or literacy.
Tactile symbols are created when part of an object is mounted on a hand-sized card representing core vocabulary categories (e.g. people, places, actions, objects, etc.).
(Slide 24)
Tactile Connections
Target populations –
Allows practitioners to create communication symbols for learners in the late preoperational through the operational stage of cognitive development, where use of symbols is more extensive and complex.
Photograph of a child seated with various tactile symbols cards in front of them.
(Slide 25)
Tactile Connections
Symbols such as words and pictures become tools for problem-solving, pretending and socializing.
Photograph of a book with tactile symbols for outside, Saturday, walk, and gym.
(Slide 26)
Tactile Connections
This kit can help build skills for the use of tactile symbols objects organized into categories) as communication tools in environments where sighted peers might use pictures.
Photograph of objects from the kit.
(Slide 27)
Tactile Connections
This kit contains many of the essential components needed to create an effective tactile communication system – from an individual’s use of only simple nouns and verbs to fairly complex sentence construction.
Photograph of 2 individuals looking at a tri-fold board with tactile object cards in various categories—function, time, people, objects, actions.
(Slide 28)
APH worked with a number of knowledgeable professionals when creating the products in this much needed intervention continuum. For the most effective learning experience, it is recommended that practitioners and parents use these three products sequentially.
Sensory Learning Kit
Symbols and Meaning
Tactile Connections
(Slide 29)
Can you think of at least one individual with whom you work who could benefit from the
APH Intervention Continuum?
APH—American Printing House for the Blind, Inc.
Kerry Isham, Field Services Representative