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How to Use Treatment Signals Within Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Devices to Teach Individuals When Requests Will Be Honored |
Friday, May 24, 2024 |
12:00 PM–3:00 PM |
Marriott Downtown, Level 4, Meeting Room 404 |
Area: VBC; Domain: Applied Research |
CE Instructor: Shannon Angley, Ph.D. |
SHANNON ANGLEY (Children’s Specialized Hospital Center for Autism Research, Education, and Services), DANIEL R. MITTEER (Rutgers University Center for Autism Research, Education, and Services (RUCARES)) |
Description: Communication is a fundamental human right (Goldbart, 2023). Unfortunately, practitioners might be inclined to remove communication icons from augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices if the client requests too frequently or has severe behavior when those requests are denied. Functional communication training with treatment signals has been effective at reducing persistent requests and severe behavior produced by request denials by teaching clients when their requests will be honored. Recent research has described (Mitteer et al., 2020) and demonstrated (Angley et al., under review) how to deploy this approach on AAC devices. During this workshop, participants will learn how to add and manipulate icons on the AAC app Proloquo2Go™. They will learn how to embed treatment signals into the device to show users when requests for items will be honored. After programing treatment signals, participants will learn how to use the signals to systematically increase periods of non-reinforcement while avoiding common errors (e.g., thinning too quickly; introducing faulty stimulus control via icon positioning). The limitations include only using one communication application, Proloquo2Go™. No risks should be associated with this workshop. Content has peer-reviewed, published support beyond those publications and other types of communications devoted primarily to the promotion of the approach. |
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to: (1) Add new icons on Proloquo2Go™; (2) Manipulate the background color and location of icons on Proloquo2Go™ icons; (3) Teach discrimination between icons; (4) Program treatment signals on Proloquo2Go™. |
Activities: Workshop activities will include; a presentation lecture, guided demonstration, breakout groups to serve as an opportunity to practice these skills and receive feedback, and lastly a discussion/debrief and an opportunity for participants to ask questions. |
Audience: Basic understanding of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices, physical ability to manipulate an IPad |
Content Area: Practice |
Instruction Level: Intermediate |
Keyword(s): AAC, Discriminative Stimuli, Functional communication, Multiple Schedule |