Collaboration, Support, and Understanding
There are so many cool ways to use BRIDGE Communication and BRIDGE Communication Builder apps, it’s hard to know where to begin when blogging about them. I love where these apps can take us, but it’s important to realize and know where to begin as well.
Our goal is to support communication naturally, with no or low stress, in a way that draws both communication partners in and emphasizes the natural nature of back and forth discourse, or conversational turn-taking. I read in a study from MIT that a vital predictor of language growth is the ability to sustain and maintain back and forth discourse opportunities. I often ask one of my own 3 teenagers questions and often get 1 word responses lol, so why would it be much different with anyone else, depending on the situation? If my teenagers answer me with one word, they know they will likely get a lot more questions, but as long as they can unplug from their world and stay with it, it keeps us connected and in tune with each other. More questions and more back and forth creates a platform for expansion as well as tangents and unexpected evolution in the conversation. We aren’t using communication to “answer questions on a test”. We are communicating to grow WITH each other.
Effective communication grows and flows.
We want to support the grow and flow! We find this yields our clients and students to actually listen to language and grow deeper understandings of how to use language and vocabulary, which strengthens their knowledge, which promotes more effective use, both verbal and augmented.
So, where to start?
Check out our goals in the FORMS section on our app under our Settings Gear. I was asked by a BCBA in the school district I was working with to “show her the data” of what I was doing as an AAC Specialist. I had to really pull this back and think about it. What are the steps I do OUTSIDE of actual technology matching and supports? Where is the base of this PRIOR TO higher level language and speech goals? What is it the teachers can be doing DAILY, without being a SLP or an AAC Specialist? Where can we note progress, or barriers? How can we systematically approach AAC implementation? And our FORM on Page 5 is what developed. We love this form! This is a fantastic place to start, regardless of what supports you are using, if any at all. It’s a support to communication in general. Why not start at the beginning?
We have many other ways to track data in our FORMS section. I will try to post on the specifics of a form each week (or month) as they are vital in implementation and understanding AAC beyond requests. We also have other forms we have developed with really cool speech and language goals that are not on our app, but hope to be in time. Just email us if you are looking for more direction: support@gobridgeapp.com. We love teaching and are always happy to help!
Our 2 cents -> build a strong base, the rest will follow.
~Danielle
*zoom in on photos to see goals and suggestions for data keeping
Our goal is to support communication naturally, with no or low stress, in a way that draws both communication partners in and emphasizes the natural nature of back and forth discourse, or conversational turn-taking. I read in a study from MIT that a vital predictor of language growth is the ability to sustain and maintain back and forth discourse opportunities. I often ask one of my own 3 teenagers questions and often get 1 word responses lol, so why would it be much different with anyone else, depending on the situation? If my teenagers answer me with one word, they know they will likely get a lot more questions, but as long as they can unplug from their world and stay with it, it keeps us connected and in tune with each other. More questions and more back and forth creates a platform for expansion as well as tangents and unexpected evolution in the conversation. We aren’t using communication to “answer questions on a test”. We are communicating to grow WITH each other.
Effective communication grows and flows.
We want to support the grow and flow! We find this yields our clients and students to actually listen to language and grow deeper understandings of how to use language and vocabulary, which strengthens their knowledge, which promotes more effective use, both verbal and augmented.
So, where to start?
Check out our goals in the FORMS section on our app under our Settings Gear. I was asked by a BCBA in the school district I was working with to “show her the data” of what I was doing as an AAC Specialist. I had to really pull this back and think about it. What are the steps I do OUTSIDE of actual technology matching and supports? Where is the base of this PRIOR TO higher level language and speech goals? What is it the teachers can be doing DAILY, without being a SLP or an AAC Specialist? Where can we note progress, or barriers? How can we systematically approach AAC implementation? And our FORM on Page 5 is what developed. We love this form! This is a fantastic place to start, regardless of what supports you are using, if any at all. It’s a support to communication in general. Why not start at the beginning?
We have many other ways to track data in our FORMS section. I will try to post on the specifics of a form each week (or month) as they are vital in implementation and understanding AAC beyond requests. We also have other forms we have developed with really cool speech and language goals that are not on our app, but hope to be in time. Just email us if you are looking for more direction: support@gobridgeapp.com. We love teaching and are always happy to help!
Our 2 cents -> build a strong base, the rest will follow.
~Danielle
*zoom in on photos to see goals and suggestions for data keeping
