APH Intervention Continuum
of Communication Skills
Monica Turner
Field Services Representative
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
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
SAM
Tactile Connections
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.
Sensory Learning Kit
(SLK)
Purpose
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.
Target population
• Cognitive age: 0-2 years
• Chronological age: 0 and up
 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
Contents
• the SLK Guidebook, which is divided into
three main parts - Introduction, Learning,
and Teaching;
• the SLK Assessment Forms, which consist
of five tools to be used sequentially;
• the SLK Routines Book, which includes an
introduction, routine templates, and
worksheet for modified routines; and
• an assortment of tangible items to be
used during assessment and when teaching
routines.
Tangible Items
• Adaptable stick switch
• Adaptable tactile switch
with snap-on plates
• Bell bracelet
• Combination
penlight/flashlight with
colored lenses
• Ice bag
• Massager
• Mirror
• Multicolor metallic
pinwheel
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Personal music player
Personal fan
Power Select control unit
Scallop Switch
Tactile roller with roller covers
Vibrating pad
Philosophy
• 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
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
Use of Routines
Routines are highly structured
activities to encourage reactions and
interactions with the SLK components.
Familiar
Predictable
Allow for controlled pacing
Minimize sensory clutter
Consistent
Frequent
Low-stress
Three levels of
sensorimotor learning
• Quiet alert - Attention to stimulation
provided by partner
• Active alert - Exploration of learning
media
• Partial Participation - Outcome directed
motor sequences
Routines teach:
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Object exploration
Object permanence
Imitation
Causality
Means-ends
Basic spatial
relationships
Assessment Forms
Sensory Learning Summary (SLS)
Arousal State Profile (ASP)
Sensory Response Record (SRR)
Appetite/Aversion List (AAL)
Level and Strategy Guide (LSG)
Symbols and Meaning
(SAM)
Target Population
Students with visual
and multiple
impairments and preschool children with
visual impairments
who are just beginning
to use symbols - the
late sensorimotor,
early preoperational
stage of cognitive
development
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.
Symbols and Meaning
Games & activities focus on
words & objects representing:
– People
– Objects
– Actions
– Places
Symbols and Meaning
Once meaning is established by
pairing symbols and concrete
referents, additional games give
individuals the opportunity to
use object and word symbols in
communication contexts.
SAM enables learners
to understand:
What is it?
What does it do?
How does it relate to other things?
SAM kit contents:
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2 baskets
Digital recorder
25 plastic story pages
Assessments and Games book
Electronic assessment forms
Flash drive
Large Print Guidebook
SAM videos
Sport bag
SAM kit contents cont’d:
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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
Without vision, help is
needed to
• Make sense out of random
experiences
• Provide the breadth of experiences
required for good concept and
scheme development
• Expand from a self-referential point
of view to an “other-oriented” point
of view
Steps in building word
symbol bridges
• Say the word while
learner is exploring,
using, doing
• Use real objects only
• Make sure sensory
bridges are in place,
touch paired with
sounds, sights, smells
• Use word when
referent is heard,
seen, smelled at
distance
Tactile Connections
Symbols for Communication
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.).
Perkins School for
the Blind
Target population
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.
Is your student ready for
tactile symbols?
Two prerequisites for tactile symbol use
are intentional communication and
symbolic representation.
Tactile Connections
Note that a student at the “whole object” stage
may be at a pre-symbolic cognitive level and
therefore may not be ready for tactile symbols.
Home of the
Innocents,
Louisville, KY
Tactile Connections
Symbols such as words and
pictures become tools for problemsolving, pretending and socializing.
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.