Getting Started with AAC
Cause-and-Effect with One Recordable Button
In this activity, we are going to pair a recorded message with a fun experience, and give the learner the opportunity to learn cause and effect with a communicative message.
Steps:
Identify intent - what activity/experience is the learner is motivated to enact or continue once you have started it? This should be something fun that brings them to you, keeps them with you, and/or keeps them coming back. It could be tickles, letting go of a blown up balloon, a bite of something yummy, or being spun around in an office chair, etc.
Identify their message - choose a word or phrase that speaks to the learner’s “message” in the moment. The word GO is a common message, especially when the learner wants something they enjoy to happen (such as releasing a balloon, a spin in an office chair - anything you can lead up to with the carrier phrase “ready…..set….”). The word MORE is another common first message when the learner wants something to happen again (such as another bite of food or another sticker to put on a page).
Set up the button - Record your first message so that it can be understood. Play around with getting closer to or further from the mic (often a single hole in the plastic casing, may or may not be marked) and using a louder or softer voice. You want to get the best sound quality as possible. Say the word as you would in the experience when playing. Add a symbol if you have access to images, or text, a color, etc. Something that the learner can LEARN TO recognize as a representation for that desired message/outcome (Go or More, for example). The learner DOES NOT need to be able to make sense of the representation on the button to start. This will come with time. For learners that are visually impaired, make sure to add something to the recordable button that they can feel. This could be a texture like a piece of sticky back Velcro, or hot glue dots, or distinct button shape that could be learned as a symbol for this particular message.
Play with it - Playfully include the button into the activity and activate it yourself at the key moment in the activity. If they learner climbs on the spinning chair for a turn, wait a beat while you have their attention, and then you press the button as you give the learner a spin, pairing the recorded message with the learner’s desired action. Or, hold the button near the item the learner wants MORE of, so that they accidentally press the button while reaching. Reinforce this with your words, “I want MORE,” speaking their intent with your voice.
Playfully obstruct - Now that the learner has experienced that the message comes in conjunction with the desired action, hold out (playfully) for a second or two and see if the learner will press the button themself to make the desired action happen. When they press the button, follow up IMMEDIATELY with the desired action and reinforce it with your words. The expectant wait time may need to be very brief before you decide to help the learner to press the button, as in step 4. Waiting too long runs the risk of the learner losing interest or walking away. If they do, then either the activity wasn’t fun enough, or we need to back up to the teaching phase (4. Play with it) and show/model use of the button within the highly preferred activity some more before expecting the learner to press the button themselves.
Add activities - Once the learner has learned the cause-and-effect relationship that this button can get fun things done for them, add another activity that this message would apply to. If you started with throwing the learner onto the bed every time they pushed the GO button, now bring the button to the garden hose and pull the trigger every time the learner says GO with the button. Or throw a ball to them, knock down blocks, send a car down a racetrack. For the message MORE, once they have pressed the button to ask for another bite of food, use it to ask for more tickles, bubbles, or a song you sing to them. As long as its fun, and they want it again and again, see what message you can add to the interaction with a recordable button!
© Eberhard Speech and Language Therapy, 2022