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LOGICAL LANGUAGE: INCLUSION SOFTWARE THAT SUPPORTS LITERACY AND AAC

Yvonne Gillette
The University of Akron
School of Communicative Disorders
Akron, OH 44325-3001
Voice/Messages: 216-972-6115
FAX 216-972-7884
Internet: YGillette@UAkron.EDU

Jeri Hoffman
Innocomp
26210 Emery Rd. Suite 302
Warrensville Heights, OH 44128
Voice/Messages 800-382-8622
FAX: 216-464-3638
Internet: JeriHoff@aol.com

Web Posted on: November 30, 1997

The presentation demonstrates software designed to scaffold picture users towards print. The pictures to print approach of Logical Language can create possibilities for individuals of different skill levels to learn together using the same software program, but at individualized levels and rates of learning. Since the system works effectively for augmentative communication applications, learners with AAC needs can easily be included in learning experiences with peers.

The program, Logical Language, fosters a direct and obvious link to print through a picture-coded alphabetically arranged message menu and supporting screens. Text and speech output result from the picture/print selection input. In the Logical Language program, routines are organized by letters of the alphabet combined with a picture, for example, K-Kitchen, L-Learning, P-Play. Once selected, fifteen to thirty single word messages available for each routine dynamically appear. These picture messages are also organized alphabetically, and labeled. The labels are first or second letter of the word. Words screens also make it possible to send more sophisticated messages that include prepositions or auxiliary verbs, for example.

The Logical Language program is build upon two principles.

  • 1. Written and spoken language evolve from experience.
  • 2. Incidental exposure to letters and text facilitates literacy.

Experience=language and literacy

Logical Language exploits the first principle by using daily routines as the organizing principle for pictures/word messages. The principle guides the design of the menu which leads to a screen of messages related to the routine selected from the menu. So, if the learner selects the routine "Outside", a page of pictured messages related to the outside appears.

One way literacy skills emerge in an individual is through exposure to pictures or objects combined with words in books and in the environment. In developmental literacy or AAC systems, picture/word access designs can parallel this process. In addition, the organization of the messages on screen or overlays can also provide individuals with experiences in story organization, or grammar (Stein and Glenn, 1979). The components of a story grammar include the setting, the initiating event, participation events, and an ending. Messages organized around daily life routines allow individuals to initiate the routine, participate in it, and end it. The message organization and the picture/word access to messages provide the individual with a link between daily life and functional literacy. The pictures to print approach of Logical Language interfaces well with Juel's Simple View theory of literacy (1988). The Simple View considers generating and organizing ideas (ideation), to be a major component of writing skill.

Incidental Exposure to Letters and Text

Once an individual can use picture/word combinations to access messages, the design of Logical Language begins to foster first letter of the word spelling. The learner can begin to attend to the picture label, which is the first, or first and second letters of the word. In addition, once the individual selects the message, the full printed message appears on screen. The design of such a system focuses the attention of the individual on the first letter of the word and the message it can produce.

The technology of dynamic screens offers a concrete access system to the messages. First, click on the routine in the main menu, bring up a display of messages in the category, then click on the message desired. This type of access can be achieved with direct selection (touch screen or mouse) or through scanning. Logical Language also offers a step toward more sophisticated skills through keyboard access. The program can be set so that learners must use codes (first and second letter of the words) to obtain a message. This more advanced step makes it possible to work within a letter-based system, but with the support of pictures.

Several scholars and at least one consumer of AAC have raised concerns about the frequent discrepancy between symbolic encoding skills needed for AAC and conventional literacy skills (Beukelman, 1991, Light & Lindsay, 1991, and Beatty, 1992). The concern appears to be the competition between time spent on learning an AAC encoding system for communication and the graphic literacy skills necessary to read and write language. The solution is an AAC encoding system or a dynamic menu/screen design that incorporates traditional literacy skills.

Logical Language, an Innocomp product offers such a solution. Logical Language is available for the Say- It-All communication device as well as in a software format running on an IBM compatible computer. Individuals who use these systems to retrieve vocabulary may more easily make the transition from pictures to print because of the intricate scaffolding design the program provides.

The Final Step-Experiences with Word Prediction or Text

Dedicated communication devices or computer-based programs with text to speech capabilities are ideal technology for teaching the individual the relationship between print and spoken language. Individuals who will benefit from this type of instruction, know the purpose of sending messages and have a notion about encoding or retrieving messages through graphic forms. They may lack sophisticated skills to produce messages in writing or orally (in the case of AAC users) in standard orthography, however.

Text to speech devices or software programs can provide this experience, as can teachers or families who provide feedback about what a written word "says" (Chomsky, 1979). With technology, anyone can give written notes to an individual, who can copy the note or words in the note to hear the device/program speak the message the note sent. When the technique works, set up similar experiences with recipes, television guides, dictionaries, maps, newspapers, magazines, labels on food or other items, books, comic books, catalogs, and greeting cards, to name a few.

Word prediction is a tool within the scaffold toward literacy and sophisticated augmentative communication. The individual who is able to access messages through the pictures to print approach of Logical Language is in a position to learn to use word prediction combined with keyboarding to communicate in speech and writing. Using word prediction can minimize learning costs of an AAC system because the individual uses the same cognitive process for oral and written output. In some cases, an individual can use the same device (a computer) for verbal and written output as well, which can minimize equipment costs. In addition, the use of a computer for verbal output facilitates inclusion because the device is a part of typical environments. Word prediction products are options only for individuals who have a foundation in literacy.

Inclusion Aspects

Facilitators can use the pictures to print approach of Logical Language to design a systematic scaffold toward literacy for AAC users or others with literacy needs. Consequently, it is also possible for different types of learners to learn together using the same software program.

Here are some examples.

  • 1. A learner who can select messages from a screen, but cannot yet use dynamic menus, can work on a single screen to learn and use the vocabulary within a routine. The learner can produce spoken and written output from pictured input.
  • 2. A learner who can work with dynamic menu displays but cannot yet use letters to access messages, can create single and multiple word messages by moving within and between screens.
  • 3. A learner who can create multiword messages by combining input from different screens can begin to work with the keyboard to select messages using first and sometimes second letter of the word spelling.
  • 5. A learner with AAC needs can use the same system for communication that peers use for literacy, while gaining literacy benefits himself.

References

Beatty, H. (1992). Icons and the literate adult. Communication Outlook 13 (3), 8-9.

Beukelman, DR (1991). Magic and the cost of communicative competence. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 7, 2-10.

Chomsky, C. (1979). Approaching reading through invented spelling. In L.B. Resnick and P.A. Weaver (Eds.) Theory and Practice of Early Reading, Vol. 2. Hillsdale NJ: Erlbaum. Dyson, A. (1986). Transitions and tensions: Interrelationships between drawing, talking, and dictating of young children. Research in the Teaching of English, 20, 5-24.

Juel,C. (1988). Learning to read and write: A longitudinal study of 54 children from first through fourth grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80, 4, 437-447.

Koppenhaver, D.A., Coleman, P.P., Kalman, S.L., Yoder, D.E. (1991). The implications of emergent literacy research for children with developmental disabilities. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 1 (1), 38-44.

Light, J. & Lindsay, P. (1991). Cognitive science and augmentative and alternative communication. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 7, 186-203.

Stein, N. & Glenn, C. (1979). An analysis for story comprehension in elementary school. In R. Freedle (Ed.) New directions in discourse processing Vol. 2. Norwood, NJ:Ablex.

VanKleeck, A. (1990). Emergent literacy: Learning about print before learning to read. Topics in Language Disorders, 10(2), 24-45.

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