Visual Language in Autism + Cd

Description

While the employment of visual supports is an accepted and relatively non-controversial topic in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) treatment, the authors contend that students with ASD are often introduced to visual support systems that create an artificial limit to what those students are able to express. They offer a new approach, developed during the last decade and more extensively during the last three years, that is systematic and comprehensive.

Visual Language in Autism provides a wide-ranging system of visual representation linking cognition and language, tied to the daily activities of children as they progress through their lives in school, home, and in the community. In providing such an inclusive use of symbolism, the book helps to aid individuals with ASD integrate basic activities of being, doing, knowing, and expressing. Such integration is a prerequisite for orientation to space, time, and particularly, relationships. The book provides a range of assessments of experiential world knowledge, and levels of visual representation that are mapped to language and cognition.

The book helps clinicians and educators provide a systematic progression of visual symbolism, leading the student from basic perception to metalinguistic understanding and use. A strong visual language also provides an organizational matrix that can be mapped to conceptual understanding, which is likely to enhance a student’s overall communication ability and, in turn, enable the person with ASD to relate to the world of objects and events, and to find his or her way to relationships with family, friends, and community.

Table of contents

· Chapter 1: In Search of a Visually Based Language System
Introduction
Language and Conversation Skills
Learning Capacity and Comprehension
Ability to Refer to and Orient to Time
Developments in the Use of Visuals
References

· Chapter 2: Fundamentals of Communication and Language Acquisition
Symbols
Language Fundamentals
References

· Chapter 3: Three Modes of Visual Language: VEM, VOM, and VIM
Visual Cues
Communication Displays
The Three Modes
Does Visual Language Blunt Speech?
References

· Chapter 4: Assessment, Part 1: Visual Skills and Other Key Skills
Obstacles to Assessment
Testing Strategies and Key Assessment Principles
Assessment for Placement in Visual Immersion Program
References

· Chapter 5: Assessment Part 2: Experiential Knowledge
Introduction
Previous Research
The Experiential Knowledge Profile
References

· Chapter 6: Intervention: Applying the Three Modes of the VIP
Introduction
General Instructional Objectives
Areas of Communication Skill Development
Additional Intervention Principles and Guidelines
Language Instruction Mapped to Routines
Visual Immersion Program Instruction
Temporal Displays
References

· Chapter 7: Special Considerations
Controlling Inappropriate Behavior
Expression of Pain and Discomfort
The Inclusive Classroom
Using Visuals Inside and Outside the Home
Interventions for Pre-Level 1 Learners
Intervention for Learners Who Read
Selecting Appropriate Assistive Technology
References

· Appendix A: Monarch Natural Language Assessment
· Appendix B: Informal Language Milestones
· Appendix C: Experiential Knowledge Profile (EKP)
· Appendix D: Monarch Individualized Pain, Illness, and Discomfort Awareness Program
· Appendix E: Key Factors in Selecting an Electronic Communication Device

· Index