8/28/2009

Small talk, gossip and tall stories:

Using AAC socially

Jane Farrall
Speech Pathologist
AAC Support Services Manager

Good afternoon

How are you all?

Have you had a good morning?

Do you wanna hear some gossip?

8/28/2009

Its
It
s good.

Its
It
s really, really good!

Have you got anything to tell me?

Something from this morning?

OK, heres
here s my gossip

Youll
You
ll never guess

8/28/2009

Kelly Fonner isn

isntt here!

Small talk, gossip and tall stories:

Using AAC socially

Social Communication

Social Communication

Social communication is a BIG part

of our
o
ou day.
day
We use different forms of social
communication small talk,
storytelling, greetings, wrap ups and
farewells.

Social communication is more than 50%

of our daily conversation.
Light (1998) found that reasons for
communication between adults were (in
ranked order)

Social closeness
Social etiquette
Information transfer
Wants and Needs

What do AAC users usually have on

their system?
Many AAC users have vocabulary which has been
chosen to meet the needs of specific situations.
These can have a large number of situation
specific nouns and a very small number (or none)
of small talk items. They may also include some
wrap ups or control words e.g. finish and more.

S
So.
Lets
L t gett more social!
i l!

8/28/2009

Small Talk

Small Talk

Small Talk

AAC Users and Small Talk

Small talk is used as a transition between the greeting and

information sharing stage, especially when people dont
possess a lot of shared
know each other well or dont p
information.
Small talk is often the first step towards social closeness.
A quick check at Amazon showed 16 books aimed at
helping people improve their small talk skills. Including
How to get people to like you in 90 seconds.
There are even websites to teach you how to small talk!
e.g. www.ehow.com, www.englishclub.com,
www.ivillage.co.uk and many more!

Generic Small Talk

Generic small talk is small

talk that people can use with
a variety of different
conversational
i
l partners
because it doesnt refer to
specific shared information.
Particularly effective for many
AAC users as it has many
different uses.

A type of conversational exchange used for initiating and

maintaining conversational interaction.
Some conversation never progresses beyond small talk e.g. at a
cocktail party.
p y

Many AAC users use little or no small talk

This can be because
They don
dontt have access to small talk in their communication
system
They dont see the need for it
They think it is a waste of time.

Light and Binger (1998) found that AAC users were seen as
more intelligent, valued and competent communication
partners if they used small talk.

Generic Small Talk

Generic Small
Talk

Specific Small
Talk

your
How is y
family?

How is y
your
wife?

Whats
happening?

What are you

doing?

Dont you look

nice!

Nice haircut.

Shes great.

Shes a great
teacher.

Several groups of researchers at the University of

Nebraska-Lincoln looked at the frequency and types of
generic small talk used by
g
y speakers
p
of various ages
g without
disabilities.
3 5 year olds - 48% of all utterances at both home and
pre-school/school were generic small talk
20 30 year olds - 39% of all utterances were generic
small talk
65 74 year olds 31% of all utterances were generic
small talk
75 85 year olds 26% of all utterances were generic
small talk

8/28/2009

Generic Small Talk

Differences in Small Talk Vocabulary

Most of the age groups used

continuers as the most common form
of small talk.
Really? Yeah? Great! Cool!
Go to aac.unl.edu for more detailed
information.

The small talk vocabulary lists showed that some words

were used more frequently than others e.g. OK
Some words were common across all age groups e.g. great
Some words were specific to certain age groups e.g.
bummer was used by the 25 35 year age group but not
by the others.
Small talk also differs based on your friendship groups,
your geographical location, your interests and life
experiences.

Using Generic Small Talk

Small Talk and Mealtimes

Balandin and Iacono (2000) found that it
was nearly impossible to script the
content-specific vocabulary needed for
mealtimes for an adult in the workplace
(although there was a good chance on
Mondays and Fridays that footie would be
the topic during the footie season).
In this situation, the only predictable thing
was small talk.

Pre-school Generic Small Talk

Adult Generic Small Talk

8/28/2009

Georges Small Talk

Georges Small Talk

21 year old male with athetoid cerebral palsy

Attends a day centre for young adults
Uses a Dynavox 3100 but only uses the spelling page
Controls communication device with a head switch

Georges Small Talk

Georges Small Talk

Over 20 other people with disabilities and 6 staff attended

Georges centre, most of whom talked.
George rarely used his device during the day.
Staff requested a review of his device because he didnt
ever use it.
George had previously had a setup with core vocabulary on
his device but found it frustrating to find words he wanted
when he could just spell them.

A speech pathology student observed him in two sessions.

He used his device constantly but only spoke with it
twice.
George was accessing his device with a head switch and
block/row/column scanning. She observed that by the time
he had formulated a message the conversation had moved
on and he erased and moved onto a new message.
A two pronged approach was used. Firstly, a
conversational topic was established before each group e.g.
What are your favourite films?. This allowed George to
compose messages in advance.
A small talk page was programmed and George practiced
using this in one-to-one and then small group conversation.

Georges Small Talk

Michaels Small Talk

At the end of 8 weeks the same speech pathology student

observed George in the same two sessions.
George used his device 46 times. Five of these were topic
setters, 41 were small talk continuers.
Several other people in the centre commented
spontaneously that George was much cleverer than they
thought or that They enjoyed talking to George much
more.
And.hes still using it!

8/28/2009

Michaels Small Talk

14 year old with autistic spectrum disorder.
Attends a mainstream school with a full-time integration
aide.
Michael has a Dynavox MiniMo but has recently developed
quite a lot of speech, which is only understood by familiar
people.
Michaels device has core vocabulary with lots of fringe
vocabulary around his topics of particular interest e.g.
SpongeBob Squarepants.

Michaels Small Talk

Michael has been very keen to interact with his peers.
However, as his peers have got older verbal skills have
p
to these interactions.
become more important
Michael will often walk up to a group and simply stand
there. The other children do not try to include him in their
conversations, nor does Michael try to join in.
Some of the children Michael was friendly with in primary
years will occasionally sit down and talk with him, but
always on his terms. These occasions are decreasing in
frequency.

Michaels Small Talk

Introduced Michael to Small Talk.
Each of his favourite topic
p areas had a
page built with partner directed questions
and small talk continuers.
His old friends are very impressed with
this change in Michael. They are more
likely to have a chat with him and will
sometimes call other people over to take
part in the conversation.

Storytelling

Storytelling
As we get older the percentage of small talk decreases and
the percentage of storytelling increases.
Older adults, in particular, use stories to entertain, teach
and establish social closeness with their peers.
As individuals lose their spouses and move to retirement
and care facilities the need to socially connect with
individuals their own age becomes important and
storytelling becomes a vehicle for this.

8/28/2009

Storytelling
Schank (1990) discussed story formulation, refinement and
storage in detail. He found a few different types of
stories in common use:

First person stories

Second person stories
Official stories
Fantasy stories

AAC and Storytelling

Storytelling with AAC systems has become practical and
possible with improved technology.
However, we must be careful that the stories are ones
which the person would choose to tell.
Storytelling is very personal and must be individualised.

Marven et al (1994) found that for preschoolers, 9% of

their communication at home and 11% at preschool
involves fantasy of some sort.

Johns storytelling

Johns chat cards

John is an 11 year old with autism spectrum disorder.
John uses words (which are mostly intelligible to familiar
people), signs and a multi
multi-page
page communication book.
John also has some challenging behaviour.
Five years ago, John had challenging behaviour every night
when he got home from school.
His mum felt that this was due to his frustration over trying
to tell her about his day.
His team decided that chat cards about his day would
help.
They setup a process to write a sentence about each day.

Johns chat cards

Johns chat cards

8/28/2009

Johns chat cards

Johns storytelling
Many of Johns old chat cards are in a milk crate in his
room.
John began spontaneously using them with new people a
couple of years ago.
He selects a few cards and then brings them to the new
person. They read them with him and if they show
particular interest in one topic e.g. playing basketball he
will go and get more things around this topic.
He brings out fewer chat cards as people become more
familiar with him and understand more of his speech.

Teds Storytelling

Teds Storytelling
Ted is a 78 year old who had a CVA when he was 72.
Following the CVA he regained some spontaneous speech,
mostly small talk. He can understand everything that is
said and can read the paper and magazines. He cannot
speak (apart from small talk) and he cannot write.
Prior to the stroke he was president of his local RSL Club.
His wife and his friends miss his storytelling.
His wife was able to work with him and write out many of
his stories. These have now been stored in a Macaw, with
one of his friends doing the recording.
He and his wife are delighted as he is once again able to
tell stories and delight his family and friends.

Sarahs Storytelling

8/28/2009

Sarahs Storytelling

Sarahs Storytelling

Sarah is a woman in her sixties who lives in her own house.

In her forties she was in a motor vehicle accident and is
now a quadriplegic.
She has a good understanding of spoken English but very
limited expressive communication, including very little
facial expression.
She has control of a single switch with her left thumb, but
tends to fatigue quickly, although her stamina is increasing.
She has a multi-level communication book which she
accesses with eye pointing.

She has a range of in-house care staff who tend to stay

around for between 5 months and 3 years.
doesntt understand what is
Many of these staff assume she doesn
said to her because she doesnt give body language
feedback.

Sarahs Chat Book

Inside this book are some of my photos. The writing tells you
about them. The questions are things I am interested in about
you. Please read out the writing and the questions and we can
find out about each other together - but be warned - it might
take more than one visit!
Sarah

I was born in 1943, but this is the first decent photo of

me - sitting at the piano when I was 11 like a good girl!
You wont see that often.
Did you learn an instrument? If so, what was it?

Me and my cat in 1955. Im the one on the right.

Did you have a pet as a child. If so, what was it?
What was its name?

This is me in 1957 with my family. My brother and I are

up the back, my mother and sister are in the middle and
my father is at the front.
Who is in your family?

10

8/28/2009

And here starts the party girl era.

Party, party, party.

20 years old and ready for anything

Are you a party person?

Recognise me? Im one of the goddesses at this toga party.

Here I am at work - as a graphic artist.

Have you ever been to a toga party?

Im the one in the white collar.

Theres me (left), Bob, Delilah, Juno, someones back and Helen.

What sorts of jobs have you done?

And to prove my claim - heres some of my art. Me.

Here I am on a trip to visit my brother in Papua New

Guinea.

Do you do any art or craft? What sort of art do you

like? I like modern art - as you can tell.

Where have you travelled to? Where did you like the
best?

11

8/28/2009

The post-party recovery phase - Im sure you know

that one.
Whats your worst post-party experience? Or cant
you remember it?

Helen and I in 1974 - probably heading off to another

party! Seems to be a bit of a theme somewhere.

Yep - its a wig and I did wear it out in public.

On a skiing trip to New Zealand.

Have you ever worn a wig?

Have you been skiing? Do you like it?

And here we are - Peter and I in late 1978 just after

wed met.

And heres the wedding invite. It all happened very

quickly - we were married less than a year after wed
met, in October 1979. It was a wonderful time.

12

8/28/2009

The wedding day - myself and Pete.

Peter loved sailing. This was a fantastic day. It would

have been sometime in 1984.
Have you ever been sailing? Do you like it?

On the 12th of July 1985, Pete and I were hit by a car

as we were walking to a restaurant for dinner.
My life completely changed after that. Pete died as a
result of the accident
acc dent and I am now severely phys
physically
cally
disabled.
Pete and I had over six wonderful years together. I
still miss him very much as you can imagine.
Luckily, I have many great friends and they, and my
own determination, have helped me to keep going.

And in 1991, getting familiar with the options in

communication technology at the time.

Here I am in 1990, looking sufficiently harrowed by

the five year gap.

And on to 2002 - some things never change.

Recovering from a party and Melbourne Cup day.
Do you enjoy a flutter on the cup?

13

8/28/2009

To be continued
Thanks for reading my chat book with me.
This is an ongoing project. If you have any photos to contribute please give
them to Karen or leave them at my house with a description of who is in the
photo and what the occasion is- all photos will be scanned, added to this
book and then returned to you.
If you have any suggestions or questions about my chat book you can
contact my Speech Pathologist, Jane Farrall on 0433 148 050.

Michaels Chat Page

Sarahs Chat Book

Sarahs chat book has completely changed the way staff
see her.
Each new staff member sits down and goes through the
book with her over a few different sessions.
They realise how interested Sarah is in them and they
gossip with her more.
It also gives them topics to talk about that they think will
interest her.

Michael Chat Pages

Michael is a 39 year old who has recently had a stroke.
As a result of the stroke he has language problems or
aphasia.
He can speak by copying other people but has difficulty
saying things spontaneously.
Michaels team have been trialling visual scene displays
(VSDs) with him as he has great difficulty reading, also as
a result of the stroke, and also found symbols difficult to
use (and he was very reluctant to use them).
VSDs have been successful, and more and more frequently
Michael is able to simply go to the page and then speak
before the computer does so.

Michaels Chat Pages

Michaels Desk

Michaels chat pages are each organised by a photograph.

For new people, his narratives are represented by a
photograph
p
g p of his desk.
These pages have been prepared in a program called Tobii
Communicator.

14

8/28/2009

Gossip

Gossip
Well.. you already got that bit!
Gossip
p is a very
y good
g
way
y to increase
social closeness.
Create a gossip button on a persons
communication device.
Use a Step-by-Step to create a sequence.

Just how important is social

communication?

Use of an introductory strategy

when meeting new people

In Building Communicative Competence with individuals

who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication
g and Binger
g ((1998)) looked at jjust three different social
Light
communication skills.

Teaching a 35 year old with a closed head injury to use an

introductory strategy to explain his use of AAC and his
positive interactions
communication resulted in much more p
with unfamiliar people, with fewer breakdowns and made
the new partners more at ease.
Teaching a 44 year old with cerebral palsy to use an
introductory strategy allowed her to be more confident and
assertive with new people. Twenty adults with no previous
experience of AAC viewed tapes of Maureen meeting new
people pre and post. 100% of them reported she was a
more competent communicator when she used an
introductory strategy.

1. Use of an introductory strategy when meeting new people

2. Use of nonobligatory turns to increase participation in social
interactions
3. Use of partner-focused questions to demonstrate an interest
in the partner.

Use of nonobligatory turn taking

Use of partner focused questions

Teaching a young (4 year old) child with cerebral palsy to

use non-obligatory turn taking via AAC meant that the child
was initiating more frequently and was more eager to
participate
ti i t iin group activities.
ti iti
O
One off h
her peers said
id she
h
was more fun to play with. Her speech improved and she
acquired 30 new words.
Teaching a 14 year old with autism to take non-obligatory
turns also resulted in a increase in initiating and turn
taking. There was a decrease in his inappropriate
behaviours and he was less disruptive in class. 20 adults
who were not familiar with AAC rated his pre and post
videotapes and rated him as a much more competent
communicator in the post tapes (although they didnt know
which were pre or post).

Teaching a 13 year old child with developmental disability

to use partner focused questions produced a change in the
focus of his interactions. His p
partners began
g
to see his
communication as more appropriate.
Teaching a 24 year old with athetoid cerebral palsy to use
partner focused questions meant that he became a more
valued communication partner with those he regularly
communicated with.

15

8/28/2009

So how do I decide whats important

in an AAC system?

Choosing vocabulary for pre-literate

individuals

Beukelman (2004) wrote that

vocabulary selection in AAC can
vocabulary
be viewed as the process of
choosing a small list of words or
items from a pool of all
possibilities

For people who are pre-literate those designing an AAC

system face a hard task. Generally we consider there are
y for this group
g
p vocabulary
y that is
two forms of vocabulary
needed to communicate essential messages and vocabulary
to develop language (which includes small talk and
narratives).
Many people like to make this decision around core
vocabulary ie words and messages which are commonly
used and occur frequently. Small talk vocabulary fits well
within these criteria.

Choosing vocabulary for non-literate

individuals

Choosing vocabulary for literate

individuals

Aim to meet their daily, ongoing communication needs in a

variety of environments.

Do you wanna hear some more

gossip?
i ?

For literate individuals, they may need some phrases or

words which need to be pre-stored for quick access either
y can participate
p
p
in the conversation in a timely
y way
y
so they
or so they can reduce fatigue.

Are you sure?

16

8/28/2009

I don
dontt think IIve
ve got anymore!

17