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Pre-Symbolic Communication
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 Fact Sheet 1: Assessing Communication Skills
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| (Click links below to access fact sheets.) |
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Meet Graycee
The first step in encouraging your child to become a more intentional communicator is to make sure you understand his or her potential communication behaviors. As a parent, you already know a lot about your child’s current or potential communication skills but there might be some things you don’t know or may not have paid attention to. At the pre-symbolic level, there are communication behaviors that come in various forms including body movement, vocalizations, and eye gaze. Your child probably communicates in a variety of ways that are both easy and difficult to recognize. An attempt to communicate at the pre-symbolic level might be very subtle depending upon your child’s motor abilities and the time it takes for him or her to process information and make a response.
 Graycee has several ways she communicates to her mother, Angie. She will smile, giggle or vocalize in a soft tone when she likes an interaction or activity. Although Graycee is able to raise her arms it is not easy for her to do so and her physical movements are not consistent. As such, Angie has decided that she will encourage Graycee to use behaviors like giggling, smiling, and vocalizing to respond to things she likes.
In this first video clip you will see an example of how Graycee uses her behaviors to let her mother know she likes to be tickled with the massage vibrator.
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| (Windows Media Player version can be expanded to full screen.) |
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Angie wants to reinforce Graycee’s vocalizations as much as she can because vocalizing is a behavior that a variety of people in her family, school, and community will be able to recognize in a communication exchange. At the same time, she wants Graycee to know that she will respond to her smiles and giggles. Angie has also come to recognize that if Graycee is not interested in something or is finished with an interaction/activity she will not respond at all or use different facial expressions.
Over time, Angie has discovered that Graycee will make a choice by using an eye gaze if she is seated in a comfortable position and, although Graycee has not been taught to gain her mother’s attention, Angie knows that she might be able to do so by vocalizing. In the next fact sheets, you will see an example of how Angie is teaching Graycee to ask for “more”, make a choice, and get attention.
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Meet North
Like Graycee, North has several ways he lets Dee Ann know that he likes an interaction, activity or toy. He giggles, smiles, and vocalizes to indicate that he likes something but he also uses his body in an active way. He kicks and pushes with his legs, moves his head in different positions, and will reach for a favorite toy.
 In the next video clip, you will see an example of some of the behaviors North uses to indicate he likes Dee Ann’s interaction with him.
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| (Windows Media Player version can be expanded to full screen.) |
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North is in the beginning stages of choice-making but has given Dee Ann information about the features of his likes and dislikes that can help her teach him this skill.
It is important to remember that your child will probably use different behaviors to send different messages. The purpose, at this point, is to discover the behavior or behaviors that are easy for your child to use to respond to interactions and activities. Taking the time to gather this kind of information is the first step. Once you have determined the different ways your child responds then the next step is to make sure you have a good understanding of what motivates your son or daughter.
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A Few of My Favorite Things
Understanding what motivates your child is a critical factor in building his or her intentional communication skills. These interests create the topics for encouraging your child to intentionally communicate. As a parent, you know what kinds of things your son or daughter likes but doing a simple preference assessment may provide you with some additional ideas.
A preference assessment involves presenting a child with a variety of choices of materials, toys, social interactions, and activities and then watching to see how the child responds to these experiences. Oftentimes, children with more significant disabilities are not interested in toys but are more motivated by physical interactions like tickling, rocking or swinging.
There may also be various factors that influence a child’s preferences. For example, a child may like something one day but not respond in the same way the next day. Other factors like illness, body position, lighting, noise level, unfamiliar people, and settings can all influence how a child responds. All of these things need to be taken into consideration when looking for motivating activities and materials.
Making Some Decisions
Once you have determined your child’s current communication skills and the kinds of things that motivate him or her you will need to decide which behavior(s) your child might use to communicate at the pre-symbolic level. As a parent, you might be able to recognize a particular response, but there are several things you need to consider as you make this decision.
First, you want to make sure that other people can “read” a behavior as a response. You want your child to be able to communicate with his or her siblings, peers, teachers, and other people in the community.
Next, you want a response to be easy for your child to produce. If your child has motor issues then you want to be careful to choose a response that he or she can repeat and does not take a lot of energy.
A few questions for you to think about…
- How does my child let me know he/she likes something?
- How does my child let me know that he/she doesn’t like something?
- What kinds of interactions does my child like? (e.g., tickling, swinging)
- What are my child’s favorite toys or objects? (e.g., music on DVD player)
- What are my child’s favorite activities? (e.g., playing Row-Row-Row Your Boat game)
- What behaviors could my child use as a communication response?
- Could a variety of people “read” these responses or am I the only one who could interpret them?
- How much effort does it take for my child to perform these responses?
- Is it easier for my child to respond if he/she is in a certain position?
- What environmental things should be considered when my child is being asked to respond? (e.g., light, noise level)
The next fact sheets will give you some strategies and examples of how to encourage your child to ask for an activity/interaction to be “repeated,” make a “choice,” and get “attention” from another person.
Back to top
A Few of My Favorite Things
Understanding what motivates your child is a critical factor in building his or her intentional communication skills. These interests create the topics for encouraging your child to intentionally communicate. As a parent, you know what kinds of things your son or daughter likes but doing a simple preference assessment may provide you with some additional ideas.
A preference assessment involves presenting a child with a variety of choices of materials, toys, social interactions, and activities and then watching to see how the child responds to these experiences. Oftentimes, children with more significant disabilities are not interested in toys but are more motivated by physical interactions like tickling, rocking or swinging.
There may also be various factors that influence a child’s preferences. For example, a child may like something one day but not respond in the same way the next day. Other factors like illness, body position, lighting, noise level, unfamiliar people, and settings can all influence how a child responds. All of these things need to be taken into consideration when looking for motivating activities and materials.
Making Some Decisions
Once you have determined your child’s current communication skills and the kinds of things that motivate him or her you will need to decide which behavior(s) your child might use to communicate at the pre-symbolic level. As a parent, you might be able to recognize a particular response, but there are several things you need to consider as you make this decision.
First, you want to make sure that other people can “read” a behavior as a response. You want your child to be able to communicate with his or her siblings, peers, teachers, and other people in the community.
Next, you want a response to be easy for your child to produce. If your child has motor issues then you want to be careful to choose a response that he or she can repeat and does not take a lot of energy.
A few questions for you to think about…
- How does my child let me know he/she likes something?
- How does my child let me know that he/she doesn’t like something?
- What kinds of interactions does my child like? (e.g., tickling, swinging)
- What are my child’s favorite toys or objects? (e.g., music on DVD player)
- What are my child’s favorite activities? (e.g., playing Row-Row-Row Your Boat game)
- What behaviors could my child use as a communication response?
- Could a variety of people “read” these responses or am I the only one who could interpret them?
- How much effort does it take for my child to perform these responses?
- Is it easier for my child to respond if he/she is in a certain position?
- What environmental things should be considered when my child is being asked to respond? (e.g., light, noise level)
The next fact sheets will give you some strategies and examples of how to encourage your child to ask for an activity/interaction to be “repeated,” make a “choice,” and get “attention” from another person.
Back to top
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