Understanding Different Ways Individuals Communicate
Nonverbal and limited verbal individuals may use some of these different ways to communicate. Some use these modes of communication for all kinds of communication and some use them for selective types of communication such as only for wants and needs. The purpose of this page is to get your familiar with a few of those modes of communication. This is not training or advocacy in these modalities as they usually take specialized training and each individual's needs are different, but just to help you understand these individuals better.
Here are a few examples of how one might be used:
*NOTE: The individuals using these devices have on going training in using these devices, thus making accurate communication possible. with the device.
Resources:
The following are list of website that may be helpful to look at:
www.halo-soma.org -This is the official site of Rapid Prompting Method (RPM). The students spelling on letterboards and many of the insights on choices, background information, is informed by RPM--a teaching method leading to communication and functional skills.
www.heedrpm.com- This is another site with more videos on choices and also gives information about RPM. Click here for a blog on this site specific to religious inclusion.
https://www.cec.sped.org/-This website is the Council for Exceptional Children where research and information can be found on individuals with disabilities.
www.friendshipcircle.org-This blog gives some ways to communicate with and understand nonverbal individuals.
John Connolly: Listening to the Brain's Voice when Speech is Lost-This presentation is research a neuroscientist did on 'locked in' (people assumed to be in a vegetative state) individuals with EEG's where he discovered many were understanding and not in a vegetative state. Similar findings were found with some nonverbal children with autism.
Book-This is a link to a book about alternative communication written by leading experts in the communication field. Information from this book helped inform parts of this site.
Book-This is a book that explains how to teach about disabilities through literature.
Book-Explains about communication with nonverbal individuals and about understanding them.