Increasing the number of symbols using encoding
This stage takes your existing Stage One pages and puts them into a new format to enable the learner to select from more than six symbols on a page.
The learner is enjoying your use of the book while chatting together and is beginning to select single symbols within motivating activities.
The limitation to eye pointing is that there are only so many different areas on the page that a learner can clearly eye point to. The maximum number of symbols or pictures on a page that you have used so far is six and you may have already found this limiting when thinking of vocabulary to use in an activity. Keeping to six symbols reduces the amount and complexity of language that is easily available.
One way to increase the number of symbols on a page is to use colour encoding. Colour encoding can initially feel complicated and strange. But it’s not as tricky as it seems.
When you use colour encoding, you put symbols into groups on a page and give each symbol within the group a different coloured border. Coloured dots that match these border colours are placed around the edge of the page. To select a symbol, the learner first looks at the group of symbols that contains their target symbol. The learner then looks at the coloured dot that matches the colour of the border of their target symbol. So instead of one look to a single symbol, colour encoding entails two looks – the first to the group and the second to the matching coloured dot.
In the example above, the symbols are arranged into five groups of two. If the learner wanted to communicate pop they would first look at the group that contains the symbols pop and oh no!. They would then clarify which symbol they wanted by looking at the orange dot as pop has an orange border.
VIDEO: This video shows how encoding works.
Note that different forms of encoding are possible. If using colour information is difficult for a learner, encoding can be done using numbers, shapes and / or patterns. Colour encoding can also be done using more muted colours if that is preferred. See Appendix Three for more information. The principle is the same even if it looks a bit different.
A great way to introduce encoding is to create a page around a fun, motivating activity. You can then model using this page, highlighting the encoding process as you do so. For example, using the page above you could say “I want this group, orange, I want more”, while pointing to the group containing the more and stop symbols, then pointing to the orange dot and then to the more symbol. It sounds laborious written down, but it is fairly quick to do.
VIDEO: This video shows how you can model encoding.
When getting started, you might find that the learner will look directly at the group that contains the symbol but won’t initially go on to look at the corresponding dot. You can support their understanding of this by telling them that you can see they are looking at, for example, more and stop, and asking if they are telling you orange more or blue stop. Alternatively, if you are confident that they are looking at a particular symbol, you could simply say, “you are telling me orange more”, while drawing their attention to the border and the matching coloured dot. If you have got it wrong, they can always let you know.
VIDEO: This video shows one way of supporting someone who is learning to use encoding.
Encoding takes time to learn but it is worth persevering. In time, it will unlock a wealth of opportunities.
VIDEO: Tamsin and her mum are drawing animals together. Tamsin is getting going with two colour encoding.
As you get going with encoding, gradually transform your Stage One pages into this new format. You may want to take it slowly to avoid the moving on process becoming stressful. As you change the format of the topic pages, keep the topic vocabulary from your Stage One pages in the same layout. You then have four more cells on the right-hand side that you can gradually fill with new symbols.
In the example above, bubbles, blow, pop and oh no! are in the same place relative to each other on both pages. New symbols catch, want and pretty have been added to some of the four available new cells on the right-hand side of the page. There is no need to fill every cell on the page with symbols.
If getting going with encoding is proving challenging for the learner, but you feel they are ready to access more symbols on a page from a language perspective, you could support their use of an encoded page using a strategy called listener mediated scanning.
One way of going about listener mediated scanning is for the learner to look directly at the group. You then speak aloud the names of the symbols within the group (highlighting the colour of the border to continue to reinforce their learning of the encoding). The learner indicates ‘yes’ when you speak aloud the option that they wish to communicate. When speaking aloud the options within the group, ensure you always say the symbol names in the same order.
VIDEO: This video illustrates how listener mediated scanning can work on an encoded page.
Continue to add more pages for activities or interests that you both enjoy, updating the Menu Pages as you do so.
Continue to take responsibility for making sure the communication book is always to hand.
Continue with all Stage One aims.
Model how to select symbols using encoding.
Continue with all Stage One aims.
Look2Talk Demonstration Pages contain example communication book pages that aim to bring to life the practices and principles described above. Click here to try interactive demonstration pages for Stage One (Moving on).
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