Communication
Perhaps one of the most important functions of technology is assistance with communication. Enabling a child to express his wants and needs is critical to his physical and emotional well-being. A number of devices are available to meet individual communication needs.
FM Auditory Trainers
Children who are deaf or have significant hearing loss may use an FM auditory trainer in school. A microphone is worn by the teacher or speaker, and a receiver is worn by the student. Some receivers are worn behind the ear and others consist of a small box worn on the chest with a harness, connected with cords to a piece that fits into the student's ear.
An FM auditory trainer has several settings. It can be used as a powerful hearing aid that amplifies all the voices and other sounds in the room, or it can be used to focus primarily on the speaker's voice. As the speaker's voice is picked up by the microphone, it is channeled to the receiver, minimizing other sounds in the room. With less input from background noise, the child is better able to focus on and understand the speaker's speech.
Alert
A speaker who is wearing an FM auditory trainer microphone should be aware that it will amplify her voice even when she is not in the same room with the student. A conversation in the hall with another teacher or noise from the bathroom can be sent to the student's “receiver” if the microphone is not turned off.
Communication Boards
Some children on the autism spectrum or with physical impairments that affect speech benefit from communication boards. This type of assistive technology is often called augmentative communication. A variety of types is commercially available. Using augmentative communication, the child points to a picture or symbol on a “board” and the product will then speak the desired word or phrase.
Some are preprogrammed with words; in other products, a specific message can be recorded to correspond with each picture. Augmentative devices can be as simple as two to four pictures, or they may use a large number of picture or icon choices.
Head Wand
Head wands are used by some children with severe physical disabilities. The child wears a headband that supports the wand, which is used to point to a place on a communication board or on a computer screen. The equipment then “speaks” for the child.
Communication Book
A child with a severe communication delay might use a picture system, called The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS), to communicate wants and needs. This is often used by children on the autism spectrum who struggle with verbal language. In this system, the child chooses a small picture card to ask for something, or to answer a question. PECS was created by Andrew Bondy, PhD, and Lori Frost, MS, CCC/SLP.
