I have a student who I’ve been working for and/or with since 2010 who has highly unique learning needs. He has a seizure disorder, intellectual disabilities, autism, speech-language impairments, and vision loss that makes him functionally blind.
Were it not for his vision loss, I’d be using visual schedules and visual icon-based alternative methods of communication, but I can’t use those tools with him. This requires me to rely on his remaining sensory modalities to achieve similar outcomes as would be achieved if he was sighted with visual schedules and icons.
Tools are only as useful to us as our creativity allows them to be, but not everyone knows how to come up with highly individualized programs of intervention. It’s a skill that has to be explicitly taught, and not everyone’s strengths lend themselves to it. I feel very fortunate that individualized program development falls within my personal wheelhouse of skills, and appreciate all the other people with whom I collaborate, who each have their own unique strengths different from mine.
I’m excited to now have the opportunity to partner with the creative and talented folks at Talkido, whose products I am using with my uniquely challenged student as an integral part of his individualized program of intervention. The Talkido products are powerful tools when used in an individualized manner.
Let’s start with the Talkido Mio, which is a screen-free device with a microphone, speaker, Bluetooth, and digital sensors. In addition the device, there is the Talkido smartphone app for iPhone or Android that also includes recording abilities and syncs with the Talkido Mio device. Additionally, there are Talkido sticker tags and cards, each with its own unique smart chip that syncs to both the Talkido app and the Talkido Mio device.
The Talkido sticker tags and cards are used with the app and device to create unique audio labels. When the Talkido Mio device comes close to a Talkido sticker tag or card, whatever pre-recorded audio label is associated with that tag or card will automatically play from the Talkido Mio’s speaker.
In my student’s particular case, I’m currently working with him to build his emotional vocabulary so that he can use language to express his feelings and advocate for himself rather than engage in behavioral outbursts. The biggest safety risk he’s facing right now is getting upset about something he can’t explain while being transported in his day program’s van, which puts everyone in the van and nearby vehicles at risk of an accident while he is in transit. This transportation-related behavioral concern is just a magnified consequence of him not being able to express himself in general, which goes to his overall quality of life.
So, here is what I’ve done for this particular student: I purchased a cookie jar shaped like a snowman because my student loves anything to do with Christmas and the winter holidays. We call it the “Snowman Jar of Feelings.” Inside it are four tactile icons, each representing an emotional vocabulary term. There is a knitted pouch full of cotton balls for “calm,” a knitted pouch full of marbles for “worried,” a curly gift ribbon for “excited,” and a hard, abrasive scrubbing sponge for “irritated.”
The cookie jar and the items in it are all labeled with Talkido sticker tags. The tag on the cookie jar identifies it as the “Snowman Jar of Feelings,” and each of the tactile icons is tagged with their respective emotional vocabulary terms. My student holds the Talkido Mio close to any of these items and it tells him what it is. See the video, here:
I also created a lapel pin for him that is synced to a self-calming script. He likes to hold the Talkido Mio device to his ear like a phone and listen to the recording, which is automatically triggered by the lapel pin when it is attached to his collar. See the video, which doesn’t include the entire script, but still gives you the general idea, here:
You can tell from these examples the flexibility needed to individualize these tools to fit a specific student’s unique needs. In addition to using the Talkido products to support this student, I also took social scripts that use the emotional vocabulary terms represented by the tactile icons in the Snowman Jar of Feelings and used AI to set them to music. He memorizes words and scripts better if they come from a song.
See my previous post about using the AI-generated music as a teaching tool, here: https://kps4parents.org/using-ai-generated-music-to-teach-social-scripts.
I’m in the process of creating a set of tactile icons using novelty keychains on a ring, each representing a different one of the eight songs I’ve created for him using AI. I will tag each tactile icon with a Talkido sticker that corresponds to the song it represents. Once this set of tagged tactile icons has been created, he will be able to choose a song and listen to it on his Talkido Mio. The songs I created for him are available for purchase and download from our online store for use with others for whom they would be useful. We encourage you to explore creating your own custom social script songs using AI. as well.
Using the Talkido products to label emotional vocabulary terms, individual items, and song choices gives him increased independence. Once he becomes proficient at using the Talkido Mio to access these items, he will not need another person providing hand-over-hand support or other forms of direct assistance to self-advocate and exercise his choices when it comes to expressing his feelings and accessing music with lyrics that promote his self-esteem, functional communication skills, and independent living skills.
This increased independence is expected to increase his social/emotional well-being, as well. During my most recent session with him, he turned to me with a big smile and said, “You get me. What a laugh!” This is coming from an individual who rarely uses spontaneous speech and largely relies on scripted speech to communicate. Not only are these tools helping to build up his scripted speech with more effective scripts, using them is also prompting increased spontaneous speech from him.
For assistive technology specialists, vision impairment specialists, speech-language pathologists, and special education teachers, creating individualized interventions using the Talkido products can become a powerful tool in your toolbox for serving your students or clients. The screen-free nature of it also means that sighted students who tend to perseverate or otherwise get distracted by all the other apps and icons on a screen-based tool will not have the opportunity to do so.
For parents looking to supplement school-based programs of intervention or who are homeschooling their children with language acquisition needs, particularly those with vision impairments, Talkido can open new doors of opportunity to make home, school, and community more accessible.
For educators, specialists, and parents who need technical support with creating individualized interventions, I offer my consulting services through KPS4Parents. Contact us with your questions about our individualized consulting services or otherwise schedule a free initial consultation to discuss your individualized instructional needs at https://calendly.com/makingspecialedactuallywork/general-phone-call-w-anne.
