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Building Bridges Camp & Training Institute for Campers with Complex Communication Needs & for Staff Learning about AAC
Kelly Fonner
7/5/2016 4:24 PM
Follow this link to the videos from Building Bridges Camp. This is an AAC specific camp associated with the Bridge School in the San Francisco, California area. Your child does not need to be attending or associated with the transition program from the Bridge School to attend. They can be signed up for camp alone or sign up with a para-professional or a teacher or SLP (any staff), just not a parent. They can come with their brothers and/or sisters. This camp is for children with CCN (Complex Communication Needs), ages 6-17. Campers are grouped by their ages, not by their disability or by their device use. This is not an AAC assessment camp, your child won't come out of camp with an assessment for an AAC device/app; they will come out of camp hopefully more excited about talking with their device/app, and with new friends. For more of the specifics about what goes on at camp, see the website.
Most years, the camp is a sleep-away camp, parent-free (respite - time for moms, dads, grandmas). There are 24 hour on-site nurses and in-cabin disability-trained counselors because of the needs that are often co-occurring with CCN. Just to ease the anxieties that often come from families who are for the first time leaving their child with medical and or behavioral needs at a sleep-away event. Trust me, they are having a ball once you leave! In 2016, during a transition between camp sites, it was a day-camp experience, which introduced a whole new group of campers to the Building Bridges camp experience. Many of whom will becoming sleep-over campers in the future!
Building Bridges Training Institute runs simultaneously with the children's camp is available for training staff and for staff in training. Para-professionals have come along with their students from school, SLPs and teachers have come to learn more about students with CCN; sometimes they come with their own student; sometimes they are assigned a student who is traveling to camp alone and they have a buddy to focus on throughout the week. In addition, the Training Institute accepts SLPs and Special Education master students as a part of their summer coursework, and has coordinated the hands-on learning at camp with projects for their professors. There have even been professors that have traveled with their entire class or special education service groups to camp for the week.
In addition to the videos, the website also gives you a rundown of the daily life of the camper and the daily life of a trainer.
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Teachers:
Many teachers require their college students in communication disorders or child development classes to complete a Communication Matrix online. Please have your students use the Test Drive site for this purpose. You may ask them to print out the Profile and Communication Skills List as proof of their work.
Statement A
My child doesn't seem to have real control over his body yet.
The only way I know that he wants something is because he fusses or whines when he's unhappy or uncomfortable, and he smiles, makes noises or calms down when he's happy and comfortable. Does this statement describe your child?
Statement B
My child has control over her own behaviors, but she doesn't use them to try to communicate to me.
She doesn't come to me to let me know what she wants, but it's easy for me to figure out, because she tries to do things for herself. She knows what she wants, and her behavior shows me what she wants. If she runs out of something to eat, she will just try to get more, rather than trying to get me to give her more.
Does this statement describe your child?
Statement C
My child clearly tries to communicate his needs to me through gestures, sounds or language.
He knows how to get me to do something for him. He uses some of the kinds of behaviors below to communicate:
- Gestures such as pointing, shaking his head, tugging at my arm or looking back and forth between me and what he wants
- Sounds such as squealing to show you he wants something or fussing when he doesn't want something
- Language or symbolic forms of communication such as speech, written words, Braille, picture symbols, 3-dimensional symbols or sign language
Does this statement describe your child?
How to score your child
Each question you will see is related to a certain message that your child might be able to express using a variety of behaviors. Read the question and decide whether your child is able to express the message described using any of the listed behaviors. If the answer is YES, then you must also decide whether your child has mastered the use of each behavior or whether it is still at an emerging stage. Check either the mastered or emerging box next to any behaviors your child uses to express the message. Use the following definitions to decide whether a behavior is mastered or emerging
Mastered
– Does this independently most of the time when the opportunity arises
– Does this in a number of di erent contexts, and with di erent people
Emerging
– Does this inconsistently
–
Only does this when prompted or encouraged to do so. Only does this in one or two contexts or with one person.
Tips on Communication Devices
Each question you will see is related to a certain message that your child might be able to express using a variety of behaviors. Read the question and decide whether your child is able to express the message described using any of the listed behaviors. If the answer is YES, then you must also decide whether your child has mastered the use of each behavior or whether it is still at an emerging stage. Check either the mastered or emerging box next to any behaviors your child uses to express the message. Use the following definitions to decide whether a behavior is mastered or emerging