AN INTRODUCTION TO READING
A adapted pedagogy, based on the Gattegno approach
The pedagogical approach pioneered by Caleb Gattegno has been adapted for the care and support of children with rare disabilities involving deafness and language disorders because it responds to a number of challenges posed to teachers by these children’s profiles. These children, whether deaf or not, do not receive speech in a satisfactory manner, and lack stable points of reference from which to construct language for themselves. They generally need permanent visual supports. These same children find it difficult to express their thought process and learned information for lack of being able to speak, write, mime, sign and/or draw. They do not have the means of reporting their abilities to process infra-lexical units, particularly at the phonological level. The Gattegno pedagogy tools – permanent visual supports – offer a stable testing ground for the analysis of language, which, for its part, is evanescent. They optimise perception as a pathway to knowledge. They come into action via the pointer. They invoke an awareness of the workings of language and allow anyone, whatever their level, to make progress in their learning process through the use of successive hypotheses. The combined use of this pedagogy with the software ‘Clicker’ provides interactivity, ease of navigation, and feedback capabilities.
Further information: C-RNT data sheet on the digital adaptation of tools derived from the Gattegno approach – click here
A TOOL FOR EXPRESSING ONE’S THOUGHTS
The Clicker software has been specifically adapted by the team’s speech therapists to support exchanges
The Clicker tool allows the creation of entirely customisable keyboards (or communication grids), audiobooks, multimedia presentations, and teaching activities aimed at people with disabilities (motor, cognitive, linguistic, etc.). It has been designed to be used in a tree view modality. The cells making up a table can contain text, images, photos, pictographs, sounds (recorded or text-to-speech), and can execute a task given either a right or a left click (read the text, send the text and/or image to the text processing zone, open a new grid, begin a video animation, etc.). Over the various functionalities offered, emphasis is placed on the user’s autonomy in both their production of messages and their creation of grids.
AN INTRODUCTION TO WRITING
A piece of software specifically adapted to support exchanges and faciliter the user’s expression
Beyond being a straightforward and easy-to-use communication tool, Clicker can be a true instrument of support in the user’s construction of language and language development.
Unlike other software of the same type, Clicker does not include a grammatical software module. It is nonetheless possible to create a tree view set-up which takes into account a number of basic grammatical notions (conjugation, agreement, etc.). The implementation of this organisation within a framework of user-mentor collaboration presents a clear pedagogical interest.
Further information: C-RNT data sheet on Clicker 6 – click here