Fun Things Friday: Visual Aids - Why Do I Make Them?

Do you ever have moments in your music therapy session when you realize that you really need a visual to communicate something with someone or so they can communicate with you, and you just don't have it at your fingertips? So, you try to remember what that something is for later so you can make it?

I do. ALL THE TIME!

The Speech Pathologist at my facility is always reminding us that all of the devices, books, PECS, and other AAC things that we have around are the voices of our clients, and we have to ensure that they can use their voices. I've run into several problems with this quest, and it is my quest to have visuals (at least) that my clients can use to express their ideas, opinions, likes, dislikes, motivations, and anything else that they want to express, so that is one of the reasons that I enjoy making visual aids for my clinic. I view them as part of the voices of my clients who either cannot, due to physical situations, or do not, due to other situations, use sound to communicate.

Here's one of my problems...

The sheer number of topics that I present to my students makes a "complete" communication system unrealistic. In this past week, we sang about emotions, food choices, whether folks wanted a turn, we moved to the music, we made silly sounds, we moved body parts, we did all sorts of incidental communication things. I looked at my visual aids and realized that, if I had full sets of all the vocabulary that I was seeking from my clients, the visuals would cover the entirety of my music therapy room...and I still wouldn't be finished with adding more necessary words/visual choices.

There are times when I have a convenient piece of paper and pen nearby, so I can generate visual aids that I need in the actual therapy moment, but I am not usually that organized, so I try to remember what I need and then I make it. I have a food choice file (available to you on my Teachers Pay Teachers store, just in case you would like your own copy - send me a comment, and I'll send you the link) that has 96 choices available. That communication set alone takes up an entire three-ring binder. I also use the great emotion indicators from Educate Autism - these are a free resource that I use every single day with my students. Those don't take the entire binder, but they do use up at least two pages of my group binders.

I have come to the realization that I cannot anticipate every single word that I will ever want available to my clients, but I am trying my best. 

I love making visual aids that can be used in many different ways, so I often make my own to use. I have a huge three-ring binder that one of my former interns pulled together that has lots of communication options. I would like to have multiple copies of that binder at one point, but the thing is so bulky that I usually only use it when I can identify one piece that I need. For example, yesterday a client requested I Like to Eat Apples and Bananas and then indicated that we needed to change the vowel sounds. My brain started racing - "If only I had some letter cards, then everyone could choose...Wait a minute...I have those cards...Let me get out 25's special project...There they are...now everyone can select a vowel sound...communication success!"


For me, this is the core reason behind making visuals - communication. I look for functional uses for all of the visuals that I make, and as you know, my six-things rule comes into play here. I want to have many types of uses for the things that I make, because I want to generalize communication from just in social/communication therapeutic music experiences to all aspects of the music therapy session and beyond the time they spend with me every week. 

By the way, I'm working on making communication books that are dedicated to music performers. This is truly a never-ending task, but I am trying to get started. My first one, my Disney Classics book, took me some time to coordinate, but I think I know what I need these days to get some more popular options started. I just have to find the time.

I think I'm going to work on a music goal game this morning. I'll make the game board and then use my clip art files to make it look all spiffy. It also needs a song...hmmm. This is probably the real reason that I like making visual aids - I find it creative and fun to take a blank piece of paper and turn it into something brand new.

Happy Friday!! What types of visuals do you use most often in your music therapy practice? Do you use them at all? Let me know in the comments!!

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