Jellow Communicator

Celebrating The International Day for Persons with Disabilities

Keywords: Worlddisabilityday, Jellowcommunicator, Inclusive development, Make my Board, Icons, Customisation, Assistive technology, Customise, Personalise, Communication System, Emotional Language Protocol, Language ability, Icons, Child Friendly, Graphics, Outreach, Multiple languages, AAC Communicator, iOS, Android, Voice to Speech/Speak, Autism, Cerebral palsy (CP), Speech difficulty/Impairment”

How to choose vocabulary for AAC?

Is your child a new AAC (Augmentative Alternative and Communication) user? Are you unsure of how to start using your child’s AAC? If you have answered ‘Yes’ to any of these questions then you have come to the right place. When you start using an AAC device, there is a list of things that you would need to be aware of. Choosing vocabulary is just one of them. It can be a challenging task especially if you are new to AAC for Children with Autism.

Why is choosing vocabulary important?

Promotes and motivates communication
Improves communication with family members and communication partners
Improves communication in relevant social contexts such as school, home etc.
Helps use the vocabulary most specific to the individual w.r.t age and culture
Improves writing, listening and reading skills
Increases the AAC acceptance and use

In this blog, you will learn how to choose vocabulary for your child’s AAC device.

Consider your child’s present level

When selecting words, you must always remember to consider your child’s present language levels. Select words as per their receptive and expressive language ages. Also, remember to keep in mind the developmental norms while selecting the vocabulary for AAC. Your speech therapist would be the best to guide you with this.

2. Start off by selecting a few words

Choose words that your child is aware of. For example, favourite food items (idli, chips, chocolate etc.), favourite toys (ball, doll, blocks etc.) etc. These types of words act as ‘communication motivators’. They motivate your child to explore and use AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication).

3. Consider your child’s interests

Choose words that your child is interested in. For example, if your child loves playing with trains. Choose words such as train, fast, slow, red, go etc. When you choose words of your child’s interests and use them with AAC, it motivates them to communicate about it.

4. Use different word categories

Language is an amalgam of different word categories. We use verbs, nouns, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions etc. when we communicate verbally. The same holds true for AAC users. When choosing vocabulary, make sure to use words from all word categories. Consider the developmental norms. According to research, when you use a wide range of word categories, it helps your child communicate more effectively. It would also help them form two-word phrases in the future.

Read this to learn some tips to implement AAC at home.

5. Use a balanced vocabulary

A balanced vocabulary includes core words, fringe words and alphabets.

Core vocabulary-These include all the word categories (verbs, nouns, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions etc.) except for nouns. These are words that you can use in a variety of settings. For example verb-‘drink’: “I drink juice”, “The drink is very cold”, “We drink milk in the morning” etc. Our speech is comprised of almost 80% of core words. This makes core words crucial for your child to use. You must use core word vocabulary for AAC.
Fringe vocabulary- These are the nouns that we use (names, places, animals, fruits etc.). We use nouns in our speech almost 20% of the time. These are low-frequency words. Use fringe words that are very specific to your child’s needs. For example favourite foods, fruits, familiar family members etc.

6. Select words that are motivating and meaningful

Activity-based vocabulary: If your child loves a specific activity such as ‘building blocks, you can do the activity together and use words such as “Look at the blocks”, “I have a red block”, or “Now let’s make something with these blocks. The word used here is both motivating and meaningful to your child. Make sure to use activity-based vocabulary like this.
Situation-based vocabulary: Use various situations that your child is familiar with. If your child has set routines like meal times, play times, bath time etc., use these situations to choose appropriate vocabulary. Use this vocabulary when you are doing a specific routine.
Communication-based vocabulary: Use vocabulary for specific communication functions. This promotes meaningful communication. Some examples of communication functions are greeting, protesting, requesting etc. In this case, you can use vocabulary like ‘hello, bye, no, please, thank you etc.’
Add new words based your child learns

7. As your child learns their vocabulary, keep adding new words to their AAC device. This will help them to expand their vocabulary and start using phrases and sentences.

Consult with specialists at 1SpecialPlace to get started with AAC. Remember to always seek held from a qualified Speech Language Pathologist for your AAC-related queries. Here are some tips for speech therapy with non-verbal/ non-speaking children.

Jellow is part of Digital Public Good Registry

Jellow Communicator, developed at IDC, IITB is proud to announce that it has been awarded the status of a Digital Public Good in alignment with the Digital Public Goods Standard, and has been added to the DPG Registry.
Jellow was nominated in June 2022 and now in September 2022 has been recognized as one among a worldwide total list of 136 selected to be part of the DPG international Registry (and one among the three from India).

The Digital Public Good Alliance (DPGA) and its Registry aims to promote digital public goods to create a more equitable world with open access, open source, open content, open standards and open design. Jellow aligns itself with SDG # 3, 4 and 10.

Being recognised as a DPG increases the visibility and support for open projects that have the potential to tackle global challenges, as outlined under UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goals.

We would like to thank the hundreds of contributors who have supported the development of Jellow. And we place this as a tribute to its intended user: Special Needs Children.

What’s new with Jellow Plus?

Jellow Plus Communicator is a friendly Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) system that uses icons/images to enable aid communication in adults learning to speak or with difficulty with speech and language.

Jellow Plus is available on Android and will be available soon on iOS.

Write to us at jellowcommunicator@gmail.com Learn more about Jellow athttps://jellow.org/jellow-plus.php

Keywords: AAC Communicator, iOS, Voice to Speech/Speak, Autism, Cerebral palsy (CP), Speech difficulty/Impairment

Jellow Talk – A conversation app for People with Speech difficulties

Jellow Talk- A simple interface for both conversion of Speech to Text as well Text to Speech . The Jellow Talk AAc Communicator with Speech to Text and Text to Speech features converts speech or voice and displays it as text (Speech to Text ) +reads aloud typed in text (Text to Speech). The continuous Speech/Listen mode helps user to record long continuous Speech/Talks during long conversations, classes, conferences etc and see it displayed as Text

Jellow Talk is available on Android and will be available soon on the iOS platform. Write to us at jellowcommunicator@gmail.com

Learn more about Jellow athttps://jellow.org/jellow-talk.php

Keywords: JellowTalk, texttospeech, speechtotext, , icons, userfriendly, text, sound, continuous listening, hearingdifficulties, speechandhearing

Jellow Care – For People with Stroke and Aphasia

Jellow Care – A helpful tool for nurses and doctors to tend to their patient’s communication needs Jellow Care provides predefined expressive sentences that can be used by users to communicate during their stay at the hospital or during their recovery at home. Moreover, this application allows a simple yes or no, single-touch interaction which makes it easier to use.

Jellow Care is available on Android and will be available soon on the iOS platform. Write to us at jellowcommunicator@gmail.com

Learn more about Jellow at https://jellow.org/jellow-care.php

Keywords: JellowCare, AAc ,Stroke, lossofspeech , icons, userfriendly, pictures , text , sound, aphasia, speechtherapy, stroke, slp strokeawareness, strokerecovery, speechlanguagepathology, strokerehab, strokesurvivors, strokerehabilitation , dysphagia, strokesurvivorsneverquit, speechpathology , occupationaltherapy, speech, brokenbrain, leftbrainstroke , autism, strokelife, brain, strokerecoverylife, strokewarrior, speechlanguagepathologist, physicaltherapy

Would you wanna know? – Does the Jellow Basic remember my child’s choices?

If you have more doubts reach out to us at jellowcommunicator@gmail.com.

For more information visit our website – www.Jellow.org

Keywords: Jellowcommunicator, AAC, Jellow, JellowBasic, FAQs, Make my Board, Icons, Customisation, Customise, Personalise, Communication System, Emotional Language Protocol, Language ability, Icons, Child Friendly, Graphics, Outreach, Multiple languages, AAC Communicator, iOS, Android, Voice to Speech/Speak, Autism, Cerebral palsy (CP), Speech difficulty/Impairment

Would you wanna know? – Why should I create my child’s user profile in the Jellow Basic application?

If you have more doubts reach out to us at jellowcommunicator@gmail.com.

For more information visit our website – www.Jellow.org

Would you wanna know? – In what forms is Jellow currently available? And Which one should I use for my child?

Here are a few common question that we always get from our users.

Do you have more questions? Kindly reach out to us at jellowcommunicator@gmail.com.

For more information visit our website – www.Jellow.org

Keywords: Jellowcommunicator, AAC, Jellow, JellowBasic, FAQs, Addicons, Make my board, Customise, Personalise, Communication System, Emotional Language Protocol, Language ability, Icons, Child Friendly, Graphics, Multiple languages, AAC Communicator, iOS, Android, Voice to Speech/Speak, Autism, Cerebral palsy (CP), Speech difficulty/Impairment

Would you wanna know? – Will my child be dependent on AACs and won’t speak on their own?

Here are a few common question that we always get from our users.

Do you have more questions? Kindly reach out to us at jellowcommunicator@gmail.com.

For more information visit our website – www.Jellow.org