Summer 2003:The talk book

So, this large package arrives in the mail, and with great anticipation we open it to discover a present from the National Fragile X Foundation—THE TALK BOOK.

What an ingenious and affordable little wonder this thing is. Mouse thinks she can now have visual and auditory supports when she goes shopping at the bakery; Tracy thinks she can finish her Ph.D. a lot sooner with the help of this Talk Book!

What… is it a miracle in a book? you ask.

The Talk Book, also known as the Talking Photo Album, looks like a small flip top photo album for 4" X 6" photos. However, on each of the 24 pages, there’s a recording strip that allows voice recording for as long as 10 seconds.

Well, once we saw this, we realized the daily support and therapy opportunities were unlimited with this little gem. Then Deborah Kwan, OT Extraordinaire and diligent worker at the Foundation sent her list of recommendations for use of the Talk Book, and we realized that our dear Coffee Talk readers just had to know about it! We used it for therapy this last month for language and sequencing. We produced several sets of pictures of different activities with the targeted sentences recorded. One set of pictures was cut out from a “Maisy the Mouse” book. The actual sentences we wanted to use (eg.”Maisy is feeding the cows”) was too boring for our client, so we modified it with humor and utilized his interest area of pro wrestling to add surprise elements to the story. Wow, what fun! Another interest area for this child is the “Simpsons”, so we took a “Simpsons” Calendar and typed out a simple script for the parents to record when they are ready to have a new story or pictures. We include a typed script on each page so that the auditory and visual are paired.

In the therapy world, this would be considered an augmentative device, labeled “low-tech”. In essence, this is a highly portable and flexible device, which can serve numerous purposes for anyone at any age. Let’s get to some fun, creative, interesting, useful, easy, dynamic, thoughtful ways to use the Talk Book (and you thought we were still describing Deborah!) Ideas for facilitating speech and language

❍ Use the Talk Book as a portable picture symbol device. The plastic protects the photos and they are easy to flip.

❍ Using pictures derived from the child’s interest areas, record sentences for the child to imitate. Put emphasis on the words for parts of speech you are working on.

❍ Emphasize the sequential nature of a short story by using the words first, next, last.

❍ Practice a new social routine by having pictures illustrating a typical social interaction (greeting, sharing an object, asking a question while holding an object, etc.) and recording only one part of the conversation so that the child can respond. The child’s picture should also be on the page so you could point to him when it is his turn to respond.

❍ Practice target sounds for articulation therapy.

❍ For a simpler task, have pictures of simple objects or actions. The recorded voice could be a starter phrase that the child has to finish such as “This is a ________” or “The girl is_________”. Ideas for supporting independence in living skills

❍ Use the Talk Book to help with sequencing or learning a new task. For example, you could insert pictures of the steps required to make a milkshake or sandwich, wrap a present, or water a plant.

❍ Use the book to facilitate independence in community-living skills, such as having pictures of the bus stop, the grocery, easy-toaccess emergency numbers (911, home, parent’s work numbers), “My name is___________”, “I want a one-way ticket-”, etc.

❍ Support independence with dressing with pictures of each step paired with verbal cues. This could be used for other activities of daily living, such as tooth brushing, making the bed, etc.

❍ At a job situation, the Talk Book could be used to cue what has to be done for each part of a task, or throughout the day.

Ideas for use at school

❍ Use to help a child participate in “Show and Tell” at school: the child puts a picture of his favorite “whatever”, say pet, into a page and then with the help of another person (parent, sibling) either personally tells about the pet or has the other person do the narration. Then the child can practice and rehearse this and get comfortable enough to share on his or her own, or can use the Talk Book itself at the time of sharing.

❍ Use the Talk Book to practice repetitive learning tasks, such as alphabet or math facts (like talking flash cards).

❍ If there is a class or group project that has several steps, keep the Talk Book in the center of the table and children can refer to it to get to the next step.

Ideas for use in home and leisure

❍ Use as a Father’s Day, Mothers’ Day, graduation, anniversary gift. It could be as serious or as funny as you want!

❍ Use the book to structure after school time. For example, first show a picture of washing hands, then eating a snack, homework, outside activity, a chore, TV…all with verbal, recorded tips.

❍ Use as a photo album of a family trip and have each member of the family make a few recordings.

❍ Use the book for holding various card collections with some information recorded about each one. You may want to put some tape over the record button after you make the recordings, as this may be distracting for the child. We are sure that you and your teams will come up with many more ways of using the Talk Book. And, it turns out the National Fragile X Foundation has a ton of them for sale at $20 a pop! Talk about a bargain! We would love to hear about your Talk Book success stories! Until next time!