Boosting conversations in Voco Chat with photos
The summer holidays are a great time to think about exploring the “Can I show you my photos” grid in Voco Chat. Photographs can be a really lovely way to connect together and enjoy conversations. They often conjure up unique memories and an abundance of emotions and feelings – all of which when paired with language can help to create learning opportunities and build on an AAC user’s vocabulary and social interaction skills. At this time of year, we often embark on day trips, weekends away or even big holidays. We visit loved ones and perhaps catch up with people we see less often. We sometimes eat and drink seasonal treats, and generally hope to experience lots of ‘pure joy’ moments. As exciting and fun as the holidays can be, it is important to consider that for some AAC users this could mean participating in situations that feel less familiar and can bring anxiety or uncertainty about how they are going to participate. Equally, someone who is less familiar with the AAC user may also feel uncertain about how they can best support them to experience a fulfilling conversation. This is where using photographs can be particularly helpful – giving you both a visual context to lean on and helping you stay involved in the conversation. They can also support someone who is learning to use language and interact. Here are two ways you can use your summer photos to create improved communication opportunities that may lead to richer conversations, and help AAC users develop comprehension and expressive language skills. In this video you can see where to find the “Can I show you my photos” grid in Voco Chat, and learn how to personalise it with your own photos. An alternative way to use photographs and have a conversation using Grid is to create a visual scene with hotspot. As mentioned above this can be particularly engaging for an early emerging communicator because of the instant cause and effect nature of the outcome. In this demo we have created a visual scene in Voco Chat, but you can do this in any AAC vocabulary or grid set. Here is a quick guide from our Creating Classroom grids course on Smartbox Academy, explaining how you can create your own visual scene. It’s important to note that all levels of communication ability can benefit from the use of photographs within their grid sets. These particular features in Grid software can be used with early emerging communicators who are at the beginning stages of participating in conversations, through to people that are more established in their language and conversational abilities. The “Can I show you my photos?” grid could be especially helpful for someone starting to recognise, understand and use words, phrases or symbols – particularly when linked to memories or visuals – to be more independently involved in conversations. Creating a visual scene can help to build a person’s awareness of cause and effect – an important stage for an early emerging communicators journey. This is effective because you can touch areas of the photograph to generate an instant spoken message, linked to that specific conversation in the here and now. Remember – conversation is two way! It should not be on the person using AAC to provide all the tools and strategies! Join in with the conversation and share how you are using AAC this summer in the Facebook community.
Adding your own photos in Voco Chat
Creating a visual scene with hotspots
Suitable for all levels of communication ability
Smartbox Community