Alphabet Therapy is a technique that teaches children with Angelman Syndrome the alphabet and keywords to enable communication. Developed by Terry Jo Bichell and Cristina Valle, it combines Applied Behavior Analysis and Rapid Prompting Method. It has potential for other developmental disabilities. The technique involves quick hint sessions to elicit a response and uses labeled cards or single letters for communication. The aim is to give children a voice.
Alphabet Therapy is a technique that is used to enable communication for children with Angelman Syndrome, a serious genetic condition that causes profound developmental delays. It is about teaching the subject the alphabet and a series of keywords and showing the subject that, by indicating keywords or enunciating concepts, he can communicate with other people.
This technique was developed by Terry Jo Bichell and Cristina Valle. The two women combined the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and Rapid Promptting Method (RPM) to teach Bichell’s son the alphabet, prompting the creation of a study to research the possibility of using Alphabet Therapy on other children with severe developmental disabilities. Although it was specifically designed for people with Angelman syndrome, a condition caused by partial deletion of the genetic material on chromosome 15, Alphabet Therapy also has potential for other people with developmental disabilities.
Applied behavior analysis involves using known information about behavior and learning to facilitate a productive educational session. The session leader looks at what works and what doesn’t for the individual student and uses existing information about how people learn to make the lesson as effective as possible. For example, people tend to repeat behaviors when rewarded for them and abandon behaviors that are met with a neutral or negative response, and this can be used to encourage learning behaviors. ABA is used in a wide variety of fields beyond treatment for people with developmental delays, and in addition to teaching people, it also encourages them to maintain and use the skills they have acquired.
The quick hint method is a technique for teaching autistic children developed by Soma Mukhopadhyay to communicate with his autistic son. This technique involves a very quick and focused session with the subject, focused on making suggestions that elicit a response. The RPM should facilitate learning, reasoning and communication skills, with the aim of showing people that they can make choices and that these choices have consequences.
In the case of Alphabet Therapy, instructors combine the tools used in these techniques to teach a child the alphabet. Once the child learns the alphabet, the teacher can start putting letters together to form keywords and concepts. To communicate, the child may point to labeled cards or single letters of the alphabet if she wants to spell things out.
The idea behind Alphabet Therapy is that people with Angelman syndrome have the potential to communicate, if given the chance to. By focusing on a child in a one-on-one session and using innovative teaching techniques, it is possible to give the child a voice of its own.
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