Recorded Webinar: What is the Communication Matrix? Nancy Steele

• Missed the live presentation? View the recording here
  (Captions and transcript of the recorded webinar have not yet been edited)

Communication is a right for any person.  Many students with significant disabilities struggle with developing language.  Many families and teachers have difficulty understanding their communicative attempts or finding ways to help these students communicate their wants and needs.  The Communication Matrix is a tool that assesses expressive communication for beginning communicators, regardless of their age.  These are individuals who have communication skills exhibited by typically-developing communicators between birth and 24 months of age.  This webinar introduces the components of the Communication Matrix, as well as additional resources for targeting appropriate instructional strategies.

     Nancy Steele is an Educational Consultant, with expertise in children with significant disabilities, including deafblindness. She taught deaf and deafblind children in Kentucky for 17 years. Then Nancy served as a Project Specialist for the National Center on DeafBlindness (NCDB) for 14 years. she recently completed work on the WVDE Communication Matrix Intervention Modules for the West Virginia Department of Education. Nancy lives in Kentucky and enjoys being outdoors and hanging out with her grandchildren.

Communication Matrix Home Page

Purchase printed Communication Matrix and Communication Matrix for Parents

Resources:

• Presentation slideshow (PDF format)
  
  
• Presentation recording
  
  
• How Do I Administer the Communication Matrix? (Karen B. Haines, West Virginia University)

  Communication Matrix Intervention Modules: Foundations Video Presentations
  (West Virginia Department of Education)

  The Communication Matrix Intervention Modules are organized so that the three-part “Communication Matrix Life After the Assessment: The Foundation for Intervention” is viewed first. The “Essential Strategies” should be viewed next, followed by viewing the videos for the one or two levels where the individual is functioning as identified on the Communication Matrix
  
• Foundation for Intervention Part 1 (Lee Ann Brammer, Annette Carey, Karen Haines, Ruth Ann King, Nancy Steele)
  
  
• Foundation for Intervention Part 2 
  
  
• Foundation for Intervention Part 3
  
  
• Intervention: Essential Strategies

  Communication Matrix Intervention Modules: Life After the Assessment Video Presentations (WVDE)

  The Foundation For Intervention and the Intervention Essential Strategies modules (listed above) should be watched before any of these modules.
• Level 1: Pre-Intentional Behavior
  
  
• Level 2: Intentional Behavior 
  
  
• Level 3: Unconventional, Pre-Symbolic Behavior Part 1

          Level 3: Part 2

• Level 4: Conventional, Pre-Symbolic Communication Part 1

          Level 4: Part 2

• Level 5: Concrete Symbolic Communication Part 1
  
  
• Level 5: Part 2
  
  
• Level 6: Abstract Symbols Part 1
  
  
• Level 6: Part 2
  
  
• Level 7: Formal Symbolic Communication Part 1 
  
  
• Level 7: Part 2

Additional Strategies, Tools, & Resources (WVDE)

The West Virginia Department of Education includes a huge array of additional strategies, tools, and resources on the WVDE Communication Matrix Intervention Modules webpage.