TITLE: Communication Compilation [Description] Two women have a conversation. BERNADETTE: Where can we start with the emergence of communication? The students are already familiar more than we are with the world from a deaf-blind perspective and the sense of touch. The good news is that a student has already developed many deaf-blind experience and memories all by themselves. FEMALE SPEAKER 1: Good news. BERNADETTE: This strength of the student is a starting point for us to develop meaningful symbols and communication. FEMALE SPEAKER 2: All humans crave connection. Connection with one another, connection with the world that they live in and communication, the exchange of ideas and feelings and thoughts is a way of creating connection. So, one of the really important tasks or responsibilities that we have as teachers and interveners and family members of kids who are deaf-blind is to help them develop communication skills. Everyone communicates using non-symbolic communication. So, we cry, we make faces, we might use our body and that's a beginning, that's an emerging kind of communication. BERNADETTE: The emergence of the first gestures, meaningful sounds and objects of reference are based upon reciprocal interactions between the student and the intervener. If we would skip this process, it would become very difficult for the student to learn that movements, sounds, and objects can be used for communication. FEMALE SPEAKER 1: Good news. BERNADETTE: Students themselves already use behavior to express their intentions, memories and emotions. We can connect to the student's expressions to develop the idea of communication. Description: Autumn, sits at a table with her intervener. Autumn has her hands tight against her chest and is rocking back and forth. The intervener guides Autumn's hands to her throat as she voices. Then Autumn returns her hands back close against her chest and continues rocking back and forth as the intervener sits smiling at her. After a short time the intervener guides Autumn's hands to her throat again and voices. Autumn then takes her left hand and places her index finger against her throat as she voices. The intervener smiles big and Autumn smiles. They do it once more, first the intervener guiding Autumn's hand to her throat then Autumn copies on her own throat. BERNADETTE: We have to be careful not to interpret behavior of the student mainly as rejecting or requesting. Sometimes it may be. We would not want to teach our students that communication is mainly about fulfilling the so called wants and needs. It is our task to interpret the student's behaviors, first of all as expressions of thoughts, memories, emotions to affirm these and to try to understand with the student what they mean. The student will learn that communication is about sharing and that even at an early stage the student and intervener can emerge in full and rich conversations. Most students need to understand and use concrete forms of communication first before they learn to use more abstract forms such as sign or speech. Although the intervener may introduce some of these forms in relation to the concrete communication forms. We see many students with deaf-blindness who do not communicate expressively. They do not know how to use gestures, meaningful sounds, objects of reference to communicate spontaneously. We should not focus only at the highest level of communication We could strive for the best level of communication that a student feels competent with. A level in which he can express himself and expand the amount of communication forms. A level at which the student can use the communication forms across different social situations. Good news. To support an emerging communicator the intervener will allow the student to be an active participant and will interpret the behavior of the student as meaningful. The intervener probably will enjoy the conversations and they'll enjoy the creation of concrete communication forums together with the students.