Response Modes

Educators look for students to have an authentic response mode, so as students respond during activities, assignments, and tests, they are clearly communicating their answer choices. Most students traditionally respond in the classroom by writing or through oral speech. However, most of my students can't do those things yet. Students with complex needs may use multiple methods to communicate a variety of messages in academic and social situations. The way that students can communicate what they know are categorized into three modes: verbal, physical, and visual. While verbal responses are usually traditional oral speech, including word approximations, they may also look like activating a communication device. No. Making a noise such as a squeal for a positive choice or a groan for an unwanted one. Physical responses involve body movement. A student may point to their answer, highlight their choice, manipulate answer cards, nod their head, sign, or use tools such as a calculator to respond. Visual responses involve control of the eyes. This might be a student gazing or fixating on a choice, or blinking, or winking to show their choice. When using these nontraditional response modes, I must plan in advance the vocabulary, supports, and questions for my instruction and assessments so that the student can respond with their preferred response mode. This involves identifying the vocabulary students need so they can respond, creating items students may need to access that vocabulary, and framing my questions so that the student can respond with that vocabulary. This might mean that within a single lesson, one student gets two answer choices with objects set on the table in front of them. Another student might have four answer choices using words attached to four corners of an eye gaze frame. Still another student may be using a communication device mounted to the arm of their wheelchair. Understanding the different types of response modes helps me make sure every student can participate in conversations and engage in the curriculum throughout the school day.