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The Me Book

Moira A. Fallon
Field Club School, Omaha, Nebraska

Subject: Intellectual Stimulation
Grade: Special Education: Preschool /Elementary

".... the most beautiful asset of the photo album proved to be its adaptability to children of all early developmental stages, all ethnic or social groupings, and of any handicapping condition."

Purpose and Description of Project

The "Me Book" is an individualized photographic album that Moira Fallon uses to help very young or functionally impaired children begin to understand and communicate basic concepts through symbols. In creating such an album for a child, Fallon works in close concert with the child's parents, who help choose people and objects from the child's environment that will stimulate recognition, identification, and naming skills in the child.

The general photographic categories include: self and family, toys, functional-cup, chair, comb, etc.-food, and clothing. The categories and the pictures within each category are sequenced as recommended for learning progression by established systems. Fallon says that the photos used in her books address the limited world of the handicapped child and serve a dual purpose of education and enjoyment.

The photographs-ranging from family members to a hotdog or a favorite toy-are very simple and uncluttered and labeled with one-word captions. They are mounted on heavy cardboard stock, and lettering is placed to help the eye focus more accurately and stimulate "a first awakening of word/picture association."

Activities

Fallon stresses that the success of activities depends on parent and teacher creativity and flexibility. A basic sequence is: presentation of picture to the child; use of associated language; encouragement of child's response; repetition of performance, leading to understanding and memorization; and various applications of skills learned.

It is also important that parents follow up with daily informal and ongoing sessions to reinforce previous learning, according to the teacher.

The activities are designed to help the children relate to the pictures as symbols so that they come to point to named pictures, understand what pictured objects are for, match pictures to real objects, categorize objects, and recognize words, and retain an attention span for increasing periods of time.

Materials, Resources, and Expenses

Parents, a graphics consultant from the local newspaper, and various school personnel who helped with photography and developing, editing, printing, laminating, and binding the books were Fallon's major resources.

Outcomes and Adaptability

Fallon has found that all the students involved in this program have become attached to their personal book and that developmental growth has been displayed by all children in some or all of the goal areas. These areas include: to begin at the front of the book and hold it right-side-up; to turn pages singly; find specific pictures; identify people and objects; categorize objects; and recognize the one-word labels.

The teacher reports that symbolization skills have developed for one population solely due to the use of photographs as an intermediary step from objects to drawing, and that another group learned sign language for the pictures shown, gained confidence about producing vocalizations and word approximations, and became more interested in learning as a whole. And, in general, use of the albums has improved the children's self-image and boosted parental involvement.

"The beauty of this project is its versatility," stresses Fallon. Either teachers or parents could vary subject matter of the album, arrange photos on the page differently, use different sized pictures, or add such additional concepts as verbs or animal sounds. The usefulness of the album grows as the child progresses from receptive language right on to reading readiness.

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