The SAM guidebook provides strategies for developing a strong sensory foundation for concepts about people, objects, actions, and places so that symbols referring to them are meaningful.
People: The self and others
Objects: Tangible things
Actions: Body movements of the self and others
Places: Where things are, contexts for groups of things
Using SAM enables learners to understand:
• What is it?
• What does it do?
• How does it relate to other things?
The 18 SAM games are used to reinforce the meaning of symbols learned in natural environments and to expand the use of symbols to communication contexts, like books. In order to determine needs and plan instruction, SAM provides four assessments :
• Symbol and referent analysis: Common words
• Symbol and referent analysis: Academic vocabulary
• Environmental gap inventory: Missing concepts in common environments
• Curriculum-based gap inventory: Early academic skills and basic concepts
APH Intervention Continuum
APH recommends that learners use the following three products sequentially:
1. Sensory Learning Kit
2. SAM: Symbols and Meaning
3. Tactile Connections: Symbols for Communication
