AAC Sites You Can't Afford to Miss

We continue to celebrate ASHA’s Better Hearing and Speech Month with a focus on SLPs, specifically, strengthening our AAC connections in this digital world. This week we focus on websites that we find useful in our AAC work with graduate students, colleagues, clients, and families.
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Ten years ago if you would have told us that sharing a list of useful AAC websites would seem dated and ‘old school,’ we would have either burst out laughing or withdrawn into a catatonic state. Now, however, it does seem a little old-fashioned to share a list of websites. Here is our starter list of sites to visit, explore, and bookmark.
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1. Resource and Training Material: The breadth, depth, and quality of the offerings by SET BC makes it one of our most frequented online resources. Downloadable AAC materials? Check! Curriculum supports? Got it! Accessible books? Yup! Training resources? Just wait ‘til you see their list!

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2. Answers: A long-standing favorite for prAACtical answers is the site authored by the National Joint Committee for the Communication Needs of Persons with Severe Disabilities, or the NJC, for short. The NJC is made up of several professional organizations, such as ASHA, TASH, USSAAC, and ATAP, with interests in communication, assistive technology, and people with significant disabilities.  We love the site for its clear positions on tough issues related to policy, practice, education, and research and frequently refer to the pages on Communication Services and Supports. This site is an under-appreciated resource that we think clinicians, educators, and families will love.

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3. Video Presentations: While more video is showing up every day, there is nothing like the quality of the webcasts on the AAC-RERC site. There are 19 recorded AAC presentations on Research to Practice,  Consumer Perspectives, and Professional Development.

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4. DIY AT: A topic display from a vegetable tray? Connect Four as an AAC tool? Communication via makeup bag? Gardening knee pads for communication in the pool? You just can’t beat the prAACtical and creative Do It Yourself  ideas from Tots ‘n Tech. Kudos to the folks at this project, a collaboration between Thomas Jefferson and Arizona State universities for keeping it real.

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5. Information: Two other sites we refer to frequently are the AAC Institute, particularly their four self study courses and Augmentative Communication Inc, especially their presentation materials.

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Communicative Functions and Means on the ConnectAbility site.

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Check back with us throughout the week for more ‘must see’ AAC-friendly sites.
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