Tag Archive: back to school

Heading Back to School with AAC: Tips & Tools

August 13, 2020 by - Leave your thoughts

Heading Back to School with AAC: Tips & Tools

Here in the US, millions of teachers, therapists, families, and students are planning to return to school, whether virtually, in person, or with some combination of the two. No matter what the format for instruction, one of the most important things for students who use AAC is having their SLPs, teachers, and families on the same page. They each have a different but very intense relationship with the student’s AAC system. Today, we reprise a popular post with some prAACtical thoughts on getting everyone pointed in the same direction. 1.  Develop a communication profile of the student: In the initial weeks, try to get a baseline of how the student is communicating at the start of the year. For beginning communicators, we track things like their communicative intents (WHY they are communicating), modalities (HOW they are communicating), and the frequency of their communication. We’ve written about one of our favorite... [Read More...]

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How I Do It: Working with Multiple Symbol Sets

August 26, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts

Title image reading How I Do It: Working with Multiple Symbol Sets

Amanda Samperi is back with the second post in her series about getting ready to return to school-based AAC services. Amanda is an AAC SLP who has worked in a variety of service delivery settings and runs the blog, AAC is Where It’s AT. Currently, she provides push-in language therapy to children with complex communication needs at a substantially-separate center school in Florida. She also conducts AAC/AT evaluations, provides year-round parent trainings, and assists the SLP team in instructing teachers/staff about communication supports and strategies In today’s post, she addresses a situation faced by many AAC teams: Serving children who use a variety of different AAC symbols and systems. If you missed Amanda’s initial post on back-to-school AAC, you can catch up on that here. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: How I Do It: Working with Multiple Symbol Sets It’s the beginning of the year – desks are in their spots, students’ names are... [Read More...]

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How I Do It: Putting the FUN Back in FUNctional

August 12, 2019 by - 3 Comments

Yellow image with cartoon animals & title: How I Do It: Putting the FUN Back in FUNctional

In the US and some other countries, we’re starting a new school year and SLP Amanda Samperi is here to get us off to a good start by sharing her experiences and suggestions for engaging AAC activities. After graduating from Penn State, Amanda worked for several years as an SLP in school, home, and medical settings.  She has presented on AAC-related topics st ASHA, an IEE Electrical Safety Workshop, and at the AAC in the Cloud Conference. Amanda hopes to continue sharing her knowledge and experiences about AAC through her blog, AAC is where it’s AT. Today, she introduces us to a series of posts that focus on creating fun AACtivities for language learning. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Back-to-School with AAC: Putting the FUN back in FUNctional There is something special about this time of year – students are trying on their back-to-school outfits, school supplies are magically discounted beyond belief, and parents... [Read More...]

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AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week # 32: August 2018

August 5, 2018 by - Leave your thoughts

AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week # 32: August 2018

Happy Sunday, AAC friends! Here are some posts that you may have missed. Monday – 5 Ways to Support Self-Advocacy in AAC Learners Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Let’s Hit the Town, AAC Style Thursday – Making AAC Core Vocabulary Materials You might be interested in these posts if you have time for a little more reading. Back to School with AAC A Collaborative Approach to Implementing Core Vocabulary in a School-based Setting Goodbye, Summer! A Clinician Preps AAC Materials for the New School Year Essential Tricks for Supporting AAC in Schools AAC in the High School Classroom: Where Core Vocabulary Meets Life Skills

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Watch It Wednesday: Effective Communication Strategies

June 11, 2014 by - 2 Comments

Watch It Wednesday: Effective Communication Strategies

We’ll take any opportunity we can get to see teachers eliciting AAC in the classroom. Take a look at some of the clips in this brief presentation by the folks at Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia. Direct Link to Video: http://www.lcps.org/cms/lib4/VA01000195/Centricity/Domain/116/CommVideos/ECSADL.wmv  

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31 Posts You May Have Missed in August

September 4, 2013 by - Leave your thoughts

31 Posts You May Have Missed in August

Strategy of the Month Back to School with AAC AAC ‘Must Haves’ for the Classroom & Speech Room PrAACtical Partnerships: AAC & Academics AAC Around the School and Beyond Core Words & the Curriculum PrAACtical Thinking 5 Things to Remember About AAC Technology Fun Friday Commenting to the Max 31 Posts You May Have Missed in July Keep Calm & …………. Great Music Apps & AAC Language Goals  5 Free Resources for Making Communication Boards & Visual Supports 5 Reasons to Say Yes to ‘NO’ Magic Moments with Tellagami Watch It Wednesday: AAC Core Word Vocabulary teaching by Gail Tatenhove & Robin 5 Ways to Use Sequenced Message SGDS and APPS 7 Writing Apps & Activities for ALL Writers PrAACtical Uses of QR Codes Watch This: Example of Teaching Expressive Language with the iPad & AAC Device by the Awesome AAC Chicks 5 Things to Consider About Data Collection in... [Read More...]

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