Tag Archive: communication

Video of the Week: AACtually Communicating

April 26, 2017 by - Leave your thoughts

Video of the Week: AACtually Communicating

At school In clinics and hospitals At home In restaurants and shops People are supporting children with complex communication needs by speaking AAC and building opportunities for communication learning. Here are a few short videos showing what they’ve been up to. Vanderbilt’s Early Intervention Program are getting some communication in while playing and making music in preschool.   Check out Shelane Nielsen and her handsome guy gooping it up in AACtion at home.   Jill Baldessari explains how Miguel and his SLP get their eye gaze on.   Take a peek at Deb using both prestored messages and single word vocabulary at a restaurant.   Let’s see how these classmates are working together in their general education classroom.   Ready for a bit of reading instruction, AAC style?   Do you have videos of AACtual communication? We’d love to have you share them!  

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PrAACtical Resources for Writing Notes to Send Home

July 30, 2015 by - Leave your thoughts

PrAACtical Resources for Writing Notes to Send Home

When children arrive home from school, they are often asked some version of ‘the’ question: “What did you do in school today?” A few years ago we wrote about strategies families can use to help facilitate that conversation and were so pleased to hear from school staff who took this to heart and helped their students practice these conversational skills. As busy as life in the classroom can be, many teachers and SLPs make the time to communicate with families about the students’ day at school and we love seeing their work. There are many ways to give daily/weekly updates, of course, but many use the tried-and-true strategy of sending a note home. There are lots of examples on the wonderful sharing site for Boardmaker Online. Here are some of them. 1. Katie Crayons   2. Orange County PS1 3. TASN Autism and Tertiary Behavior Supports 4. Megan Little   5. Evet Bresseas   6. Kristen Schmidt (English... [Read More...]

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PrAACtical Buzz: Have You Heard?

April 25, 2014 by - Leave your thoughts

PrAACtical Buzz: Have You Heard?

There is a lot of prAACtical buzz around 2 AAC apps that have recently released free/lite versions  Check them out: Avaz Lite Version- AAC App for Autism (Augmentative Picture Communication Software for Children with Special Needs)- Try out Avaz AAC app with the lite version and a 7-day promotional subscription period to the symbols and voices which can be used for decision making options.  Learn more about the full version at Avaz Support.  Dynavox Compass (try for 30 days or  full version for ASHA Certified Professionals)- A full version for professionals with weekly resource emails with videos and tips to help learn the full potential of the app. Other long standing free and lite versions: 133 Free or Lite Versions of AAC Apps   

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AAC Around the School & Beyond!

August 24, 2013 by - 1 Comment

AAC Around the School

For the August Strategy of the Month, we have been thinking, writing, & talking about AAC in School.  School is where AAC learners spend a large portion of their days. There needs to be multiple opportunities for students to USE and LEARN AAC each day.   More than that though, we strive for full participation and interaction for students who use AAC.  Students should not have to prove that they can do these things before they have ACCESS to AAC strategies and intervention. Here are some things that can be done to help build AAC participation for both students and educators. Provide ACCESS to AAC devices and visual supports throughout ALL activities in ALL places in school and on school sponsored trips/community based instruction. Provide Aided Language Input when teaching AAC to students. Use a Core Word approach when teaching AAC to students but don’t forget about Fringe Vocabulary. Learn and use partner assisted communication... [Read More...]

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5 Reasons to say ‘Yes’ to “No”

August 9, 2013 by - 4 Comments

We had a ‘situation’ yesterday which really was sign of progress and not a ‘situation’ at all.  We know a  young adult who is non-verbal and communicates primarily with an object communication system.  He is typically happy and at the very least passive. Usually this learner will participate in any activity even if he does not like it.  He will follow the sequence, follow instructions, and do what is expected but with minimal communication if it is an undesired activity. Of course, we try to do things he likes, but sometimes it is not so clear, it can change, or it just may be too much of a good thing. Back to the story….we had a special session planned with many of his favorite things. Awesome things, things we had been waiting to do with him. We even had a special guest who had special things. However, when we started... [Read More...]

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Did You Know: AADMD Offers Specialty Webinars for Working with Adults with Developmental Disabilities

July 10, 2013 by - Leave your thoughts

This month’s strategy is about AAC and older children. This topic happens to dovetail with some work I am doing regarding healthcare options for many of the children in our community who have quickly become adults.  It seems like so many families struggle to find physicians and dentists who have experience working with adults with autism spectrum disorder and/or developmental disabilities. It seems that as children become adults, their pediatric doctors and dentists say goodbye and families are left to fend for themselves.  A workgroup of parents and professionals are trying to change this trend by finding interested physicians and providing them with formal training options, introducing them to their personal adult children, and working with medical school and residency programs. As I was researching some healthcare training options, I came upon the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (Thanks Deborah Chin). As I was reading through the website... [Read More...]

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