September 19, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Looking for resources that help communication partners develop a better understanding of how to interact with AAC users in supportive ways? We’re grateful to AAC SLP Alicia Garcia for sharing updated versions of two helpful resources. Alicia is the clinical lead of the AAC Clinic at One Kids Place, a children’s treatment center in northern Ontario. You can download a packet with an AAC partner strategies booklet and a poster displaying the variety of communication functions that we can support in our AAC work by clicking on the images below. Enjoy!
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: downloads, parent resource, partner strategies
March 3, 2016
by Carole Zangari -
It is exciting to hear about the many AAC trainings offered by schools, clinics, and other organizations. Whether it is through small group consultations, inservice trainings, workshops, or conference presentations, more and more of our colleagues are helping others gain an understanding of AAC issues and practices. We’d love to support those efforts, and appreciate the opportunity to share information, handouts, and materials that can be useful in that work. Today, we are pleased to share a wonderful handout by Alicia Garcia, a lead SLP at the AAC Clinic at One Kids Place, a children’s treatment centre in northern Ontario. Alicia has more than two decades of clinical experience in a variety of settings and locales. You can see a guest post Alicia did on avoiding pitfalls in aided language input here. The handout she is sharing today is used primarily for providing initial training to people who live, work... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: download, handout, partner strategies
June 10, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
How can adults and peers who serve as communication partners support AAC learners in their interactions? Dr. Rae Sonnenmier of the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire has lots of implementation ideas.
Filed under: Video of the Week
Tagged With: implementation ideas, Language facilitation strategies, partner strategies, Rae Sonnenmeier, University of New Hampshire
April 9, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
Mnemonics are such a great memory aid, so when Dr. Jill Senner and Matthew Baud offered to share the visual support that they use in their clinical work, I knew it would be of interest to many of you. Combine that with content on partner training, and we have a real treat for you: S’MORRES. Dr. Senner is the owner of Technology and Language Center where she specializes in providing AAC and AT services including assessment, consultation and training, and workshops/lectures. She has presented at numerous national AT conferences and has taught graduate courses in AAC and swallowing disorders. Matthew Baud is the Assistive Technology Coordinator at Niles Township District for Special Education, performing evaluations, trainings and coaching communication partners. Matthew also has his own AAC private practice, and is an adjunct professor at Saint Xavier University where he teaches a graduate course in AAC. In this post, they share S’MoRRES, a strategy for building... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: aided language input, implementation ideas, Jill Senner, Matt Baud, partner strategies, partner training
October 12, 2013
by Robin Parker -
We love active participation for communication and language learning. Actually, we love active participation in all areas of life for us, for our students, for everyone. When Carole introduced the Building Participation Strategy of the Month, she discussed the role of the Participation Model (Beukelman & Mirenda, 1988; 2013). The Participation Model is a framework for understanding the barriers to participation and then from a prAACtical intervention standpoint developing strategies and activities to increase active participation in a variety of (ALL) aspects of life. For the 2012 AAC Awareness Month, we discussed barriers to participation. This year’s focus is on activities and strategies for getting past the barriers to building age appropriate authentic active participation for ALL learners. We have learned that when older learners with significant communication challenges are provided with age appropriate activities and supports, they can be engaged and motivated to participate and can often surprise us with... [Read More...]
Filed under: Strategy of the Month
Tagged With: activities, building participation, older learner, partner strategies, resources, teaching strategies