Tag Archive: resources

PBS & Visual Supports

July 22, 2012 by - Leave your thoughts

PBS & Visual Supports

This week’s video comes from Katie Thomas of the Autism and Tertiary Behavior Supports Project of the Kansas Technical Assistance Network and deals with the who, what, when, where, and why of using visual supports to promote positive behavior. – There are several supporting documents including the PowerPoint handout, and some of the supports they review (e.g., calendar, first/then, wait card). We love the detailed description and the many examples they share. – Click here to view the video. –

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5 Under-Used Strategies in AAC

July 14, 2012 by - 2 Comments

5 Under-Used Strategies in AAC

1. Partner-assisted scanning (PAS) offers great flexibility and spontaneity. Don’t want to take your SGD to the beach? A print-out of the screens and PAS is a great option. Missing key messages for the trip to the doctor’s office? A minute of brainstorming and the use of PAS may just save the day. No way for your client to access her device once she’s in bed? A communication board/book and PAS just might do the trick. – 2. Voice banking: For people are likely to lose their speech due to a degenerative disease, like ALS, the option of saving samples of their speech and having it digitized for future use seems to hold great appeal. We’d love to see more SLPs familiarize themselves with this strategy and the tools to implement it, so that this option is more widely used about individuals whose speech is deteriorating. – 3. Qualitative rating... [Read More...]

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PrAACtical Tips for Passing the SLP PRAXIS on the First Try, Part 3

July 11, 2012 by - 4 Comments

PrAACtical Tips for Passing the SLP PRAXIS on the First Try, Part 3

The SLP PRAXIS Exam: No big deal or VERY big deal? You’ll find graduate students and clinical fellows in each camp. Yes, there are lots of new grads who did well on it and swear that they hardly studied. We cheer loudly to welcome them to our ranks. There are others, however, who quietly regret not having gone the extra mile to prepare. We hate regrets, so our SLP PRAXIS prep posts are geared for those who want an extra measure of safety when they go in to take their exam. – In Part 1 and Part 2, we talked about getting prepared and setting a study schedule for the SLP PRAXIS. In this post, we wanted to share some resources that have been helpful to our students. — Online Flashcards There are many sites that offer the ability for users to create flashcards, use them to study, and/or print... [Read More...]

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92 Free or Lite Versions of AAC Apps

July 10, 2012 by - Leave your thoughts

92 Free or Lite Versions of AAC Apps

We’re back again with an updated list of free and lite versions of AAC apps that includes many additions for the Android platform. As in the past, we’re including some additional resources and excerpts from previous posts related to AAC app selection and the larger context of AAC assessment. We’ve appreciated the feedback on first draft of RELAAACs, our attempt to quantify some of what we look for when we try to compare AAC apps based on their language and communication features, and continue to welcome your suggestions. We do have plans to revise and update this once we get through the summer semester. (The trimester system is a killer!) —————————————————————————————————– – Thanks to all who’ve given us great feedback and suggestions on our list of free and lite AAC apps. If you’ve been following our blog, you know that we have mixed feelings about the AAC app revolution. More specifically, we’ve... [Read More...]

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Visual Schedule Round-Up

July 9, 2012 by - Leave your thoughts

Visual Schedule Round-Up

Summer is not the season we typically connect with routine, predictability, and structure. Nonetheless, if  strategy really works to make someone’s life better, we try to use it whenever possible. Visual schedules work. They REALLY work. So whether you’re using them this summer or just preparing for the fall, we hope you enjoy this round-up of our past posts on Visual Schedules. – Riddle Me This (clinical rationale) Tech it Up’- 5 Visual Schedule Apps (tools) Visual Strategies 411 (implementation) PrAACtical Mini Schedules (implementation) Ideas for Teaching the Use of Visual Schedules (implementation) Object Schedules (video) Strategy of the Month: Types of Visual Schedules (implementation) Visual Schedules in Action (video) Building Complex Schedules (video) Schedule Changes (Video) AAC at Home: Visual Schedules and Supports Schedules and Choices (implementation) Visual Schedules & Inclusion (video) A Myth About Visual Schedule Lives On (implementation) Visual Schedule Wrap-Up  (implementation + resource list) –

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5 Online Notebooks Full of AAC

July 7, 2012 by - Leave your thoughts

5 Online Notebooks Full of AAC

I have a real love-hate relationship with LiveBinders. The impatient part of me struggles with its quirky interface, but I keep coming back because of the wealth of resources and helpful site administrators. Here are some of the AAC-related binders we use most often. – General AAC Resources by Janice Reese AAC & Music by Deanna Wagner Social Scripts for People who use AAC by Caroline Musselwhite Our binder on Building Communication Opportunities for People who use AAC Our binder on Choice Boards –

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PrAACtical Conversation about the Olympics

July 6, 2012 by - 2 Comments

PrAACtical Conversations About the Olympics

It’s not too early to begin. It seems that everyone is talking about the London 2012 Olympics. The Olympic conversation is an interesting teaching and learning platform for almost any  communication and language goals.   It is fun, educational, and most importantly, most smaller and larger ‘communities’ will have Olympic images, videos, television shows, and conversation. There will soon be Olympic immersion.  You can TALK and TEACH before the Olympics start, while they are happening, and even after they are over. It is easy to include ALL learners at ALL levels with these free resources that do the time-consuming preparation work for you. Just use your language facilitation strategies and have fun!        News 2 You London 2012 Olympics              Widget Free Pack- Olympics 2012 Primary Treasure Chest- Olympic Printable Free Resources **Bonus- we often also use these resources for home programming because our clinic is closed... [Read More...]

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PrAACtical Resources to Scope Out

July 3, 2012 by - Leave your thoughts

PrAACtical Resources to Scope Out

Know someone who is new to the AAC field? – Lots of our fellow SLPs did their graduate work before there was much AAC training in the curriculum. If you are mentoring a professional who is trying to learn the basics of AAC, here is a great place to start. Scope provides information and services to people with disabilities in the UK. – A number of years ago, they developed an excellent set of resources that are still very prAACtical and useful today. There are 12 AAC modules with downloadable PDF documents that can help introduce professionals to this area of clinical/educational practice. – Click here to access those modules. –

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33 AAC Posts You May Have Missed, June 2012

July 2, 2012 by - Leave your thoughts

33 AAC Posts You May Have Missed, June 2012

The Fives PrAACtical Suggestions: 5 Ways to Elicit Language Without Asking a Direct Question 5 Tools to Make Aided Language Input Easier “Call Me Later:” 5 Supports for Phone Communication by People Who Use AAC Safety Matters: 5 Resources for People Who Use AAC – PrAACtical Thinking 72 Free and Lite Versions of AAC Apps AAC App Giveaway: It’s a PrAACtical Celebration 7 Apps for Adolescents with Special Needs “Not Dumb Now” (And Actually, Never Was) Pivotal Skills for AAC Intervention: Aided Language Input Before It’s Too Late: A PrAACtical Resource for Emergency Situations PrAACtical Tips for Passing the SLP PRAXIS on the First Try, Part 1 PrAACtical Resources: Making Sense of Picture Symbol Options PrAACtice Fire Safety 25 Under 5: AAC Apps PrAACtical Intervention Ideas: AAC Learning with the Toys, Websites, and Apps You Love PrAACtical Reflections on Father’s Day Introducing RELAAACs: Rubric for Evaluating the Language of Apps... [Read More...]

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AAC App Give-Away: It's a PrAACtical Celebration

June 30, 2012 by - 15 Comments

AAC App Give-Away: It's a PrAACtical Celebration

– “It may be conceded to the mathematicians that four is twice two. But two is not twice one. Two is two thousand times one.” (G.K. Chesterton, 1908) 1 budding blog 2 clinical educators 6 months of blogging 200+ posts 26,000+ page views – Numbers don’t always tell the whole story, or even the right one, but in this case, they’ll do just fine. – When we started this process in January, we had only a vague idea of what shape our blog would take. We only knew that the ‘old ways’ of sharing information weren’t having the impact we were looking for. We’ve had a great time learning about the blogosphere and now it’s time to celebrate! – Here in Florida, we can easily do that with another beach retreat, a lovely bottle of wine, and some relaxing al fresco dining. But we wanted to include you in the celebration... [Read More...]

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