Tag Archive: teens

AAC in Secondary School: Using Surveys to Support Language Learning

March 8, 2021 by - 1 Comment

AAC in Secondary School: Using Surveys to Support Language Learning

It’s a great day to explore ways to support AAC use, and today AAC SLP Ashley Larisey joins us with some activity suggestions and lots of implementation tips.  Ashley is an SLP at Community High School District 218 in Oak Lawn, Illinois. She is also an Adjunct Clinical Supervisor and Instructor at Saint Xavier University. This post, part of the AAC in Secondary School series, focuses on the use of language experience surveys with students who are learning to use AAC. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Surveys Surveys can be used within almost any classroom activity to provide students with opportunities to communicate with both familiar and non-familiar listeners. Questions that are used for the survey can be used to gather more information about a topic that guides decision-making. Surveys can be embedded into academic, social, vocational, and community-based instruction. Take a look at some examples of how to use surveys in your classroom... [Read More...]

Filed under: ,

Tagged With: , ,

AAC in Secondary School: Defining Age Respectful

February 8, 2021 by - Leave your thoughts

AAC in Secondary School: Defining Age Respectful

Today, we welcome back AAC SLP Ashley Larisey to these pages for another post in the AAC in Secondary School series. Ashley is an SLP at Community High School District 218 in Oak Lawn, Illinois. She is also an Adjunct Clinical Supervisor and Instructor at Saint Xavier University. In today’s post, she shares thoughts on being age-respectful in choosing content, activities, and materials for high school students who are learning to use AAC. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Defining Age-Respectful The terms “age-appropriate” and “functional” are terms that come up frequently when working with older learners with complex communication needs and/or significant cognitive impairments. These students are entitled to receive an education that is aligned with the grade level standards in their state. Instruction should respect that these learners are no longer children, but in fact teenagers or young adults. But what do the terms “age-appropriate” and “functional” really mean? How are those terms... [Read More...]

Filed under: ,

Tagged With: , ,

AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week #28: July 2019

July 14, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts

AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week #27: July 2019

Happy Sunday, AAC friends. We thought you might like to catch up on some AAC reading. Monday – Summer Reading: A Few AAC Blog Suggestions Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Using Tangible Symbols to Support Communication Thursday – PrAACtically Visual: A Visual & Environmental Support Countdown ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: While you’re here sample some of these offerings from our series entitled PrAACtical Supports for Older Learners: AT Recipes for Success. Each one has a downloadable handout of home extension activities for teens and adults. Let’s Cook! Magazines and Nailpolish Computer Have a great week, everyone!

Filed under: ,

Tagged With: , , , ,

How I Do It: Pocket Flipbooks for Teens

June 24, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts

How I Do It: Pocket Flipbooks for Teens

Thanks to all who reached out to express appreciation for Katherine Dally’s series on making and using flipbooks for adults and teenagers with complex communication. Today, she continues that series with a case example of how she used this to support a young woman who communicates through multiple modalities, including an SGD. Katherine is an SLP who works both as an AT consultant for an educational service center and as a home health SLP serving adults with neurological conditions in Ohio. We’re grateful to Katherine for sharing her experiences and for the downloadable materials that are linked at the end of her post If you missed her previous posts in this series, you may want to check those out: How I Do It – Pocket Flipbooks for Adults & Teens: Part 1, Part 2. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: How I Do It: Pocket Flipbooks for Teens Let’s go through a teen case example... [Read More...]

Filed under: ,

Tagged With: , ,

How I Do It: Pocket Flipbooks for Adults & Teens, Part 2

June 17, 2019 by - 1 Comment

How I Do It: Pocket Flipbooks for Adults & Teens, Part 2

Grilling, wine tasting, horse racing…What did you talk about this weekend? The vocabulary and messaging needs of adults who have significant communication difficulties are often quite different than those of children and youth. Today, we welcome back SLP Katherine Dally who continues to share her experiences in creating and using small flipbooks for adults with complex communication needs. The flipbooks in this post (which can be downloaded via a link later in the article) focus on leisure activities that are perfect for summer. You can see Part 1 and download the template here. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: How To – Pocket Flip Book For Adults and Teens Have you worked with a client who was given a generic, low-tech paper communication board at the hospital? These are the boards that include pain, yes/no, and bathroom, among other basic needs and wants. With these boards, personalization is limited. The topics can be important, but... [Read More...]

Filed under: ,

Tagged With: , , , ,

How I Do It: Pocket Flipbooks for Adults & Teens

June 10, 2019 by - 1 Comment

How I Do It: Pocket Flipbooks for Adults & Teens

There is no doubt that adults with complex communication needs are an underserved population, something that is on our minds a lot during June, which is Aphasia Awareness Month. We feel fortunate to have a guest post today from Ohio-based SLP Katherine Dally, who works both as an AT consultant for an educational service center and as a home health SLP serving adults with neurological conditions. Katherine has served as the SLP on an ALS clinic focusing AAC evaluations, the use of voice banking, and no-tech/low tech communication. In today’s post, she provides some wonderful ideas for using activity-specific communication books with adults and teenagers and shares her templates for you to download. Pocket Mini-Communication Flipbooks Need a low-tech idea that’s pocket-sized and accessible everywhere for adults? Take a look at these pocket mini-communication flip books. These flip books were originally created for clients with a diagnosis of ALS to... [Read More...]

Filed under: ,

Tagged With: , , ,

Video of the Week: Let’s Hit the Town, AAC Style

August 1, 2018 by - Leave your thoughts

Video of the Week: Let’s Hit the Town, AAC Style

From the heights of a Ferris Wheel to fun places to shop, the Variety Western Australia Teen Motor Mouth Campers show us their stuff in this wonderful video which was presented recently at the 2018 ISAAC Conference. “AAC goes everywhere.” Indeed. Enjoy the laughter, smiles, and successes of Let’s Hit the Town. Many thanks to Variety WA Teen Motor Mouth Camp and ISAAC for this gem of a video! Direct Link to Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNAzF6tKOb

Filed under:

Tagged With: , ,

How I Do It: Starting AAC with Teens & Young Adults by Angela Adams

June 22, 2015 by - 1 Comment

How I Do It: Starting AAC with Teens & Young Adults by Angela Adams

Today, we welcome back Angela Adams, a Washington-based SLP. She currently works with students aged 11- 21 years in a small school district in the Pacific Northwest. Angela has 14 years experience, in both private practice and public school settings. She has a passion for helping adolescents and young adults with AAC needs develeop their communication skills. In this post, she shares some thoughts on getting older students started on AAC. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: What do you do when the new user of AAC is a teen or young adult? Core vocabulary, phrase-based communication, category- and topic-based pages….so many options for the new AAC user. THE CHALLENGES ARE REAL: What happens when the new user is a teen or a young adult? When in the public school system, what happens when this teen or young adult will only be our student 5 more years or 3 more or 1 more? What about our new AAC users... [Read More...]

Filed under:

Tagged With: ,