115 Search Results for corner
September 17, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
It’s Throwback Thursday and today we’re turning our attention to assessment. Take a look at these posts from our AAC Assessment Corner series guest authored by Vicki Clarke. Evaluating Skills For the Use of Comprehensive AAC Systems – Core Word Use Ready, SETT, AAC Evaluate! AAC Skills Assessment for Direct Selectors Standardized Tests For AAC Users AAC Assessment for Emergent Communicators The Eyes Have It-Assessment Considerations for High Tech Eye Gaze Access Is AAC Feature Matching Still Relevant? Thinking Inside the Box for AAC Evaluations Procedural Resources Evaluating Skills for Use of Comprehensive AAC Dynamic Display SGDs Language Representation Elements – Noun Symbol Use for Functional Communication
October 3, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
We are so very pleased to welcome Vicki Clarke back to these pages for another installment in our AAC Assessment Corner. Vicki is the CEO of Dynamic Therapy Associates and Director of DTA Schools, is back with another wonderful edition of AAC Assessment Corner. In addition to their clinic, Vicki and her team support school districts in AAC evaluation, equipment procurement, and implementation for individual students in the academic environment. DTA Schools also supports district-wide AAC implementation through the Classroom Communication Goals Project, training, and supporting all team members in classroom AAC implementation. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Evaluating Skills For the Use of Comprehensive AAC Systems: CORE WORD USE ACTION/OBJECT REQUESTS-RECURRENCE, CESSATION, ACTION More, Stop, Go and Want Once we have assessed our student’s ability to understand and use photos and symbols for concrete, motivating items, it’s time to take a look at their ability to understand and use more abstract, generalizable core vocabulary. ... [Read More...]
April 25, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
It’s another Throwback Thursday and today we’re turning our attention to assessment. Join us as we revisit “AAC Assessment Corner with Vicki Clarke.” Ready, SETT, AAC Evaluate! AAC Skills Assessment for Direct Selectors Standardized Tests For AAC Users AAC Assessment for Emergent Communicators The Eyes Have It-Assessment Considerations for High Tech Eye Gaze Access Is AAC Feature Matching Still Relevant? Thinking Inside the Box for AAC Evaluations Procedural Resources Evaluating Skills for Use of Comprehensive AAC Dynamic Display SGDs Language Representation Elements – Noun Symbol Use for Functional Communication
June 11, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
Vicki Clarke, CEO of Dynamic Therapy Associates and Director of DTA Schools, is back with another wonderful edition of AAC Assessment Corner. In addition to their clinic, Vicki and her team support school districts in AAC evaluation, equipment procurement, and implementation for individual students in the academic environment. DTA Schools also supports district-wide AAC implementation through the Classroom Communication Goals Project, training, and supporting all team members in classroom AAC implementation. In today’s post, Vicki shares her thoughts on how we can look at the use of AAC symbols for nouns as part of our evaluations for comprehensive AAC systems. You can view her previous contributions to the AAC Assessment Corner here. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Evaluating Skills For Use of Comprehensive AAC Systems, Part 2: Language Representation Elements – Noun Symbol Use for Functional Communication It was a crazy, busy month full of evaluations, trainings, and report writing. I’ve spent a lot of time with... [Read More...]
May 3, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
We’re always thrilled to share a guest post on AAC assessment practices from Vicki Clarke of Dynamic Therapy Associates. If you have questions about conducting AAC evaluations, read on. You can view her previous contributions to the AAC Assessment Corner here. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Evaluating Skills for Use of Comprehensive AAC Dynamic Display Systems Part I: Early Skills Over the past few years there has been an on-going discussion in the speech language pathology world about whether or not we needed to designate an official “specialty” recognition for augmentative and alternative communication practitioners. The argument goes something like this: It takes a lot of extra training, concerted effort in continuing education and daily practice in the assessment and implementation of augmentative communication to do it well. Therefore, we should have a “specialty area” in our national organization, ASHA, devoted to AAC. The counter-argument states that if our governing body says you need to... [Read More...]
October 19, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
She’s bAACk! We couldn’t be happier to have another guest post on AAC assessment practices from Vicki Clarke of Dynamic Therapy Associates. In today’s post, she shares her tips and experiences for applying the SETT Framework to AAC assessment. If you are looking for information about how AACtual SLPs conduct their evaluations, Vicki’s posts are just what you need. You can view her previous contributions to the AAC Assessment Corner here. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Ready, SETT, AAC Evaluate! Last week I had the pleasure of joining the AAC After Work online conference hosted by Yapp Guru University. Jenna Coyer and I presented a session chatting about AAC assessment in emergent communicators. As we have worked to define our process for evaluation, we found ourselves repeatedly returning to the same approach our Assistive Technology teams use—the SETT Framework. The SETT Framework was developed by Joy Zabala as a process for making decisions about... [Read More...]
August 31, 2016
by Carole Zangari -
The month of August is almost over and we’ve saved the best for last. The month wouldn’t seem complete without hearing more of Vicki Clarke’s ideas on AAC assessment. In addition to many other things, Vicki’s practice, Dynamic Therapy Associates, does 50+ of these evaluations each year, both in the clinic and in school settings. In this post, Vicki shares some thoughts on assessing the AAC skills of people who use direct selection. As always, she packs in a lot of information and generously provides the protocol and data collection forms that she uses. You can explore some of her previous posts in the AAC Assessment Corner series here. * ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: AAC Skills Assessment for Direct Selectors I spent the morning with a great group of students at the University of Georgia (UGA) in Dr. Satterfield’s AAC class. I was asked to talk with them about AAC assessment with an emphasis on... [Read More...]
July 27, 2016
by Carole Zangari -
Do you have a love-hate relationships with formal testing? Are you required to use normed tests with your minimally verbal clients? Looking for recommendations on which tests to use? AAC specialist Vicki Clarke has you covered! Like many of you, I’ve had mixed feeling when it comes to using normed assessment instruments with my AAC learners, particularly when we needed to modify the test materials or administration procedures in order for them to be able to participate and respond. If the client can’t point to pictures, give a verbal response, or sit through an entire test, we have no choice but to adapt how the test is administered. As we all know, when we adapt test materials (e.g., putting the test items on an eye gaze board) or procedures (e.g., partner-assisted scanning), we lose the ability to use the normative data. We can, though, compare our learners to themselves at... [Read More...]
June 1, 2016
by Carole Zangari -
Today, we welcome back Vicki Clarke with more helpful information on conducting AAC assessments. If you work with individual who are at the early stages of communicative development, this post is for you! :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Some of my most favorite students are those who, at first, may not seem to notice me at all. Sometimes these students seem to exist in their own worlds. They don’t seem to respond in ways we would expect: looking, attending, listening, or gesturing. They may have a diagnosis of Autism, significant developmental delay, epilepsy, or any number of syndromes. I love these kids, and unfortunately, these are often the students who don’t get referred to me. Sometimes it takes years of working in a district before I get to see students with significant developmental delays. These children are typically served in classrooms for students considered to be severe/profound or multi-handicapped. Honestly, I usually get the... [Read More...]
May 5, 2016
by Carole Zangari -
AAC assessment is an area that most professionals struggle with for one reason or another. I am so grateful to Vicki Clarke for returning to share her thoughts on the prAACticalities of conducting these evaluations. If you are looking for tips on assessing someone who needs high tech eye gaze AAC, this post is for you. For other posts authored by Vicki, click here. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The Eyes Have It: Assessment Considerations for High Tech Eye Gaze Access Eye gaze control for AAC device access is a hallmark technological achievement in the world of speech generating devices. For people with significant motor challenges we are no longer limited to scanning as our one choice for AAC access. AAC Specialists have been using light tech eye gaze boards and PVC pipe frames with these friends for years, but now we are able to offer voice output. Eye gaze is for a much... [Read More...]