October 5, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
We’re back with Georgia-based SLP Jennifer Ro to hear more about a district-wide rollout of AAC in which they established (and have maintained) a core vocabulary focus. Jennifer is currently the lead AAC-SLP on Forsyth County Schools’ Assistive Technology Team where she provides AAC implementation support and trainings for staff and families and conducts individual AAC student consults. You can see Part 1 of the post here. Today, Jennifer shares some of what they learned in the process of creating AAC materials for the classroom and supporting the implementation of those materials. Let’s continue with more ‘lessons learned’ from this AAC experience. ================= How We Do It: Developing, Implementing a District-wide Focus on Communication & Core Vocabulary (Part 2) How we did it. And keep doing it … 😉 Create and develop supplemental materials that can be utilized universally and then modified, if needed, for individual student or teacher... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: core vocabulary, education, school
October 2, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
Welcome to ISAAC‘s 10th Annual International AAC Awareness Month! For the past decade, October has given us some extra opportunities to spread the word about all things AAC, and it’s pretty exciting to think back on all we’ve done and also to plan for the current year. Each week during AAC Awareness Month we’ll share suggestions for things to do to help others learn about a field that emerged to support children and adults with complex communication needs. This week, we’ll focus on hands-on activities. A popular approach to AAC Awareness Month is to invite a group of colleagues or families to come together and communicate only through AAC for the event. Some years, we’ve held ‘Silent Snack’ events before class where we put out a variety of board games and invited some of our AAC clients to come in and play along. They enjoyed serving as our AAC Ambassadors,... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AAC Awareness, AAC Awareness Month, AAC partner training
October 1, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
Today marks the start of AAC Awareness Month. Let’s kick it off with some posts from last week and then dig into the archives. Monday – PrAACtically October: AAC Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary Wednesday – Video of the Week: Breaking Down Barriers to AAC Implementation Thursday – How We Do It: Developing & Implementing a District-wide Focus on Communication and Core Vocabulary (Part 1) Need some information or videos on ways to better support people with challenging behavior? Here are some posts that may be of interest. PrAACtical Resources: Behavioral Supports for Young Children AAC and Challenging Behavior Using Structure to Minimize Behavioral Challenges Preventing Problem Behavior at School with Dr. Barry Prizant Communication Supports for Problem Behavior with Dr. Pat Mirenda Starting tomorrow, we’ll share ideas and materials for celebrating AAC Awareness Month, but we just couldn’t wait to share Lauren Enders‘ collection of AAC and literacy apps... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts
Tagged With: AAC Awareness Month, summary post
September 28, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
One of the best parts of blogging is getting to connect with talented professionals who are committed to meeting the needs of people who use AAC. In today’s post, SLP Jennifer Ro shares some of the ‘lessons learned’ in implementing a core vocabulary approach to AAC throughout an entire school district. Jennifer is part of the Assistive Technology Team at Forsyth County Schools in Georgia. Focusing much of her 20+ year career in the field of AAC, Jennifer has provided AAC and speech-language services through the public schools, private clinics, early intervention programs, and community-based adult group homes and workshops. Jennifer helped develop Forsyth’s Core Word Board utilized district-wide. Her current interests include collaborative models of service delivery and staff development in the area of AAC. She has presented at the state and local level with a focus on communication related to AAC, core vocabulary, and language development, social-emotional engagement, visual... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: education, implementation, school
September 25, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
Know any AAC learners like these? Jeremiah has an SGD with thousands of core and fringe words, but he uses less than 100 of them in day-to-day life. Bella used an AAC app with visual scene displays to interact at playtime and during daily routines for the past several months. Her team just added an app with a grid-based vocabulary so that she can begin to create novel sentences and expand her language abilities. Mason was recently evaluated for an AAC device, but it will likely take a few months to get the funding situation straightened out. In the meantime, his team created a manual communication board that mirrors the main screen of the SGD’s language software. Each of them needs lots of practice to become fluent with the core words in their AAC systems. Are you looking for resources to support your use of core words in therapy, in... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: A Year of Core Words
September 24, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
Have a few minutes to browse some AAC posts? Here’s a quick selection to choose from. Monday – How We Do It: Using AAC to Repair Communication Breakdowns Wednesday – Video of the Week: Choosing the Right AAC App Thursday – PrAACtical Resources: Teaching Peers About AAC Friday – PrAACtical News: AAC Disaster Relief Book-related Posts PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: Apples PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: It’s Okay to Be Different Infusing AAC Core Vocabulary into Interactive Storybook Reading Adapting Books with Visual Scenes Five Books Featuring Children Who Use AAC
Filed under: Featured Posts
Tagged With: summary post
September 22, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
As we all know, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria left many people without basic services, and people who use AAC are among the most vulnerable. Please review this important information about efforts underway to address their no tech, low tech, and high tech AAC needs. You can help by donating time, expertise, AAC-related equipment that is in good working order, and/or funds to purchase replacements. If you are considering a donation of used AAC-related equipment, please see this important information from the Pass It On Center. Another way you can help is by spreading the word about these sites and helping us reach people in need. Individuals in the US, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands are able to apply for assistance. Please help however you can. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: People with severe disabilities who are unable to speak are among the hardest hit by disasters like Hurricane Harvey and more recently, Hurricanes Irma and Maria. They get separated from their helpers, lose access to their speech generating devices and their low-tech tools,... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: disaster, emergency preparedness, hurricane
September 21, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
It is not overstating things to say that Gail Van Tatenhove’s resources have shaped the way AAC is practiced all around the world. In this post, we share a terrific booklet that she created to help those who are supporting students in inclusive settings. While this specific resource is designed to teach the basic idea of Minspeak, the student-friendly approach she has used is a wonderful example that can inspire those of us who support students working with a wider variety of AAC systems. Enjoy this little gem! You can download it here or by clicking on the image below.
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Gail Van Tatenhove, inclusion, Inclusive Education, peers
September 18, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
We’ve had many nice comments about the resources shared by AAC SLP Alicia Garcia, clinical lead of the AAC Clinic at One Kids Place, a children’s treatment centre in northern Ontario. With over two decades of experience in pediatric rehabilitation practice in private and public settings, Alicia’s ideas for how to support AAC learners and their families are tried and true. In today’s post, Alicia shares thoughts and materials for situations in which the AAC is needed to repair communication breakdowns. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Children with unclear speech not only have different intelligibility levels but also different levels of awareness, focus, and interest on repairing their communication breakdowns. We use different approaches based on how they react and respond when they are not understood. As a general guideline when a communication breakdown occurs, regardless of the child’s profile, we first try determining the level of urgency or importance of the child’s intended... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Alicia Garcia, communication breakdown, repair, speech intelligibility
September 17, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
We’ve been busy recovering from Hurricane Irma but wanted share a few posts with you nonetheless. Wednesday – Video of the Week: AAC Data Collection The events of the week gave us an opportunity to connect with friends, near and far. It also made us think about how far we have to go in learning the best ways to help AAC learners build meaningful and lasting friendships. Here are some previous posts on that topic. On Friendship: Supporting AAC Learners A Recipe for Friendship Friendship Skills for Children with ASD Who Use AAC 5 Ways That SLPs Can Support Friendships for People Who Use AAC 5 (More) Resources for Supporting Friendships in Individuals who use AAC
Filed under: Featured Posts
Tagged With: summary post