Here are some AAC posts that you may have missed in your busy week. Monday: A Thought on Memorial Day Wednesday: Video of the Week: Aided Language Input During Play Thursday: AAC in the High School Classroom: Where Core Vocabulary Meets Life Skills
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Tagged With: summary post
Today, guest blogger Sarah Mueller, a special education teacher in Rochester Michigan, shares her thoughts on supporting core vocabulary learning while working on functional life skills. Sarah teaches high school students with intellectual and developmental disabilities and strives to embed language and communication throughout her students’ entire school experience. Sarah helps her students become strong self-advocates as they prepare for adult life. Marlene Cummings, Sarah’s colleague and mentor, introduces the post. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: I (Marlene Cummings) had the pleasure of meeting Sarah 2 years ago as a new teacher in one of my districts. She immediately engaged in our county level professional learning opportunities in AAC and Literacy. The AAC focus presented strategies to support AAC and language learning including: core vocabulary, aided language input, vocabulary instruction and opportunities. The literacy focus was designed to create and implement a comprehensive literacy program taught by Drs. Karen Erickson and David Koppenhaver. The outcome:... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: classroom, core vocabulary, education, high school, teacher
Taking time today to remember and honor all those who have sacrificed so much in service of their countries. Hope you have a good day of reflection and remembrance.
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Tagged With: Memorial Day
The month is drawing to a close and that means it’s time to prepare to highlight a new set of core words. If you’re helping an AAC learner become more capable in using high frequency words to express themselves, we hope you join us in highlighting the June words and creating opportunities for our AAC learners to use them throughout the day. Whether you are following along with the 2013 Year of Core (Set 1-12 words/month) or the 2014 A(nother) Year of Core: (Set 2-16 words/month; Different than the previous year’s core words), or just getting started, here are some helpful resources. Our June words are listed below. Set 1 (2013) List: after, am/be/is, because, can, cold, fast, fun, have, hungry, let, need, talk Set 2 (2014) List: about, back, buy, grandmother, hand, inside, lose, move, okay, people, quiet, short, show, two, water, yellow Templates for you to plug in... [Read More...]
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Tagged With: A Year of Core Words, Another Year of Core Words
In a great many places, SLPs are in short supply. SLPs with specialized skills, such as those who can support students with AAC needs, are even harder to find. How can program administrators find, and, even more importantly, retain qualified SLPs? In this series, we share a few thoughts on the topic of space. One of the most meaningful things that an administrator is pretty simple: Ensure that the SLP has appropriate space in which to work. This basic requirement is frequently overlooked, particularly in educational settings. In schools, the SLP space is sometimes transient (e.g., M/W/F in the psychologist office, T/Th in the OT/PT area), inadequate (e.g., former book storage closet), or inappropriate (e.g., noisy environment, too small to hold groups). Sometimes, the space for SLP work is completely nonexistent. In the past few weeks, I’ve heard from SLPs who are expected to function without a dedicated workspace beyond... [Read More...]
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Tagged With: administration, administrator, recruitment, school, space
Here are some posts you may have missed in your busy week. Monday: How We Do It: Assessing AAC Skills and Competencies to Inform Intervention & Show Progress Wednesday: Video of the Week: AAC Conversation Club Thursday: How I Do It: Using an App to Create AAC Materials & Visual Supports
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Tagged With: BHSM, summary post
When we think of AAC apps, expressive communication and voice output generally come to mind. But there are other kinds of AAC apps, too, including those that are used to create printable materials. Today, we hear from a clinician who uses this kind of AAC app on a regular basis. Georgia Karavias is a speech language pathologist whose career has centered around working with school-aged children and adolescents who have physical disabilities and communication difficulties. Georgia is passionate about utilizing alternative access methods and inclusive technologies to enable independent communication using AAC systems. She currently works at Scope’s Communication and Inclusion Resource Centre (CIRC) as part of the communication access team in a community capacity building role. In this post, she talks about how she uses AAC and visual supports created with an app developed at her workplace. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: I am a speech pathologist who has worked with children with complex... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Apps, no tech, visual schedules, visual support
It’s Better Hearing and Speech Month ( #BHSM) and we are highlighting the work of talented AAC SLPs. We’re so happy to have Georgia-based Vicki Clarke back, this time with Holly Schneider, to talk about a longstanding collaboration that more AAC teams need to know about. Vicki’s private practice, Dynamic Therapy Associates, centers on AAC assessment and intervention. She works both with individuals and school districts, and serves children and adults with a variety of challenges and etiologies (e.g., motor disorders, memory, attention and learning difficulties, sensory impairment, neurological differences, syndromes and seizure disorders, congenital and acquired difficulties).Holly is a full time employee of Tobii Dynavox on the Clinical Content and Training Team. She is responsible for developing AAC training materials; and educating teams, professionals and families on AAC applications and implementation. In this post, they tell us about the development of the second edition of the Dynamic AAC Goals Grid.... [Read More...]
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Happy Mother’s Day! Here are some posts you may have missed in your prAACtical week. Monday: Site of the Month: Preschool AAC and Visual Supports from Orange County Public Schools Wednesday: Video of the Week: AACtual Advocacy Thursday: How We Do It: Pragmatic Skill Intervention in AAC with Dr. Jill Senner & Matthew Baud
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Tagged With: summary post
Better Hearing and Speech Month is in full swing and we are excited to see SLPs talking about tools and strategies for supporting people with AAC needs. Many individuals with AAC needs have difficulty using language in expected ways, particularly in social interactions. In this post, we welcome back guest authors Jill Senner and Matthew Baud to discuss ways in which they target pragmatic language in their clinical work. They have a prAACtical approach to this subject and are generous in sharing AAC resources, including vocabulary/pagesets for some popular AAC apps/SGDs. Enjoy! ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Chat with Me: Pragmatic Skill Intervention in AAC with Jill E Senner, PhD, CCC-SLP & Matthew R. Baud, MS, CCC-SLP Pragmatic skills, commonly referred to as social skills, play an important role in the successful integration of individuals with disabilities. People with disabilities need adequate social skills to live and be educated in the least restrictive environment, to be... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: EBP, intervention, pragmatics, Social Language