April 19, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
Do you serve students with cortical visual impairment (CVI)? Teacher of the visually impaired Dr. Sandra Newcomb and AAC SLP Debbie Perry regularly combine their expertise and collaborate to support children with CVI who are learning to use AAC. In today’s post, they take us beyond the basics to share their thoughts on the complex issues that we should consider in serving this population. Follow along as they challenge some assumptions and provide helpful suggestions. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: AAC and CVI: Can We Chat? Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) is vision loss due to damage or malformation in the brain that interferes with the child’s ability to understand vision information coming from the eyes. It is the number one cause of vision impairment for young children in developed countries. It has been found that 10.5% of children with developmental disabilities have CVI [1]. This means if you are a pediatric SLP you will... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: CVI, low vision
April 18, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends! Here are some posts that you might enjoy. Monday – TELL ME About It: AAC Learning with ‘Where’s Spot?’ Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Advocating for Communication Rights Thursday – PrAACtically Earth Day: 20+ Ideas for Language Learning Fun ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Have time for a little more AAC reading? Here are a handful of posts to browse. How I Do It: Writing IEP Goals for Students Who Use AAC with Lauren Enders Documenting AT in the IEP 5 Reasons to Put AAC Training for Staff and Parents into the IEP AAC and the IEP: 5 Resources to Explore PrAACtical Resources: AT in the IEP Have a wonderful week!
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
April 15, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
Looking for some fun Earth Day activities that can be used for AAC practice and language learning? Here are some ideas for you. Learn about the importance of Earth Day with this book from Boardmaker. Getting to the Core of Earth Day Let’s Read Let’s Create Write an acrostic poem like this one by Donna O’Reilly. Make infused water for a planet-friendly drink using these resources from the AAC Language Lab. Play Earth Day BINGO with these LessonPix materials by Liz Sturgill. Let’s Go Outside! Make some Earth Day waffles with this recipe from Shevi Greebel. Create a language experience survey. Here are some possible questions for your survey What are your favorite outdoor activities? Tell me about a time when you had an outdoor adventure. What are some ways that you reuse and recycle? Make some Earth Day plant heads with Erin Pleuss’s project directions. Create some Earth Day art... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
April 13, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Tuesday, AAC friends! Once a week we invite you to share your own AAC-related content, product news, or anything else that you’d like others in the AAC community to know about. It may be a recent post you’ve written, a slide deck from your AAC presentation, a handout, video, or meme that you’ve posted online, an AAC product you’ve created, an announcement for an AAC course or conference, or any other prAACtical content you developed and want to share with the AAC community. To post your own link, scroll all the way down to the bottom of this post and complete the form. Enter the URL and the name/title in the boxes provided below. If you are on a mobile device, click over to the full website version to do this. The AAC Link Up is moderated to keep us from being spammed so it may take a little... [Read More...]
Filed under: AAC Link Up, Featured Posts
April 12, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
We’re thrilled that AAC SLPs Maggie Judson and Jeanna Antrim have returned to these pages with another edition in the TELL ME About It series. Maggie and Jeanna are speech-language pathologists who work in the Assistive Technology Department for the Belleville Area Special Services Cooperative (BASSC) in southern Illinois. They are AT/AAC facilitators and provide evaluations, direct therapy, consultations, and trainings with school teams. As usual, their post is chock full of prAACtical information including ideas for classroom activities, virtual learning tips, supporting AAC learning at home, and more. Also, don’t miss their tips for supporting a variety of communicative functions and their video read-alouds with three different AAC apps. If you are new to the series, you can check out their previous posts in the TELL ME About It series below. YEAR 1 TELL ME AAC Literacy Kits Brown Bear, Brown Bear I Went Walking From Head to Toe... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
April 11, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. Here are some posts from our prAACtical week. Monday: AAC in Secondary School: 5 AACtionable Steps to Support the Transition Process Tuesday: AAC Link Up Wednesday: Video of the Week: Use It Tomorrow Tools for Data Collection in AAC Thursday: Growing AAC Professionals: Introducing Middle School Students to AAC Through Project HOPE ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Have time for a little more browsing? Check out these past posts. When Helping Isn’t Helping-Prompt Awareness in AAC Instruction Administratively Speaking: 5 Considerations for Recruiting and Retaining AAC SLPs AAC In the Classroom: Considerations for Modeling Core Vocabulary How I Do It: A Year of Core Word in Action AAC in the High School Classroom: Where Core Vocabulary Meets Life Skills
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
April 8, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
It’s never too soon to introduce people to AAC. Clinical Associate Professor and SLP Krista Davidson, a strong advocate for AAC, is back to share more about the training of pre-professionals. In today’s post, you’ll hear about the way the Communication Sciences and Disorders program at the University of Iowa faculty and graduate students introduce middle schoolers from the local community to the field of AAC. – Growing AAC Professionals: Project HOPE As I have said in my previous posts, the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) at The University of Iowa uses a team-based approach to clinical education. Each graduate student typically rotates through 6 specialty-based clinical teams, mine being the AAC Team. I am continually looking for a variety of learning opportunities to engage students. This time we connect with Iowa’s College of Education and Project HOPE (Healthcare Occupations Preparation and Exploration). Project HOPE is a STEM... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
April 5, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
We’re back with another post in our series focusing on supporting students to use AAC during their high school years. AAC SLP Ashley Larisey, an SLP at Community High School District 218 in Oak Lawn, Illinois, is here to discuss ways to support students who use AAC as they prepare to transition out of school. Ashley, who is also an Adjunct Clinical Supervisor and Instructor at Saint Xavier University, has some prAACtical suggestions that will be of interest to SLPs, OTs, teachers, and parents alike. Enjoy! 5 AACtionable Steps to Support the Transition Process Do you have a student on your caseload who uses AAC and will be aging out of special education services soon? This can be an incredibly exciting time, but it can also be full of feelings of uncertainty. Hopefully, we have put in a lot of time and effort into supporting AAC users, their families, and... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
April 4, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. Here are some posts you might enjoy. Monday – PrAACtically April – More AAC Resources for A Year of Core Words Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Ethical Issues in AAC Thursday – 30 PrAACtical Ideas for Celebrating Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month Friday – PráctiCAAmente Conectados Con Links Abril 2021 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: In recognition of Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month, here are some autism-related posts to get you in the mood to celebrate those around us who have autism. Building Engagement in Young Students with Autism AACtual Therapy: Making Core Words Fun for Students with Autism Autism and AAC: 5 Pinterest Boards to Follow Evidence-based AAC Strategies for Students with Autism with Betsy Corporale An ABA Perspective on AAC for Students with Autism Before you go, enjoy the ABC’s of Autism support…
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
April 2, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
AAC friends, it’s time for another AAC Link Up in Spanish. If you have materials or videos in Spanish that you would like others to know about, we’d love to have you add that information below. Also, please share this with anyone who might be interested in contributing to or using the materials that get added to these posts. But before we get to that, we want to continue sharing AAC experiences with families in different Spanish-speaking countries, to help us create ties and form AAC communities in Spanish, to learn from each other. In addition, this post features the words of Robinson Díaz, a Communications and Web Assistant from Chile who uses AAC. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: No dejes pasar la oportunidad de compartir tus links en español, para apoyar a la comunidad hispano hablante, que crece cada día en el campo de la CAA. Continuamos con nuestra serie de experiencias de... [Read More...]
Filed under: AAC Link Up, Featured Posts