AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week # 19 – May 2019

May 12, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts


AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week # 19 - May 2019

Happy Sunday, AAC friends, and Happy Mother’s Day! If AAC is on your mind, we have some reading material for you. Monday – PrAACtically Reading: Over on the Farm with Karen Natoci & Karen Baca Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Classroom-based AAC Thursday – How We Do It: Increasing AAC Acceptance and Making Better Communication Partners In Our School Have time for a little more? Here are a couple of suggestions. AAC Funding Help Building Your AAC SLP Toolkit: Obtaining Free Apps for AAC Evaluations Check Your Knowledge of AT History AACtual Therapy: Making Core Words Fun for Students with Autism AAC Goes to Summer Camp

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How We Do It: Increasing AAC Acceptance and Making Better Communication Partners In Our School

May 9, 2019 by - 1 Comment


How We Do It: Increasing AAC Acceptance and Making Better Communication Partners In Our School

We are pleased to welcome Beth Waite-Lafever, an SLP with over 30 years of AAC experience, back to these pages. She has worked in outpatient rehab, private practice, and public school and has the RESNA ATP credential and LAMP certification from The Center for AAC and Autism. Beth has given many presentations at the state, national and international levels on AAC and related topics. In her private practice, she has provides evaluations, therapy, and training. Beth is the proud co-creator of The Indiana AAC Summit. Currently, she provides monthly online training for PRC as a contracted employee and is an SLP and AT Coach for MSD Martinsville, a public school system in Martinsville, Indiana. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: How We Do It: Increasing AAC Acceptance and Making Better Communication Partners In Our School Each May when I see the Better Hearing and Speech campaign gear up, I wonder what more I can do... [Read More...]

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PrAACtically Reading: Over on the Farm with Karen Natoci & Karen Baca                           

May 6, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts


PrAACtically Reading: Over on the Farm with Karen Natoci & Karen Baca                           

Are you ready for some reading, AAC style? In today’s edition of PrAACtically Reading, Karen Natoci and Karen Baca share a preschool book about farm animals. Karen Natoci is an AAC Supervisor who is well-known to the readers of this site (see her wonderful contributions here.). Her colleague Karen Baca is an AT and AAC Specialist with over 30 years in the field of AT, specializing in AAC, alternative access, and literacy for all students with disabilities. They both work for The Speech Pathology Group in the San Francisco Bay area. Book:  Over on the Farm by Marianne Berkes and illustrated by Cathy Morrison (Copyright © 2003, Little, Brown and Company; Hachette Book Group, www.lb-kids.com) Vocabulary focus:  All core words Fringe Vocabulary focus: horse/foals/neigh, cat/kittens/meow, cow/calves/moo, goat/kids/maa, chicken/chick/cheep-cheep, owl/owlets/hoot-hoot, mouse/pups/squeek, turkey/poults/gobble-gobble, duck/ducklings/quack, pig/piglets/oink Actions: peck, nibble, swish, wash, gallop, hide, fly, strut, waddle roll Communication Matrix (Rowland, 2009) level:  I-VIII... [Read More...]

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AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week # 18 – May 2019

May 5, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts


AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week # 18 - May 2019

Happy Sunday, AAC friends! Here are some posts that may be of interest. Monday – PrAACtically May: More AAC Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary Words Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Looking at AAC Modeling Thursday – How We Do It: Coaching AAC Use in the Natural Environment :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Before you go, check out these posts from the archives. It’s PrAACtically Mother’s Day- 5 Activities that Support Communicating with Mom Using Vest Displays with Preschoolers on the Autism Spectrum Aided Language Input During Play Five Resources for Making and Using Visual Scene Displays From Solitary Play to Interaction: 5 Things to Try With Kids Who Love Their iPad Games

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How We Do It: Coaching AAC Use in the Natural Environment

May 2, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts


How We Do It: Coaching AAC Use in the Natural Environment

If it’s May, it must be Better Hearing and Speech Month (#BSHM), and we’re thrilled to kick off the festivities by two Illinois-based SLPs, Dr. Jill Senner and Matt Baud. They have a wealth of AAC experience and have generously shared their expertise here in several previous posts. Today, we welcome them back as they share some advice on helping staff use AAC in natural settings. Enjoy! ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Put Me in, Coach: Coaching AAC Use in the Natural Environment “Help, I already trained the team and the device is still not being used outside of my sessions.” Sound familiar?  We hear this a lot.  This actually is quite common if one key training element is missing.  In fact, without this critical instructional component, there’s only about a 5% chance that the strategies you’re teaching will actually be used in the natural environment.  What is the essential ingredient to maximizing your... [Read More...]

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PrAACtically May: More AAC Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary Words

April 29, 2019 by - 1 Comment


PrAACtically May: More AAC Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary Words

It is just about time to flip the calendar to a new page, and that means it’s time for a new set of core words to model, elicit, and practice. In this post, we have a number of resources for those who are ready to try their hand at implementation. Thanks to all who’ve reached out with questions, comments, and words of appreciation for the Year of Core Vocabulary series. Here are some helpful resources for those who are using the words in Set 1 ( Year of Core Words) or Set 2 (Another Year of Core Words). If you are contemplating this approach, feel free to jump in at any time. The best time to start (or re-start) is right now. Don’t worry about retracing steps, or not ‘doing it right.’ The best way to get better at core vocabulary instruction is just to keep at it. It takes... [Read More...]

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AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week #17: April 2019

April 28, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts


AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week #17: April 2019

Happy Sunday, AAC friends! It was good to see some of you at the fabulous AAC by the Bay Conference last week (if you missed it, look for this event again in 2021). Whether you were on-site at Cisco or at one of the many remote locations around the world, it was wonderful to learn together with you and the many insightful presenters. If you need to catch up on some AAC reading, here are a few suggestions for you. Monday – Word Count: Looking at AAC Language Samples Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Getting Started with AAC Thursday –  Throwback Thursday: AAC Assessment Corner ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: While you’re here, see if one of these past posts piques your interest. PrAACtically Reading: Over in the Garden with Karen Natoci Talking Mats: A PrAACtical Tool Using Metaphors to Support Vocabulary Teaching AACtual Therapy: “At first I... [Read More...]

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Throwback Thursday: AAC Assessment Corner

April 25, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts


Throwback Thursday: AAC Assessment Corner

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

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