Featured Posts : PrAACtical AAC

Throwback Thursday: An AAC ‘Funny Area’ Solution

February 28, 2019 by Carole Zangari - Leave your thoughts

Every once in a while, we’re refreshing a blog post authored by the co-founder of PrAACtical AAC, the late Dr. Robin Parker, to share her clinical wisdom with those who may have missed it the first time around. Enjoy! ————————————————————————————— Behavior-It’s All about Perspective: Funny Time in the Funny Area A ‘funny area’ is not a technique or strategy you will see in a behavior or speech-language therapy textbook. But here is how we came to know and love ‘funny time’ & the ‘funny area’ A Little Background Tommy, a 9-year-old boy, seemed to be getting the ‘giggles’ each session. The graduate student clinician was not sure how to ‘control the situation’. Tommy typically worked hard using his SGD to build long and complex sentences for communication during natural age-appropriate activities (i.e., golf, art, and reading). But then the ‘giggles’ would start… and less and less communication was getting done.... [Read More...]

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AAC Link Up – February 26

February 26, 2019 by Carole Zangari - Leave your thoughts

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 camp 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 while... [Read More...]

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PrAACtically March: AAC Resources for a Year of Core Words

February 25, 2019 by Carole Zangari - Leave your thoughts

Do the AAC users in your life use only a fraction of the core words in their SGD, AAC app, or communication board? One way to help them move forward is to make a concerted effort to use, highlight, and provide additional teaching on a variety of words. It’s hard to do this without getting overwhelmed, so find a strategy that works for you. A few years ago, we decided to approach this by focusing on 12-16 core words each month. (If this is too much for the teams with whom you work, that’s not a problem. Just cut it back to 4-6 words/month.) Each month, we can highlight those words in our conversation (aided language input), direct intervention, and home programming activities with AAC learners. The repeated experiences with those 12-16 (or 4-6) words helps our AAC learners develop new skills, and keeps the team focused on the same destination. It’s... [Read More...]

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AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week #8: February 2019

February 24, 2019 by Carole Zangari - Leave your thoughts

Happy Sunday, AAC friends. Here are some posts you may have missed in your busy week. Monday – 5 AAC Handouts from Conferences Near and Far Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Growing Language with AAC Modeling Thursday – How I Do It: Literacy, Language, and AAC with Jeanna Antrim :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: If you have the time, here are some past posts you may enjoy. AAC Skills Assessment for Direct Selectors Selecting AAC Apps & Devices: A Handful of Reasons Not to Skip the Trial Period Observational Assessment of Beginning Communicators Bilingual AAC Assessment Tips by Lindsay Oesch Say What?!? AAC Assessment for Children Who Speak with Dr. Jill Senner and Matthew Baud

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How I Do It: Literacy, Language, and AAC with Jeanna Antrim

February 21, 2019 by Carole Zangari - 6 Comments

How I Do It: Language, Literacy, & AAC with Jeanna Antrim

We have deep respect for clinicians and educators who are willing to share their approach to developing strong AAC instructional sessions. Today, we are excited to welcome SLP Jeanna Antrim to these pages. Jeanna has been an SLP for the past 7 years practicing at special education cooperatives in southern Illinois. She works both with students in a self-contained behavior school and as an AAC facilitator conducting AAC evaluations, providing direct therapy, and consulting with school teams. In this post, she shares her approach to developing AAC sessions using shared reading. (Don’t miss her book packet and handouts.) ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: How I Do It: Literacy, Language, and AAC After graduating, it took me a few years of trial and error before I figured out (and don’t get me wrong I’m still figuring out) my niche. I absolutely love books and love how I can target any language and communication concept within a... [Read More...]

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AAC Link Up – February 19

February 19, 2019 by Carole Zangari - Leave your thoughts

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5 AAC Handouts from Conferences Near and Far

February 18, 2019 by Carole Zangari - Leave your thoughts

There have been lots of wonderful AAC sessions at conferences in the past 12 months. Here are a handful of handouts from some of them. Effects of Embedding Core Vocabulary in Emergent Literacy Instructional Routines – Penny Hatch, Lori Geist & Karen Erickson, ISAAC 2018 The Cognitive Demands Checklist Thinking about Thinking for AAC – Melanie Fried-Oken, Aimee Mooney, & Michelle Kinsella The AAC Learning Center(s): Online Supports for Pre-service Instruction – Chris Klein & David McNaughton, ATIA 2019 Talking Early Mobility: Get Moving with AAC – Tami Altschuler, Daniella Klein, Amanda Tesoriero, & Ashley Carr Scully, ASHA 2018 Developing Communication and Access Skills for Children Who Face Severe Physical and Multiple Challenges – Linda Burkhart ATIA 2019 Did you attend an AAC session that was especially helpful? We’d love to hear about it. NOTE: Depending on the presenter and venue, these handouts may be available only for a limited... [Read More...]

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A Different Kind of Valentine’s Day

February 14, 2019 by Carole Zangari - Leave your thoughts

Here in our community, Valentine’s Day will never be the same. While we grieve and remember those whose lives were affected by gun violence, we renew our efforts to prevent future tragedies. After the flowers, cards, candy, and Valentine’s Day parties are over, please take some time to seriously consider ways to better prepare our clients with AAC needs for adverse events. Today, we’re reprinting a post with helpful resources. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Recent events, such as the horrific mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School, have led us all to re-examine policies and procedures that impact school safety. Throughout the country, school communities are re-evaluating and fine-tuning their processes for keeping students and staff safe in the unlikely event of violent acts, such as bomb threats and active shooters. It seems surreal that we have to think about and plan for this, but that is our reality. We look at school safety drills... [Read More...]

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