July 1, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
How can we better support parents and caregivers of children with AAC needs? Meredith Laverdure and Jaime Lawson, who are SLPs and former co-workers, wanted to do more for the families they served. Meredith is currently a doctoral student at Old Dominion University. Her clinical and research interests include building communicative competence for children with complex communication needs with group interventions, as well as family- and community-level support. Jaime has predominately worked with pediatric clients, focusing on AAC/AT evaluations and intervention. Her clinical and research interests include enhancing communicative opportunities for children across settings and in various social settings, group intervention, family-centered therapy, and communication partner training. In this post, Meredith and Jaime share their experiences in developing The Talk Flock, a parent education and support group. Enjoy! The Talk Flock: Taking Care of Caregivers As speech-language pathologists in the outpatient pediatric setting with a busy AAC/AT clinic, we tried to... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AAC partner training, caregivers, parent training
June 30, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends! We’ve got a few posts for you to browse through from our prAACtical week. Monday – How I Do It: Pocket Flipbooks for Teens Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Activities to Use in AAC Training Thursday – PrAACtically July: AAC Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Before you go, take a look and see if any of these are of interest. AAC Assessment Forms AAC Printables & Downloads AAC Assessment for People with Aphasia Book Adaptations: Resources and Materials 5 Ways to Use Books to Build Interaction with AAC Learners
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: aphasia, assessment, Books, Year of Core
June 27, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Know anyone who has access to AAC tools but doesn’t yet use them throughout the day? Keiran has a new AAC app that is well-populated with core vocabulary. Gabbie has had an SGD for a while but doesn’t use it as frequently as her team had hoped. Hudson is transitioning from PECS to an AAC device with more robust language. While different in many ways, each of these learners has a common need: frequent opportunities to learn about and use core vocabulary. To accomplish this, their SLPs, teachers, and families select a dozen or so core words and pay special attention to those each month. That allows them to highlight this small group of words using focused language stimulation, aided language input, and specific activities designed to teach or practice them. In previous years, we shared lists of some core words to help you do just that. Set 1... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: core words, Year of Core Vocabulary
June 25, 2019
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 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... [Read More...]
Filed under: AAC Link Up, Featured Posts
June 24, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Thanks to all who reached out to express appreciation for Katherine Dally’s series on making and using flipbooks for adults and teenagers with complex communication. Today, she continues that series with a case example of how she used this to support a young woman who communicates through multiple modalities, including an SGD. Katherine is an SLP who works both as an AT consultant for an educational service center and as a home health SLP serving adults with neurological conditions in Ohio. We’re grateful to Katherine for sharing her experiences and for the downloadable materials that are linked at the end of her post If you missed her previous posts in this series, you may want to check those out: How I Do It – Pocket Flipbooks for Adults & Teens: Part 1, Part 2. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: How I Do It: Pocket Flipbooks for Teens Let’s go through a teen case example... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: communication book, flip book, teens
June 23, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. Have some catching up to do? You’ve come to the right place. Monday – How I Do It: Pocket Flipbooks for Adults & Teens, Part 2 Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Using Sensory Activities to Build Communication & Literacy with Students who Have Visual & Multiple Disabilities Thursday – When Language Is Lost: AAC Supports for Individuals with Aphasia ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Are you looking for some AACtivity suggestions? Here’s a few from past posts. Sometimes I Feel Sunny: AT Recipes for Success from CHoR PrAACtical Supports for AAC Learners: AT Recipes for Success – Sensorimotor Activities Pete the Cat, Rockin’ in My School Shoes: AT Recipes for Success PrAACtical Supports for the Young AAC Learner: Recipes for Success (Bubbles, Cars) PrAACtical Supports for Older Learners: AT Recipes for Success (Computer, Scrapbooking)
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: activities, aphasia, flipbook, sensory activities
June 20, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
It’s another Throwback Thursday! In recognition of Aphasia Awareness Month, we are digging into the archives for content on supporting people who’ve lost a good deal of language following stroke, brain injury, or dementia. If this is a population of interest, we invite you to explore these past posts to get ideas of things to add to your AAC assessment and/or therapy. Making It Work: 6 AAC Strategies for People with Aphasia Low Tech AAC for Adults with Aphasia: What Does That Mean? A Fresh Look at AAC & Aphasia with Dr. Kristy Weissling 5 Questions about Aphasia & Communication Books Aphasia Awareness Month: AAC & Aphasia Bridging the Gap: Helping People with Aphasia to Compensate for Their Language Difficulties AAC Assessment for People with Aphasia
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: aphasia, throwback, visual scene displays
June 17, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Grilling, wine tasting, horse racing…What did you talk about this weekend? The vocabulary and messaging needs of adults who have significant communication difficulties are often quite different than those of children and youth. Today, we welcome back SLP Katherine Dally who continues to share her experiences in creating and using small flipbooks for adults with complex communication needs. The flipbooks in this post (which can be downloaded via a link later in the article) focus on leisure activities that are perfect for summer. You can see Part 1 and download the template here. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: How To – Pocket Flip Book For Adults and Teens Have you worked with a client who was given a generic, low-tech paper communication board at the hospital? These are the boards that include pain, yes/no, and bathroom, among other basic needs and wants. With these boards, personalization is limited. The topics can be important, but... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: adults, flipbook, leisure, teens, vocabulary
June 16, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. Here are some posts that you may not have seen during your busy week. Monday – How I Do It: Pocket Flipbooks for Adults & Teens Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Mental Health & AAC Thursday – PrAACtical AAC: Giving Readers a Voice (Please help with this if you can, friends.) ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: If you have a few more minutes, stick around and explore some more. From Activity-based AAC to Robust Language Activity Schedule AACtion AACtual Therapy with Jeanne Tuthill: An Informal Assessment Activity A PrAACtical Literacy Activity for Beginning Communicators 10 Posts on Activity Ideas for Language Therapy with AAC
Filed under: Featured Posts
Tagged With: AAC activities, summary post
June 13, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Can you spare a few minutes to help us out? Since Robin and I first started the blog in 2011, PrAACtical AAC has published lots of original content and featured many wonderful contributions of professionals, families, and AAC users from around the world. With hundreds of posts under our belt, I thought it was finally time to give YOU a voice. We’d love to know more about you and what you’d like to see at PrAACtical AAC as we continue to move forward in sharing AAC content. Are there specific topics you’d like to know more about or particular guest authors you want to hear more from? What kinds of materials or resources would be most helpful to you? How you would like to see things grouped or organized? What other ways can PrAACtical AAC support the work you do to address complex communication needs? Help us figure out what... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: feedback, survey