AACtual Therapy: Informal Assessment Activity with Jeanne Tuthill

July 31, 2014 by - Leave your thoughts

AACtual Therapy: Informal Assessment Activity with Jeanne Tuthill

We are so pleased to have a return visit by SLP Jeanne Tuthill. In this post, she shares an informal assessment activity based around a Book of Favorites. Enjoy! ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Greetings from Massachusetts! My work at the Collaborative for Educational Services is on a school-year contract so I’m currently on summer break with my three girls.  We’ve been plenty busy with fun summer activities but my learning and growing as an AAC therapist isn’t tied to my contract dates.  I’ve also been busy watching webinars, reading some great books (educational as well as pleasure-reading), and following the Facebook feeds of some of my favorite AAC peeps!  I really wish I could have attended ISAAC in Lisbon, Portugal this year…I loved seeing everyone’s photos and posts from what looked to be a spectacular conference! In my last post on assessment I shared with you an ice-breaker activity that is low-stress for... [Read More...]

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3 Ways to Promote Interest in Language Therapy for AAC Learners

July 30, 2014 by - Leave your thoughts

3 Ways to Promote Interest in Language Therapy for AAC Learners

In an earlier post, we raised this question: Why work hard at something you don’t care about? The truth is that all of us put more effort into learning things that allow us to accomplish something important to US. As SLPs, we can spout many reasons why learning to use and comprehend more advanced language is a good idea. Making that meaningful to our clients, though, is another thing altogether. How can we align our therapy objectives with things of true value to our clients? Figure out what the AAC learner wants: More friends? A job? Good grades? Link the language and AAC objectives to those things. Seek the AAC learner’s input on goals and objectives: If the learner can’t nominate his/her own goals for consideration, maybe you can offer choices or help them use a rating scale to give their opinion on the suggested goals. Provide rationales for why... [Read More...]

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On Not Talking

July 29, 2014 by - 2 Comments

On Not Talking

Traffic lights and stop signs Quarter rests and half rests Commas and periods There are times when a brief pause is just what is needed. In AAC intervention, sometimes a pause is more powerful than anything we can do or say. More effective than us repeating or rephrasing, because those can interfere with processing. More helpful than a question or a mand, because overuse of those can build learned helplessness. Focused attention. Quiet bodies. A few seconds of silence. Provide access to AAC with sufficient vocabulary. Provide an eliciting context. Provide a space for the communicator to process and respond. There is power in the perfect pause.

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PrAACtical Tip: Tracking Apps We Use in Therapy

July 25, 2014 by - Leave your thoughts

PrAACtical Tip: Tracking Apps We Use in Therapy

There are so many great apps to use for building communication and literacy skills: games, utilities, e-books, photos, storytelling, etc. There are too many gems to list! Did you ever start to plan a therapy session or some home practice activities using specific apps, only to realize that you don’t know if that client’s mobile device actually HAS the app you plan to use? As you can guess, this has happened to us a time or two. If you are using your own device, this isn’t problematic but often we are trying to build skills with an app that we want to client to use outside of the therapy session. Here’s a quick tip for avoiding that scenario: Take a photo showing the apps the client has on their device and send it to yourself or upload to a cloud (taking care to follow privacy policies if you do the latter).... [Read More...]

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Wrapping Up at ISAAC 2014

July 24, 2014 by - Leave your thoughts

Today we wrap up the ISAAC 2014 Biennial Conference, where people who use AAC and people who support them through research, teaching, and direct services came together for one purpose: sharing. Yesterday, I had the privilege of presenting a 2-hour session with Dr. Gloria Soto from San Francisco State University.  You can download our handout here or in the AAC e-Toolbox.      

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Welcome to ISAAC 2014: The World’s AAC Conference

July 22, 2014 by - 1 Comment

Welcome to ISAAC 2014! I know many of you wish you could be here in Lisbon learning along with me from the world’s top AAC researchers, practitioners, families, and consumers. What an exciting place to be! For those of you unable to make the trip, I encourage you to start planning and saving your pennies for the next ISAAC conference in 2016. In the meantime, I’ll try to do some sharing here to give you a peek at all of the AAC goodness happening here in Lisbon this week. My highlight so far was presenting with Jane Farrall. Both of us have a passion for teaching literacy to people with AAC needs, but in this presentation, our focus was on using literacy experiences to teach communication skills. You can check out our handout below or in the AAC eToolbox.    

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Social Media and People with Disabilities

July 21, 2014 by - Leave your thoughts

Social Media and People with Disabilities

If you’re an AAC lover there’s no better place to be this week than the 16th the Biennial Conference of the International Society for AAC (ISAAC) at the Lisboa Congress Centre. Every two years, AAC stakeholders from around the world gather to consider the latest research, learn from one another, discuss issues of controversy, see new products. connect and renew relationships, and have a great time. From the pre-conference workshops, to the AAC Camp, to the main conference, to the Exhibit Hall, to the Research Symposium, this is the place to be to get AAC inspiration. There won’t be much time for writing but we’ll try to keep you posted with photos from the conference. You can also follow along on Twitter with the conference hashtag, #ISAAC2014 To start get in the ISAAC mood, check out this presentation by Lisa Lehman, the 2012 Outstanding Consumer Lecturer.  

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