Sunday: Video of the Week – AAC Evidence-based Principles & Practices Monday: Becoming A Proficient Communicator Tuesday: Teach Me Tuesday – ComLink Wednesday: Watch It Wednesday – “How Do You Feel About…?” Thursday: Throwback Thursday – 5 AAC Teaching Blog Posts We Love Friday: PrAACtical Buzz: Have You Heard?
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
There is a lot of prAACtical buzz around 2 AAC apps that have recently released free/lite versions Check them out: Avaz Lite Version- AAC App for Autism (Augmentative Picture Communication Software for Children with Special Needs)- Try out Avaz AAC app with the lite version and a 7-day promotional subscription period to the symbols and voices which can be used for decision making options. Learn more about the full version at Avaz Support. Dynavox Compass (try for 30 days or full version for ASHA Certified Professionals)- A full version for professionals with weekly resource emails with videos and tips to help learn the full potential of the app. Other long standing free and lite versions: 133 Free or Lite Versions of AAC Apps
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: communication, lite
We love so many blogs, websites, and videos. Parents and professionals take their own time and effort (and often money) to share AAC strategies that have worked for them and their children and students. Here are just a few great ones that we use often when working with graduate students and other professionals to help demonstrate a variety of ways AAC strategies make a difference. Enjoy! Beach Trip (and on the Road) by Dana Nieder at Uncommon Sense Helping an AAC User Learn New Vocabulary by Deanne Shoyer at Small but Kinda Mighty AAC Tips at Kreeds World Complex Needs and Switches: It Could Be You! by Ian Bean at SENICT- Special Education Needs ICS How AAC and Assistive Tech Make Classrooms Better for All by Paula Kluth at Paula Kluth Toward Inclusive Classrooms and Communities
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: teaching strategies
Last week, we were delighted to have a post by Dr. Joan Murphy about a research-based approach called Talking Mats. In this post, we share a video of the implementation of this concept with Charlie, a preschooler who has considerable oral language but nonetheless benefits from making language visible. Take a look. Direct Link to Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgPBHxxLerA
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Joan Murphy, Talking Mats
Welcome to Teach Me Tuesday, featuring the ComLink from FRS-Solutions. The ComLink has different models and they can run two kinds of communication software, The Grid 2 (Standard) and Viking Communicator (Alternative). There are videos and resources for both models in this post. ComLink LT3G Quick Start Guide ComLink ST3G Quick Start Guide ComLink 3G Quick Start Guide Where to Go For Help ComLink Ultra Quick Start Guide Where to Go For Help If you know of any other helpful training resources, please let us know via the comments so that all can benefit.
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: ComLink, Teach Me Tuesday, The Grid 2
Sunday: Video of the Week – Video Demonstrations for Teaching New Concepts and PCS Monday: How We Teach Tuesday: Let’s Go Outside! Five PrAACtical Ideas Wednesday: Talking Mats: A PrAACtical Tool Thursday: AACtual Therapy: PECS to iPad with Jason Butcher Friday: You Might be an AAC Therapist If…
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
You peruse the dollar store muttering “What could I do with this?” You squeal in delight when Amazon puts personal laminators on deep discount. You find yourself wanting to point to symbols when you talk to friends and family. You buy velcro if you see a good deal, even if you don’t need it. You’ve seriously considered making a voodoo doll in the image of the insurance person who issued the most recent denial of coverage. You have an Allen wrench at the bottom of your purse. You have an un-natural fondness for clip art and Creative Commons. You’d rather sit in a great conference presentation than go to see the latest movie. You can think of a dozen ways to make page fluffers. You’re so ‘over’ goals for making eye contact. You’ve made friends with the guy who cuts Lexan at the home supply shop. You think of the... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AAC Therapist
We are pleased to share a guest post by SLP Jason Butcher, who serves students at Grant County Middle School. Jason has been working with middle and high school students for the past 14 years. He earned his Master’s in Communication Disorders from the University of Kentucky in 1999. He admits that he came to do AAC more out of necessity than interest due to serving a huge variety and degree of speech/language impairments on his caseload. He has always enjoyed working with technology and is patient when fixing problems, qualities that he thinks have served him well when hitting the inevitable roadblocks that come with working in the area of AAC. In this post, Jason shares some candid thoughts on the transition from PECS to an iPad for a student with whom he works. It was nearing the end of September when I began to fear that Ms. Ruff, a teacher... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AACtual therapy, ASD, requesting, SpeakAll
We’ve shared about Talking Mats in a video and on our Facebook page, but we needed to call on the experts to go into more detail about this approach. Thankfully, the co-directors of this project, Dr. Joan Murphy and Lois Cameron, were willing to collaborate. in this post, Dr. Murphy shares her knowledge with us. Hope you enjoy learning about the implementation of Talking Mats as much as we did. What is Talking Mats? Talking Mats is an innovative, award-winning communication tool which is based on extensive research and designed by Speech and Language Therapists in Scotland. Our vision is to improve the lives of people with communication difficulties by increasing their capacity to express their views about things that matter to them. Talking Mats is an interactive resource that uses three sets of picture symbols – top scale, topics and options and a space on which to display them.... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Dr. Joan Murphy, Scotland, Talking Mats
It’s spring where we live and that means that many of our prAACtical friends are itching to get outdoors. Whether we’re going for a walk, checking out a park, and lingering on the playground there are plenty of activities that provide a good excuse for some AAC practice that’s functional and fun. Here are a few ideas for things to model (using aided language input, if you’re with a beginning communicators) and elicit. Keep in mind that some AAC learners will benefit from additional support to help them generalize skills used well in therapy rooms and classrooms to the great outdoors. Where should we go? Making choices and giving directions for specific locations using core and fringe words (e.g., go there, on swings, under tree) How should we move? Good opportunity to to practice verbs and descriptors (e.g., go, jump, walk, fast, slow, big, little). Practice or introduce higher level... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: outside