March 22, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
It’s prAACtically spring in much of North America! To all of our friends who suffered through a c-r-a-z-y winter: You made it!! Here’s what we’ve been up to. Sunday: Video of the Week – A Right to Communicate Monday: Strategy of the Month – Building Communication Skills During Storybook Reading Tuesday: Teach Me Tuesday – Predictable App Wednesday: On Communication and Behavior – Back to Basics Thursday: AACtual Therapy with Jeanne Tuthill – An AAC Assessment Activity Friday: 5 Resources for Creating AAC and Visual Support Materials
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
March 21, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
We are fortunate to be prAACticing at a time when there are so many options for creating visual supports and AAC materials. From sophisticated to simple From costly to free From PCS to SmartySymbols and more From one-time purchase to ongoing subscription From computer to mobile device There is a way for prAACtically anyone to make AAC materials, picture schedules, and other visual supports. Here are some of the products we use. Boardmaker Custom Boards SymPrint LessonPix ConnectAbility Visuals Engine
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Boardmaker, ConnectAbility, Custom Boards, LessonPix, SymPrint, visual supports
March 20, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
We’re so excited to introduce a new AACtual therapist, Jeanne Tuthill. Jeanne has been an SLP for over 15 years and has specialized in AAC for the past 6 years. As an AT specialist for the Collaborative Center for Assistive Technology and Training (CCATT) in Northampton, Massachusetts, Jeanne evaluates and provides consultation services for K-12 students in schools throughout Western Massachusetts. In addition, she provides workshops and professional development training in that region. Since 2012, Jeanne has served as an adjunct faculty member for the Assistive Technology Graduate Program at Simmons College. She has also presented at a number of regional and national conferences. You can see Jeanne here with her long-time student Lauren Suprenant, who is using a Step-by-Step Communicator, to share information about how she communicates with others (introduction strategy). Jeanne shares a little bit about her work and then discusses an activity that is used in their AAC... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: assessment, CCATT, interview, Jeanne Tuthill
March 19, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
The other day we heard from an SLP who was supporting a child with significant communication difficulties. She contacted us because the team had hit a snag in their communication supports for this student. The student was successfully able to communicate with PECS but rarely did so. Instead, she used her body and challenging behavior to express herself most of the time. “Why does she hit when she can use her PECS book to tell us what she wants?” We’re not any more clairvoyant than you are, but we certainly had some ideas about this. Functional Communication Teaching can be very effective in helping people reduce their use of challenging behaviors in favor of more socially accepted means of communication. BUT, there are some of the basic principles that are have to be attended to when designing and implementing a set of behaviors that will replace the challenging behavior. This... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Challenging Behavior, FCT, functional communication teaching, Pat Mirenda
March 18, 2014
by Robin Parker -
Predictable by Therapy Box Apps Learn about the Predictable AAC app. It is a text-to-speech application for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. There is an easy to use word prediction system and also switch access. There are even customizable AAC functions with social media integration. Predictable is available for both iOS and Android platforms. User’s Guide Predictable Update- 3.3 Videos– Introduction to Predictable, Pairing Therapy Box Switch Box to iDevice, Voices in Predictable, A Guide to iOS7 Switch Access Predictable for Android by TBox Switch Guide Voice Output Troubleshooting for Predictable Recorded Webinars on Predictable User Stories Where To Go for Help: info@tboxapps.com
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AAC app, Predictable by Tbox Apps
March 17, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
In this post, we continue to explore strategies for advancing the literacy experiences of people who use AAC. Today, we’ll look at a strategy used in the research of Drs. Cathy Binger and Jennifer Kent-Walsh. What is a little different about this strategy is that it uses literacy experiences, specifically storybook reading, to build communication skills. One component of their research focuses on an interactive reading strategy called RAAP: Read, Ask, Answer, Prompt. There is lots to love about this approach, but one of our favorite things is that is makes heavy use of aided language input, an intervention strategy that is critical for partners of beginning communicators to use. You can read more about aided language input and see videos here. It also gets partners using language expansions and extensions, an intervention strategy that is effective for communicators at many levels of proficiency. Finally, we appreciate the frequent use of... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: aided language input, Cathy Binger, expansion, extensions, Jennifer Kent-Walsh, literacy, pause, RAA, RAAP, reading
March 15, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
We’re still adjusting to Daylight Savings Time (morning comes too soon!) but managed to rub the sleep from our eyes and have a prAACtical week. Hope you did, too! Sunday: Video of the Week – An ABA Perspective on AAC for Students with Autism Monday: Strategy of the Month – More Robust Literacy Instruction for People who Use AAC Tuesday: Research Tuesday – Literacy Instruction for People with Significant Disabilities Wednesday: Watch It Wednesday – Learn More About iOS 7 with Spectronics Thursday: Try This – A PrAACtical Idea for Aided Language Input Friday: Before We Read – Using Predictions for PrAACtical Learning
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
March 14, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
This month, we’re focusing on literacy learning for our Monday posts on Strategy of the Month. In honor of that topic, here’s a quick tip for adding a bit of interaction to book reading. This tip works for books you’ve never read before, or perhaps haven’t read in a really long time. Take a few minutes before the reading begins to predict what the book will be about. We’ll get to the ‘How To’ part in a minute, but first, here’s why we think this is a prAACtical idea. It gets AAC learners thinking about something more than requesting, and we know you are just as passionate about that as we are. It helps the AAC learner activate their background knowledge, something that (we’ve noticed) many of them don’t do automatically. That doesn’t mean that they aren’t capable of it, of course, but it does mean they need practice and... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: literacy, predictions, reading, writing
March 13, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
At the ATIA 2014 conference in January, it was exciting to hear about the updates on how core vocabulary is being addressed in the alternate assessment project for Dynamic Learning Maps. Allison Dennis, Dr. Karen Erickson, and Dr. Penny Hatch, of the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies, shared a lot of interesting information, as you can see from their handout. One of my favorite ‘take-aways,’ though, was a suggestion by Karen Erickson regarding the importance of aided language input for students with significant disabilities. We’ve written about aided language input so often that you may be tired of hearing it, but bear with us because her suggestion was pure genius. Ready? Here it is: List aided language input as an accommodation in the IEP. Why List Aided Language Input as an IEP Accommodation? It is a fundamental strategy for any beginning learner of AAC. It is rarely implemented... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: aided language input, ATIA 2014, Karen Erickson
March 12, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
The amazing team at Spectronics has been presenting a terrific set of workshops on iPads for education and special needs. In this week’s featured video, Katie Lyons gives a thorough overview of the iPad and iOS 7. While it is great for people just getting started, there are enough handy tips to make it useful to experienced iPad users, too. We already shared it with a few families and colleagues and they’ve given it rave reviews. At the end of the video, Katie references a Spectronics Blog article by Charlene Cullen on switch use in iOS 7. You can get to that article here. Enjoy!
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: iOS, iPad, Katie Lyon, Spectronics