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
March 11, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
We all remember certain ‘firsts’ – your first bike, your first plane ride, your first car. One of my memorable ‘firsts’ is the first book I was ever given that was ‘just for me.’ I have fond memories of lazy summer afternoons with The Wishing Well, one of the Alice and Jerry basal readers. I may have broadened my library since that was given to me for my 4th birthday, but it still sits on my shelf and just paging through it brings back memories of being transported to another world. We can hardly imagine what life would be like without books. Reading brings us more than information. It allows us to explore, escape, relax, and dream. What must it be like to be deprived of the chance to learn and enjoy the printed word? Sadly, that is the reality for too many children and adults with AAC needs. In... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: literacy, Research Tuesday
March 8, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
Hope you had an AAC-filled week! Here are some posts you might have missed. Sunday: Video of the Week – Supporting Early Writers Monday: Strategy of the Month – Robust Literacy Instruction for People Who Use AAC Tuesday: Teach Me Tuesday – NOVA Chat Wednesday: 5 Reasons to Put AAC Training for Parents and Staff in the IEP Thursday: AACtual Therapy with Deanna Wagner – Why Cook When You Can’t Eat? Friday: Linguistically-robust AAC Systems
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
March 7, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
At the NCACA conference last month, a few of us were talking about what it means to have an AAC device or app with a strong language system, something Gail Van Tatenhove and I wrote about a few years ago in this book. Linguistically-robust language systems are those that will allow someone to construct grammatically correct utterances. Think of the different SGDs or AAC apps that you worked with this week. If you could use them to recreate the last 30 minutes of ‘talk time’ that you had without spelling out too many of the words, chances are pretty good that it is a linguistically-robust system. That led to us asking ourselves and others a question. “What do you look for in terms of a language system when you’re considering SGDs or AAC apps for a learner who has the potential to (eventually) construct grammatically correct utterances?” Keep in mind... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: generative language, SGD