November 7, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
Whether we’re writing recommendations following an evaluation, contributing to an IEP, updating a Plan of Care, talking to a family member, or just planning therapy, goals are something that most SLPs think about deeply and often. We’ve recently updated our Goals That Matter document and thought it would be a good time to share that here. We would love to add to this, so please get in touch with any ideas that you have. You can access the document via the image below or in our AAC eToolbox.
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: download, goals
November 6, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
We’ve been having a great time supporting beginning communicators and gently modeling how they can be involved in literacy learning activities. In this post, we share a super simple activity to build alphabet knowledge and letter-sound correspondence. It has worked well (or fairly well) for beginning communicators who: Are just learning to establish cause-effect relationships Have little interest in existing classroom alphabet activities Are verbal, but reluctantly Are reluctant participants in group activities and seem to prefer being alone Have no formal AAC system, but would benefit from one Treat books and other printed materials as objects to spin, rip, or throw Have not been given the opportunity to participate in traditional literacy instruction. We love it because: It is is quick and easy. It requires almost no advance planning other than having a camera (or one on your phone/mobile device) Other people in the classroom notice us doing real... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: literacy
November 5, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
This week in Teach Me Tuesday we’re learning more about Accent from Prentke Romich Company (PRC). Here are the learning resources we’ll be using. Easy Start Manual NuVoice Software Manual Accent 700 Easy Start Manual Accent 700 Hardware Manual Accent 700-SB Quick Start Manual Accent 700-SB Hardware Manual Accent 1000 Hardware Manual Accent 1200 Hardware Manual Download Demo Software Where to Go for Help and Accent Knowledge Base for Various Models: 1200, 1000, & 700 Models If you know of other applicable resources, please add them in a comment below. See you next time!
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Accent, SGD, Teach Me Tuesday
November 4, 2013
by Robin Parker -
Strategy of the Month Building Participation Building Participation with Older Learners Classroom Participation Community Participation PrAACtical Thinking Second Annual AAC Awareness Month Celebration! 5 Fun AAC Things to do to Get Ready for Halloween 30 Posts You May Have Missed in September Celebrate AAC Awareness Month with PrAACtical Giveaways Another PrAACtical Celebration How Can we Make ‘Clients’ ‘like’ Using their AAC ? 6 Things to Learn from Talking AAC Communicative Competence in AAC Throwback Thursday Core Word Round Up Celebrating AAC Awareness Month 2013 Halloween Recipes for Cooking AAC Style Fast FAACt- What 24 Cents Will Buy Perception & Presuming Competence 5 Ways to Promote Consistent AAC Use What Went Well How I Do It Implementing AIded Language Input with Alicia Garcia 5 AAC Things I Wish I Had Known with Deanne Shoyer Teach Me Tuesdays Alexicom AAC Proloquo2Go Video of the Week Everyone Communicates- Advocacy & Inclusion Developing Communicative Competence... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AAC Awareness Month, participation
November 1, 2013
by Robin Parker -
Language learning involves talking about events in the past, present, and future. Since Halloween is over, it is a perfect opportunity to help AAC users talk about past events. Here are 5 tips for getting started with ALL learners. Use a weekly or monthly (calendar) schedule to ‘remember’ Halloween or if you are sticking to core words to remember the “great day” or “bad day” depending upon the experience. Use photos of the Halloween festivities to discuss what happened, what everyone did, and you could even go for the best and/or worst part of the day. Use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast Halloween experiences. This can be done with comparing 2 people or 2 groups. For some learners, you can use images to put Halloween things that everyone saw or did while others you will need text only. Then, a discussion of what each student/group did that... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Language Learning, past events
October 31, 2013
by Robin Parker -
We are so pleased to have connected with Deanne Shoyer from Small But Kinda Mighty and even happier that she is our guest blogger today. Deanne is a mom of twin boys who both are on the autism spectrum. Deanne successfully fundraised to buy iPads for her boys and has been active for more than 3 years in social media and in the special needs app community. She has written about many things but often focuses on implementing AAC in a very PrAACtical way. Please feel free to share this very important post as she highlights AAC, what she has learned, and how it may help others. by Deanne Shoyer at Small But Kinda Mighty (original post at Small But Kinda Mighty) In the title of this post I’ve linked autism and AAC for a specific reason. A lot of the points here are equally applicable to people who have a... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AAC Resources, Deanne Shoyer, myths
October 30, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
We love writing posts about AAC topics, but we also love hearing about the AAC experiences of SLPs, both experienced and new to the field. In honor of AAC Awareness Month, we thought it would be fun to reach out to you and find out what is happening in your part of the world. Today, we’re asking our PrAACtical AAC friends to comment below to tell us about a positive AAC-related experience that you’ve had recently. It could be learning about a new SGD, an experience with a client, a webinar you attended, working with a family or colleague, of anything else related to AAC. We’re calling it ‘What Went Well.’ We’d love it if you took a moment or two to share your WWW news below.
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
October 29, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
Work with someone who uses AAC but not as consistently as you would like? Here are some thoughts on how to make an impact in that area. 1. Write goals that help you fight this battle. E.g., Janie will use her AAC system to ask for help at least once per activity; Jimmy will use his AAC system to answer 2-3 curriculum-related questions in each class period; Given her AAC system, Jenny will use the correct morphological endings for plurals and past tense at the beginning or ending of each group activity. 2. Be an AAC cheerleader. In most settings, it is the adult who sets the tone for how communication will proceed. If it isn’t important to US, then it will never be important to the AAC learners. So, we try our best to use AAC every time we see the learner. It takes some work to build... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: consistency, intervention, support
October 28, 2013
by Robin Parker -
A Few Great Posts From Around the Web to Illustrate This: His Body Does His Feelings by A Diary of A Mom We Knew She Understood but Now We Know She Minds by Living with Rett Syndrome Yellow- Living with Rett Syndrome Life with Lief: We are Different But Same by Sunshine Bodey Perception Drives Everything – Uncommon Sense Share your stories of perception and competence.
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: presume competence
October 25, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
Here in the US, debates about health care funding are ongoing. It’s a bit baffling that healthcare is considered to be a commodity rather than a right, but that’s a story for another venue. What we want to address here is the cost of AAC to insurers. Most people assume that insurance companies don’t cover AAC because it is enormously expensive to do so and would raise the costs of the premiums substantially. Not so, according to Lew Golinker, of AAC Funding Help. He cites the work of a highly-respected actuarial firm, and reported the following: “On September 19, 2006, Milliman, Inc., one of the nation’s most respected health actuary consulting firms reported that the cost of covering SGDs in a typical commercial insurance policy or health benefits plan was at most 2 cents per member per month or 24 cents per member per year.” Let’s say that again: 24... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: funding, insurance, Lew Golinker