April 18, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
We’re back again with another AACtual Therapy post from SLP Shareka Bentham. We love the way she creates ‘buy in’ with kids, families, and teachers with this terrific activity. Everyone who knows me knows that I can get a little bit crazy sometimes, so when I went around school informing the teachers that we were going to be doing a school-wide Harlem Shake, no one was surprised. The thing is, my little ones, especially the school aged children are all very aware of the latest trends in popular culture (I have a little one that will only use his Big Mack to request Adele). Whether they are verbal or nonverbal, they can show you all the latest moves. So we just had to do Harlem shake. Well, a modified version… The main focus of the activity was making using AAC to make choices for the dress-up part of the activity.... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AACtual therapy, communication book, Harlem Shake, Shareka Bentham
April 17, 2013
by Robin Parker -
In honor of National Poetry Writing Month, we bring you a special poem. We have known the author, White Flower for many years. She is a 62-year-old woman with cerebral palsy who uses AAC to communicate. She continually inspires others through her art. She uses assistive technology to paint, write, and engage in her newest art form, photography. She has worked and lived independently for the past 11 years. She has graciously given us permission to reprint this amazingly beautiful poem from her book, Forever My Love, A Book of Poetry. Her words paint an exquisite picture….. Speak to Me With Your Eyes, My Love Speak to me with your eyes. Speak to me with your eyes, my friend. Let your eyes get into my soul. Then we can both go to a land that’s free, And we move as the wings of a butterfly. With the clouds as our... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: National Poetry Writing Month
April 16, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
Although we are deeply invested in AAC systems that have a robust set of core language, that doesn’t mean we insist that our clients generate sentences word-by-word all the time. There are lots of good reasons for pre-storing longer messages. Here are some of them. Emergency messages: When we’re communicating about things like spasms, seizures, pain, medication, fear, and danger, time is of the essence. The quicker, the better. Examples: “My asthma is kicking up. Get my puffer, please.” “I’m having a back spasm. Take me out of my chair.” “I think my sugar is off. Can you do a finger prick to check my levels?” “I’m scared. Can you help me?” Partner instructions and communication transaction messages: Sometimes we communicate about communicating. In AAC, it’s not uncommon for someone to set the stage for how the interaction will proceed or provide their partner with specific directions. When communicating to... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: pre-stored messages, vocabulary, vocabulary selection
April 15, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
Most American schools are implementing some form of a service delivery model called Response to Intervention (RTI). In this post, we bring you an article by Drs. Sandy Grether and Linda Sickman on how the tiered system of supports in RTI can be applied to students with AAC needs. They discuss the role of the SLP and explain best practices in supporting AAC learners using this approach. Their article was part of a special issue entitled ‘AAC from Preschool to High School: Building Success with Evidence-Based Interventions,’ guest edited by Karen Fallon. The online version, available here, is hosted at the University of New Hampshire. Grether, S.M, & Sickman, L.S. (2008). AAC and RTI: Building classroom-based strategies for every child in the classroom. Seminars in Speech and Language, 29, 155-164.
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: education, Linda Sickman, response to intervention, RTI, Sandra Grether, service delivery
April 12, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
Take a look at these pictures and try to guess their meanings. Now do it again with these symbols. One more time with the symbols below. We’re not gamblers by nature, but if we had to bet we’d say that you had a pretty easy time guessing the first two rows (backpack, banana, bathroom; sleep, wash, eat) and struggled with the last row (know, she, was/were). That presents a bit of a problem, actually, because it’s that last hard-to-guess row that contains important core vocabulary. And these kinds of core words are the ones we need to use frequently during the day. Looks like we have a bit of a dilemma: The symbols that are least transparent are important ones to teach. We often hear SLPs say that they want concrete symbols for some of their clients with AAC needs. We can certainly make that happen for some... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: abstract, core language, core vocabulary, semantics, symbols
April 11, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
Today, we’re happy to introduce you to another AACtual Therapist, Jamie Cooley, the SLP for Belpre City Schools (belpre.k12.oh.us), located in Belpre, OH. She is a graduate of Ohio University (B.S. ’09, M.A. ’11) and currently resides in Athens, OH. Jamie did work at Ohio University focusing on AAC and children with autism under the instruction of Dr. John McCarthy and Dr. Joann Benigno. She has worked for Belpre City Schools for two years with students in grades K-12. In this post, Jamie uses a case study approach to share a lesson using Play Dough. Background Emma is a third grade student. She was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, and her cognitive and communication skills are significantly below age-norms. She receives most of her academic instruction in a resource room. Communicatively, Emma repeats many words and phrases, and combines up to two words on her own. This is... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AACtual therapy, case study, Jamie Cooley, Play Doh, play dough
April 10, 2013
by Robin Parker -
On-line education has been a huge part of our professional development. With shrinking travel budgets and various time constraints, we love to make use of a variety of on-line learning formats. We recently were lucky enough to come across myInfinitec. Infinitec stands for infinite potential through technology. Infinitec’s goal is to advance independence and promote inclusive opportunities for children and adults through technology. Through myinfinitec, We found a free webinar that we just had to attend. That webinar was: Communication Circles: With A Little Help From My Friends by Dr. Caroline Musselwhite. A huge thanks to Jennifer T. Skalitzky from myinfinitec for facilitating the webinar and the information in this post. Dr. Musselwhite has generously taken the time and effort to summarize the key features of Communication Circles and to make the handouts available. So if you have interest in helping AAC users to communicate naturally, in a variety of... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Communication Circles
April 9, 2013
by Robin Parker -
Strategy of The Month Narrative Skills for People with AAC Needs PrAACtical AAC & Personal Narratives Narrative Assessment & People Who Use AAC Let Me Tell You Something: Narratives for the Beginning Communicator Helping People with AAC Needs Develop Personal Narratives PrAACtical Thinking PrAACtical Guessing: 5 APPs for Interactive Inferencing Another Look at Vocabulary Instruction in AAC Magic Moments in Building Vocabulary with ‘Its Cool to be Clever’ It’s PrAACtically Saint Patrick’s Day 28 Posts You May Have Missed in February 10 AAC Things To Do for PrAACtically Free in 10 Minutes of Less Daylight Savings Time & PrAACtical Behavior Another Look At Language Facilitation Strategies to Make AAC Learning Effective Literacy, AT, & Students with Significant Disabilities Watch This: Planning with Strategies Worth Repeating: Big Ideas in Teaching AAC Vocabulary PrAACtical Passover & Easter Supports 30 Things to do During Autism Awareness Month A Beautiful Family, But 1 Question... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AAC Therapy, Autism Awareness Month, Narrative Skills, Passover Easter Visual Supports, World Book Day
April 8, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
New to teaching core vocabulary in AAC? On board with the concept? Know that it’s important but find it a little intimidating to teach? Welcome to the club! Actually, it’s quite a big club but you wouldn’t know it because lots of members are still closeted. That’s okay – no one here is going to ‘out’ you. But if you want to move forward in your AAC teaching journey, here are some things to try. Breathe and forgive yourself: It’s easy to feel like everyone else knows this but you. Not true. We tend to beat ourselves up for not being out ahead of the curve, but you know what? It’s not worth it. We’re all a work in progress, so let it go and just start where you are. As one of our favorite eminent scholars** has repeatedly said, “When you know better, you do better.” Get your own... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: core language, core vocabulary, five things, vocabulary instruction
April 5, 2013
by Robin Parker -
Here is our most recent update of free and lite versions of AAC apps for iOS and Android platform devices + a variety of resources related to AAC app selection. We strongly continue to advocate for a systematic process for AAC app selection. We recommend AAC app decision making in the context of a feature match process that gives appropriate attention to the full range of AAC options. Tools to Use In Making Decisions About AAC Apps Feature match form developed by Jessica Gosnell at Boston Children’s Hospital Feature match checklist created by Scott Marfilius and Kelly Fonner Our supplemental rubric covering language and communication features, RELAAACs Places to Go to Find AAC Apps and Reviews Comprehensive AAC app list for iPhone and iPad by Jane Farrall AAC Tech Connect’s Apps Assistant OCALI’s listing of apps for individuals with ASD Tech in Special Education Aidis Trust Communication App Reviews Training... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AAC Apps. AAC teaching strategies