30 Ways to Celebrate Autism Awareness Month

April 1, 2012 by - 3 Comments


30 Ways to Celebrate Autism Awareness Month

Please check out the most recent set of suggestions here. We love getting EVERYONE  involved in Autism Awareness Month.  We like to take a goal focused approach to our Autism Awareness Month activities by choosing projects that facilitate positive attitudes &  discussions.  We pass out materials, have contests, go to events, do extra talks, and try and engage EVERYONE we know and even some we do not know.  We do a lot of shopping (with small amount of money, but we have to EAT and accessorize).  Our families, pets, friends, and students all participate.  It is a month filled with purposeful fun.  Here are some of the things we will be doing. Please share any activities or projects that you know about.           Bake, share, & eat some desserts. Need inspiration?.. try these Puzzle Piece Rice Crispy Treats  Join the webinar  Autism Explosion by Dr. Coplan will be shown... [Read More...]

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Do you know: Visuals Work!

March 29, 2012 by - Leave your thoughts


Do You KNow- Visuals Work?

Visuals Work– We just love the name of this app developer company.  They describe themselves as providing visual learning strategies for the autism and related communities. We know that visuals work but are so glad that the word continues to spread.  We hope soon everyone knows and then makes the decision to incorporate visual language into the education of children and students with communication difficulties.   Visuals Work develop great e-book apps (iOS format/iTunes) that incorporate information about different holiday themes.  The apps usually teach new vocabulary, prepositions, and questions within a commenting format.  The apps are usually customizable so that the story can work for any age.  Most of Visuals Work apps usually are free or very low cost (.99 cents). Well, they have done it again. They just released Easter with Bunny, Rabbit, and Me (eBook/App).  It’s Available Free through iTunes! This Easter story was created by Lorrie Ann... [Read More...]

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5 References to Support the Use of AAC

March 28, 2012 by - 1 Comment


5 References to Support the Use of AAC

When I took my daughter to a specialist awhile back, she recommended a treatment that was a bit extreme. Her verbal explanation for the expensive and involved treatment made sense, but I still wasn’t convinced and asked it there was something we could read that explained the scientific underpinnings of the approach. She disappeared for a moment and came back with a task force report on the treatment that reviewed literature on this approach. Reading through it and seeing the studies, critiques, and responses helped us make an informed decision. – Chances are, many of you have had similar experiences. Trust in our healthcare professionals is critical, but when it comes  to big decisions, we want to know the science that stands behind the options. – Making the decision to use AAC is a huge one for all of us, but families are especially burdened with its weightiness. Not only... [Read More...]

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Random Apps of Kindness- Act Quickly

March 25, 2012 by - Leave your thoughts


Random Apps of Kindness

This is a great time to check out MeeGenius. They are celebrating Springtime by offering a FREE book. All you have to do is them on Facebook for a free coupon code.  We spoke about how great Meegenius was awhile back and have been using it frequently since then.  We read e-books from MeeGenius  in small groups on our iPad as well as have the children read MeeGenius e-books during individual structured reading time on the computer or with a mobile device.  We loved that Free Technology for Teachers mentioned Meegenius this Saturday March 24th.    One of the reasons we love MeeGenius is because of the automatic highlighting technology  that goes with the book narration.   So if you haven’t done it yet, download MeeGenius and  the classic The Three Billy Goats Gruff and start reading.  

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PrAACtical Mini-Schedules

March 24, 2012 by - Leave your thoughts


Mini Schedules

We were looking for some specific resources for a distant colleague. We wanted to get as much good information as possible because this colleague was not in our field but in another department that has direct impact over work.  We do not necessarily see ‘eye to eye’ on many issues so we thought it might be helpful to our working relationship.   In the process, a young man and his family would get some much-needed support.  In our exploration, we found some great new videos about schedules- our topic of the month.    We found several very prAACtical videos by the Watson Institute about  mini schedules. We have found mini schedules to be very helpful for activities of daily living, community activities, leisure time activities and even in special event activities.  We love that the Watson Institute put these on you -tube for everyone to learn from. They even have a you-tube video... [Read More...]

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Emergencies and Resources to Help

March 19, 2012 by - Leave your thoughts


Emergencies and Resources to Help

It has been a really long weekend.  A very close relative had a significant medical emergency this week.  The emergency involved intubation, an air ambulance (that is helicopter), and many many procedures.   With the intubation, there was a temporary loss of speech which made communication difficult to say the least.  This was a time that the patient (my relative) needed communication most, yet there were multiple barriers to effective communication (no speech sounds, tubes in the mouth obscuring lip movement, noise, etc..).  Although the hospital staff was amazingly wonderful, communication was not their priority.  Lucky, for us, I just happened to have some AAC apps on my iPhone.  At one point, the AAC app was literally a lifesaver (thanks so much to Verbally for providing  an easy way to communicate complex questions, reminders, and comments). As I was waiting around for many hours, texting Carole, we started thinking about... [Read More...]

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5 Tips to Make AAC Assessments Run Smoothly

March 17, 2012 by - Leave your thoughts


5 Tips to Make AAC Assessments Run Smoothly

No one likes to be tested, least of all people with communication difficulties who don’t have the tools to express their anxiety or discomfort in the ways they would like to. Some of the people we evaluated had real issues with this and so we’ve experimented with ways to make the testing less stressful and more productive. Here are some of the strategies that we found to be most successful. – 1. Work with the team to establish Fair Testing Practices for the person you’ll be evaluating. Our chapter on ‘Language Assessment for Students Who Use AAC’ describes this in more detail, but essentially it involves writing a ‘rule book’ for how to test this person. It might specify how long the test session can/should be, how to set up the situation so the person can respond, and what other supports are needed so that we are testing the person’s... [Read More...]

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5 Resources for AAC Data Collection

March 15, 2012 by - 1 Comment


5 Resources for AAC Data Collection

  We’re big fans of AAC devices and apps that help with data collection. When used with appropriate attention to confidentiality issues (e.g., client consent, etc.) they can help SLPs gather data on how language is used under real-world conditions. When the data are interpreted skillfully, these are wonderful clinical resources that can help us adjust our intervention plans to accelerate learning. – Many times, however, we’re also looking for data collection tools that are separate from the AAC tool itself. – Here are some ideas for forms and tools for collecting data that help us plan better intervention. – 1. The book How Do You Know It?  How Can You Show It? Making Assistive Technology Decisions (Reed, Bowser, & Korsten, 2002) has a good overview of concepts in data collection in AT and helpful forms. You can get a PDF of that book here. 2. The blog Teaching Learners... [Read More...]

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HijAACked! AAC & Anti-Bullying with Stand Tall, Mary Lou Melon!

March 14, 2012 by - Leave your thoughts


HijAACked! AAC & Anti-Bullying with Stand Tall, Mary Lou Melon!

Stand Tall, Mary Lou Melon by Patty Lovell is a fun book that we like reading online* with kids who use AAC. Many schools have anti-bullying campaigns and read this book and others as part of their efforts to help children recognize and respond appropriately to unkind words and deeds. There are a lot of great resources for reading this book on sites like this one intended for use in general education classrooms. We decided it was time to HijAACk Mary Lou and share some ideas for using this wonderful story to build AAC and language skills. – 1. Beginning communicators could certainly contribute to the ‘read aloud’ portion of the activity with repeated lines, like “So she did.” Recording that into a single message device, an SGD, or an AAC app gives our student a terrific way to be actively engaged. 2. Students who can discriminate between two options can... [Read More...]

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Hearing the Knock

March 13, 2012 by - Leave your thoughts


Hearing the Knock

Wishes are wonderful things, seducing us with their promise and possibility. So with the luck o’ the Irish in mind, we’re sending forth a wish for something intangible, the big O: Opportunity. — Our AAC wish list for this month is all about opportunities. Opportunity. It has such a nice ring to it. Our parents and teachers tried to prepare us to recognize opportunity, and promised us that it would come knocking. – But sometimes the knock of AAC opportunity is drowned out by other things. Sometimes we just don’t hear it. We may miss the opportunity to teach a new clinician how to expand the language of a teenager learning to use a speech generating device. We may miss the chance to create the teachable moment for a child just learning to use AAC to make a comment. We might miss the opportunity to encourage a parent to give... [Read More...]

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