October 27, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. Here are some posts that may be of interest. Monday – TELL ME About It: AAC Learning with I Went Walking Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Social Closeness in AAC Intervention Thursday – PrAACtical Research: Effects of Parent Instruction on SGD Use ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Looking for a few more posts to browse? We’ve got a few suggestions for you. PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: The Family Book Communication Boards: Colorful Considerations AACtual Therapy: Building Language and Emergent Literacy Skills with ‘Do You Wear Diapers?’ How We Do It: Using Language Boards to Support AAC Use By Nerissa Hall and Hillary Jellison “I Made a Communication Board. Now What?”
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: communication boards, parent training, reading, research
October 24, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
As we all know, parents of kids with complex communication needs play a critical role in their children’s learning of communication, language, and AAC. Today, our guest authors describe an important study that can help us support these families with effective training, practice, and coaching. Jill Senner, Kathy Post, and Matthew Baud describe the study they did on AAC parent training and explain the outcomes. Enjoy! :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: In 2018, we wrote about the importance of evidence-based practice in ensuring a high standard of care for our clients and patients. Reading AAC-related journal articles is a great way to both continue developing clinical expertise and stay informed about best research evidence. It can be quite time consuming for busy professionals to regularly read journal articles and keep up with the AAC literature so we’ve been invited back to share a summary of our latest publication with PrAACtical AAC readers. The article... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AAC partner training, parent training
October 21, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Jeanna Antrim and Maggie Judson are back with another installment of their series on implementing TELL ME in preschool classrooms. Each month, they share their tips and suggestions for helping classroom teams target core vocabulary with a different book. Maggie and Jeanna are speech-language pathologists who work in the Assistive Technology Department for the Belleville Area Special Services Cooperative (BASSC) in central Illinois. They are AT/AAC facilitators and provide evaluations, direct therapy, consultations, and trainings. In today’s post, Jeanna and Maggie share their ideas and experiences in target a set of core words with activities that focus on the book, I Went Walking. Looking for the other posts in this series? TELL ME About It: AAC Literacy Kits Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: TELL ME About It: AAC Learning with I Went Walking TELL ME About Reading: The second book in the TELL ME program (Teaching Early... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: preschool, TELL ME
October 20, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends! Here are a few posts that you may have missed in your busy week. Monday – Thoughts on Practice in AAC Instruction Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Natasha’s Voice Thursday – Magic Moments with a Crafty Flashlight Friday – Sharing Your AAC Experiences ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Also, if you are interested in upping your game on AAC and language instruction, consider joining me in January for a full-day workshop with AAC pioneer Gail Van Tatenhove and AAC language researcher Gloria Soto. You can get more information on Beyond AAC Modeling: Effective Language Instruction for AAC Learners here. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: If you have a little bit more time, these posts from the archives may be of interest. The Faces of AAC: Gretchen and Zach The Faces of AAC: Justyna & Wictoria The Faces of AAC: Dianna & Brian The Faces of AAC: Zainab Omar... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
October 18, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Whether you are a highly experienced AAC professional or a relative newcomer to the field, you’re invited to share your perspective. It’s been several years since the Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) first surveyed SLPs to find out about their AAC preparation and experiences. You can take a look at the White Paper that summarizes the results of that survey here. In this current survey, ATIA is expanding its reach and is looking for input from parents, AAC users, paraprofessionals, and professionals from a range of disciplines and backgrounds. Created with the input of a panel of AAC and AT specialists, this new survey is designed to gather information about the training, advocacy, and technology needs of AAC stakeholders. Please take a few moments to provide your feedback. You can access the survey here or by clicking on the graphic below. The survey is available until October 25.
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: ATIA, survey
October 17, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Looking for an engaging activity to support AAC and literacy learning? Today, we’re adding to our Magic Moments series and getting ideas (and materials) from Maggie Judson. Maggie is an SLP and ATP, working as an AAC facilitator for a special education cooperative in central Illinois. In her work as an AAC SLP, she provides direct therapy, evaluations, consultations, and trainings for staff and families. You can find some of Maggie’s previous posts that she co-authored with her colleague Jeanna Antrim, here. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Magic Moments – Crafty with Core I love hanging out on Instagram and Pinterest because there are so many cool educators doing cool things, and I get so inspired by them. As an AAC SLP, I follow a lot of SLP and teacher accounts. But I also follow some crafty accounts, because you never know where your next inspiration will come from for a super fun and engaging... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AAC activities, Maggie Judson, Magic Moments
October 14, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
In therapy, Matthew made sentences with many of the vocabulary words he learned 4 months ago. He hasn’t generalized that skill to the classroom yet, largely because it is still quite effortful for him to find the new words and use them to build sentences. With more experience and a lot of practice, this is sure to improve. Teesha is learning how to use 2-switch step scanning with her speech-generating device to share her thoughts and make requests. Because she’s relatively new at this, it takes a lot of effort to express herself with the AAC system. Her team is confident that this will eventually become easier and faster for Teesha, but that will only come with a lot of practice. Mallory has a lot to say, and, at times, she can hardly contain her enthusiasm for sharing her thoughts and ideas. Often, though, she spends a minute or more... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: intervention strategies, repetition with variety
October 13, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends! We have some AAC posts that might be of interest. Monday – 5 Things You May Not Know About the Early Days of AAC Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Fostering Emergent Writing in AAC Users Thursday – From Wheelchair to Hands-free Walker for Preschool Children with AAC Needs ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Still have an appetite for some AAC reading? Here are a few more suggestions. PrAACtical Ideas: AAC Core Vocabulary Practice for Workshops and Inservices How I Do It: Working with Multiple Symbol Sets PrAACtically Reading: Over on the Farm with Karen Natoci & Karen Baca 5+ Ways to Make Page Fluffers and Spacers Classroom CORE Book by Tabi Jones-Wohleber (Downloadable file)
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: summary post
October 10, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
We are excited to share the second post in Christine Wright-Ott’s series on promoting hands-free independent mobility in young AAC learners. Christine is an Occupational Therapist and consultant at The Bridge School in Hillsborough California. She authored the chapter “Mobility” in the 4-7th editions of the book, Occupational Therapy for Children. She lectures at universities and conferences including ATIA, Closing the Gap, ISAAC, ISS, and AAC by the Bay. Enjoy! Support Walker Mobility at the Bridge School I would like to share with you an innovative hands-free Support Walker Mobility Program developed at The Bridge School, which is a private school for preschool and elementary children with complex communication and physical disabilities located on the district’s public elementary school campus. It is dedicated to ensuring that students achieve full participation in their communities through the use of augmentative & alternative means of communication (AAC), mobility and assistive technology (AT) applications. ... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: mobility, mobility impairment, physical disability, young children
October 7, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Given that October is AAC Awareness Month we thought that some of you AAC lovers would appreciate a stroll down memory lane. Here are a few things you may not know about the early days of AAC. The first papers that focused on AAC intervention were published in the 1950’s. In 1952, Goldstein and Cameron wrote about their use of communication boards with people with aphasia, and, a few years later, Sklar and Bennett discussed their experiences in using communication charts with this same population. Toward the end of the decade, professionals began describing their efforts in using communication boards with people with physical disabilities (e.g., Feallock,1958; Goldberg & Fenton, 1960). While speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists were among the first to disseminate their AAC work, professionals from many backgrounds contributed to its growth. In the early days, some of the strongest contributors to the field of AAC were rehabilitation... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AAC history