Video of the Week: Making Shared Book Reading Awesome for AAC Users Who Don’t Like Books 

August 7, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts


Video of the Week: Making Shared Book Reading Awesome for AAC Users Who Don’t Like Books 

How can we help AAC users who aren’t crazy about books to engage and enjoy shared reading? AAC SLP Chana Feinstein has lots of wisdom and prAACtical ideas to share, courtesy of AAC in the Cloud & the wonderful team at CoughDrop.  You can download Chana’s handout here. Want to learn more from Chana? Check out her previous presentation on engaging young learners here.

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Video of the Week: Reading with AAC at the Beenleigh School

July 31, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts


Video of the Week: Reading with AAC at the Beenleigh School

Appropriately programmed AAC device? Check! Engaging communication style? Check! Multimodal communication? Check! Interesting storybook? Check! Multiple communication systems? Check! Aided language input? Check! Let’s pull it all together and see some lovely examples of reading with AAC from the Beenleigh School. Enjoy! Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus Direct Link to Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrhBeWRfC1k&fbclid=IwAR1o-szfopgUI4gnVrywjrknXed1UWy0LPDZIRbLhH2DGDLMpE1GHlfvJM4 The Very Itchy Bear Direct Link to Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Igdwa-laGfQ No, David! Direct Link to Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii1hwdMKoME

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Video of the Week: A Recipe for Summer AAC

July 24, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts


Video of the Week: A Recipe for Summer AAC

Here in the US, we still have a few weeks of summer left and that gives us an opportunity to squeeze in a little more AAC.  For today’s video, we turn to the Pacer Center, Minnesota’s Parent Training and Information Center, with Elizabeth Barry (Pacer Center) and Meghan Kunz (PRC) as our guides. They offer lots of helpful information and practical ideas for boosting AAC use during summer activities and events. Enjoy!   Direct Link to Video – https://livestream.com/pacercenter/events/8482946/videos/191312134 

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Video of the Week: Thinking Beyond the Device – What Autistic Adults who Use Speech & AAC Can Teach Us

July 17, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts


Video of the Week: Thinking Beyond the Device - What Autistic Adults who Use Speech & AAC Can Teach Us

Join us as we head back to AAC in the Cloud to learn from and with Alyssa Hillary Zisk as they stretch our thinking about different kinds of tools that can be used for communication. You can obtain their session handout here and read their guest post here.  Many thanks to Alyssa and to the wonderful team at CoughDrop for making this insightful session available. Direct Link to Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=379&v=slofUe6q3QY

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Video of the Week: Using Tangible Symbols to Support Communication

July 10, 2019 by - 1 Comment


Video of the Week: Using Tangible Symbols to Support Communication

Some emergent communicators, particularly those with significant vision difficulties, benefit from symbols that they can touch and hold. In today’s featured video, we hear from Elizabeth Torrey, an SLP at the Early Learning Center at the Perkins School for the Blind. Elizabeth helps us better understand some of the ways in which we can use object symbols to represent activities, things, places, people, and other concepts. Many thanks to Elizabeth and to the Perkins School for creating and sharing this helpful information.  You can download the handout for this session here. Want to learn more about communication and object symbols? Here are some past posts that may be of interest. Direct Link to Video – https://www.perkinselearning.org/videos/webcast/tangible-symbols

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Video of the Week: Unconventional Communication 

July 3, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts


Video of the Week: Unconventional Communication 

Today we return to the AAC in the Cloud archives for another enlightening presentation, this time on multimodal communication. In this session, Stephanie Fuller and Saoirse Tilton discuss the varied ways that people communicate and remind us of the importance of considering the full palette of communicative options when interacting with children and adults who have complex communication needs. Many thanks to CoughDrop for hosting this conference and to Stephanie and Saoirse for their insightful session. Enjoy! Direct Link to Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=837&v=4VSQC2QJYpo

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Video of the Week: Activities to Use in AAC Training

June 26, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts


Video of the Week: Activities to Use in AAC Training

If you train people on AAC concepts and strategies and are looking for ways to get participants engaged with the material, this week’s video is not to be missed. SLP Vicki Haddix works as a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Memphis, where she shares the knowledge and skills she gained as an AAC SLP in various practice settings with graduate student SLPs. Her presentation at the 2019 AAC in the Cloud Conference, a free event hosted by CoughDrop, provides an overview of research supporting the use of hands-on activities in training sessions and gives detailed information on specific activities that you can embed into your AAC classes, parent trainings, and professional development. Head over to the AAC in the Cloud site to see her presentation and download the handout so that you have links to the videos and other resources that she discusses. Many thanks to Vicki for this... [Read More...]

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Video of the Week: Using Sensory Activities to Build Communication & Literacy with Students who Have Visual & Multiple Disabilities

June 19, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts


Video of the Week: Using Sensory Activities to Build Communication & Literacy with Students who Have Visual & Multiple Disabilities

Teachers and therapists sometimes struggle to find effective ways to support students with multiple disabilities who have visual impairments. In today’s video, Faye Gonzalez, a teacher of the visually impaired, helps us understand ways that we can incorporate sensory activities to help these students further develop their communication, language and literacy skills. Many thanks to Faye and to Perkins for hosting this archived presentation. You can access the handout for this session here. The downloadable blank book template is available here.  Direct Link to Video Page: https://www.perkinselearning.org/videos/webinar/sensory-activities-experiences-improve-communication-and-literacy-children-visual-and

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Video of the Week: Mental Health & AAC

June 12, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts


Video of the Week: Mental Health & AAC

In many areas, there has been a greater focus on mental health and well-being. Though we applaud that trend, it’s disappointing that people with significant disabilities and those with complex communication needs are often left out of the discussion. Today’s post is a welcome exception. In this featured video, Dr. Kathy Howery addresses this topic and provides us with strategies that can be used to better support children and adults with AAC needs. Many thanks to Dr. Howery for this fine presentation, to USSAAC for organizing and hosting it, and to ISAAC for their support of this webinar series. You can obtain the handout for this archived session here. Direct Link to Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=77&v=lLnG70qADUs

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