Language Development and ASD

April 7, 2013 by - Leave your thoughts


Language Development and ASD

There is no better time than Autism Awareness Month to reflect on the communication services that we provide to children and adults with ASD. Today’s post features Dr. Rhea Paul, Director of the Communication Disorders Section at the Yale Child Study Center. In this recorded presentation, Dr. Paul provides a thorough overview of communication development in people with autism.

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Visual Immersion Program

March 24, 2013 by - Leave your thoughts


Video of the Week: Visual Immersion Program

  In this week’s featured video, we go to the AAC-RERC  to get an in-depth look at a systematic approach to visual supports for people with ASD.  Howard Shane and Meghan O’Brien explain the basic premise of the Visual Immersion Program’s approach, the communicative functions it is designed to support, and the key principles and procedures. The webcast is broken into three parts, with accompanying slides and transcripts.

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Video of the Week: The Van Dijk Approach to Child-Guided Assessment

March 17, 2013 by - Leave your thoughts


Video of the Week: The Van Dijk Approach to Child-Guided Assessment

Getting good assessment information on learners with multiple disabilities, hearing, and vision loss is difficult, to say the least. Today we travel to the Netherlands to learn from Dr. Jan Van Dijk, who has pioneered an approach to working with individuals who have deafblindness. This series of webcasts, produced by Perkins School, discusses the theoretical underpinnings and practical aspects of the Van Dijk approach to child-guided assessment.

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Video of the Week: Using Video Modeling

March 3, 2013 by - 2 Comments


Video of the Week: Using Video Modeling

Video modeling is an empirically supported intervention strategy  hat more of us could be using in our clinical work. This week we feature some examples of video modeling for  some common communication behaviors. We love the fact that  these focus on  adults. Kudos to the team at Villa Esperanza Speech and Language Center  for making and sharing these videos. Asking for a Break Saying Goodbye

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Video of the Week: The Importance of Using Visual Supports

February 24, 2013 by - 1 Comment


Video of the Week: The Importance of Using Visual Supports

We’re always looking for great materials to share with colleagues and parents about topics related to AAC. This video by OCALI (the Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence)  has been one of our favorites. It gives a brief overview of why visual supports are so important in the educational and clinical services provided to individual with ASD and other developmental disabilities.

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PrAACtical Puppet Power

February 17, 2013 by - Leave your thoughts


PrAACtical Puppet Power

We are huge fans of using music in AAC intervention and have learned so much from talented music therapists who really understand how to use their medium to support language learning. In this video, Ryan Judd, of the Rhythm Tree, discusses why hand puppets can be such a valuable addition when singing with language learners. He demonstrates the method with a child with Williams Syndrome who is practicing the use of prepositions. It’s clear that this strategy has lots of prAACtical potential. –

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A Language Lost

February 10, 2013 by - Leave your thoughts


In this week’s video, Dr. Melanie Fried-Oken discusses how AAC can benefit individuals who are losing their language abilities due to Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA). She reviews the disorder, provides great examples, and clearly explains AAC strategies that can be used to support these patients. We love the skillful way in which Dr. Fried-Oken balances current research with prAACtical guidelines for goals and therapy in this helpful video.

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