375 Search Results for complex communication
June 7, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
It’s graduation season here in the U.S. and there’s no better time to celebrate the graduates and those future professionals who have developed a passion for AAC. In today’s post, Krista Davidson introduces us to her student, Madie Kroehler, who generously shares the work she did for an independent study on AAC and emergent literacy. Enjoy! Growing AAC Professionals: AACessible Literacy: Emergent Literacy Resources for the AAC SLP This month I am excited to bring you a post from one of our first-year graduate students, Madie Kroehler! Madie participated in an Independent Study with me this Spring. After discussing numerous possibilities for topics, we settled on AAC and literacy. We met every other week to consult on her readings and research. What evolved from those initial discussions culminated in something quite impressive. And with that, I’ll let Madie tell you in more detail how the project developed… The final project... [Read More...]
June 3, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
We’re jumping into June and wrapping up the School Year of Core Vocabulary Words Series by guest authors Michaela Sullivan, Alisa Lego, and Beth Lytle. This series focuses on a selected set of words to highlight for the month along with a suggested order in which to teach them. Therapists and teachers will appreciate the Activity Packets, containing suggestions for highlighting these words in a variety of activities. Their Data Collection Forms and tips on using shared reading in our AAC teaching are appropriate for AAC learners of various ages. If you are new to this series, you may want to review the introduction that our series and check out the first 10 months of the School Year of Core Vocabulary Words using the links below. You can find posts for previous months in the School Year of Core Vocabulary Words below. Introduction to the School Year of Core Vocabulary... [Read More...]
April 26, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
It’s almost May so we’re back with another post in the School Year of Core Vocabulary Words Series by guest authors Michaela Sullivan, Alisa Lego, and Beth Lytle. This series focuses on a selected set of words to highlight for the month along with a suggested order in which to teach them. Therapists and teachers will appreciate the Activity Packets, containing suggestions for highlighting these words in a variety of activities. Their Data Collection Forms and tips on using shared reading in our AAC teaching are appropriate for AAC learners of various ages. If you are new to this series, you may want to review the introduction that our series and check out the first 9 months of the School Year of Core Vocabulary Words using the links below. You can find posts for previous months in the School Year of Core Vocabulary Words below. Introduction to the School Year... [Read More...]
April 19, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
Do you serve students with cortical visual impairment (CVI)? Teacher of the visually impaired Dr. Sandra Newcomb and AAC SLP Debbie Perry regularly combine their expertise and collaborate to support children with CVI who are learning to use AAC. In today’s post, they take us beyond the basics to share their thoughts on the complex issues that we should consider in serving this population. Follow along as they challenge some assumptions and provide helpful suggestions. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: AAC and CVI: Can We Chat? Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) is vision loss due to damage or malformation in the brain that interferes with the child’s ability to understand vision information coming from the eyes. It is the number one cause of vision impairment for young children in developed countries. It has been found that 10.5% of children with developmental disabilities have CVI [1]. This means if you are a pediatric SLP you will... [Read More...]
March 25, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
Before we turn the page on the calendar, here’s the April post in the School Year of Core Vocabulary Words Series by guest authors Michaela Sullivan, Alisa Lego, and Beth Lytle. This series focuses on a selected set of words to highlight for the month along with a suggested order in which to teach them. Therapists and teachers will appreciate the Activity Packets, containing suggestions for highlighting these words in a variety of activities. Their Data Collection Forms and tips on using shared reading in our AAC teaching are appropriate for AAC learners of various ages. If you are new to this series, you may want to review the introduction that our series authors created before delving into this month’s target words. You can see series overview here. You can also review the first 8 months of the School Year of Core Vocabulary Words using the links at the bottom... [Read More...]
March 22, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
AAC professionals can provide a great deal of support to help students prepare for post-school life. Today, guest authors Meredith Gohsman, Jamie Lawson, Heather Patton, and Melanie Melton team up to share their thoughts on helping students who use AAC move successfully toward this transition. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Speech-language pathologists, educators, and other AAC stakeholders all share responsibility in preparing students for successful post-secondary transition. The need to explicitly address post-secondary transition is well-established. Despite benefits of employment for both the employer and employee (McNaughton et al., 2002; McNaughton et al., 2003), individuals using AAC are unemployed at a staggering rate. For individuals using AAC, communication remains a vital component in the workplace (Bryen et al., 2007). Communication interactions and skills are associated with income, as well as job options (Mank et al., 1997; McNaughton & Bryen, 2007; McNaughton & Richardson, 2013). This includes all 5 communicative competencies: Linguistic Competence: Mastery of... [Read More...]
March 4, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
Many practicing SLPs had limited opportunities to learn about the practice of AAC during their graduate studies and even those who did probably had insufficient training and mentorship in doing AAC assessments. In this post, guest author Dr. Eric Sanders, Assistant Professor at Moravian College, discusses his research on how school-based SLPs feel about evaluating students who need AAC devices. School-based SLPs: Confidence in AAC Assessment As a former school-based SLP AAC specialist and current researcher, one of the things that I am interested in is trying to determine ways to better understand how services are provided to students who require AAC in schools in order to figure out ways to ultimately improve those services. One of the areas that has received little research interest in school-based AAC services is assessment and feature matching. There are a few likely reasons for this. AAC assessment can be very complicated,... [Read More...]
February 25, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
Welcome to a new post in the School Year of Core Vocabulary Words Series! Guest authors Michaela Sullivan, Alisa Lego, and Beth Lytle are back to focus on a selected set of words to highlight for the month. In addition to their wonderful Activity Packets, containing sheets on highlighting these words in a variety of activities, they also share helpful tips for expanding language. Finally, don’t miss the data collection forms specific to Level 1 and Level 2 words. If you are new to this series, you may want to review the introduction that our series authors created before delving into this month’s target words. You can see the guest authors’ overview here. You can also review the first 7 months of the School Year of Core Vocabulary Words using the links at the bottom of this post. A SCHOOL YEAR OF CORE- INTRODUCTION- MARCH To the parents, teachers, Speech-Language... [Read More...]
February 8, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
Today, we welcome back AAC SLP Ashley Larisey to these pages for another post in the AAC in Secondary School series. Ashley is an SLP at Community High School District 218 in Oak Lawn, Illinois. She is also an Adjunct Clinical Supervisor and Instructor at Saint Xavier University. In today’s post, she shares thoughts on being age-respectful in choosing content, activities, and materials for high school students who are learning to use AAC. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Defining Age-Respectful The terms “age-appropriate” and “functional” are terms that come up frequently when working with older learners with complex communication needs and/or significant cognitive impairments. These students are entitled to receive an education that is aligned with the grade level standards in their state. Instruction should respect that these learners are no longer children, but in fact teenagers or young adults. But what do the terms “age-appropriate” and “functional” really mean? How are those terms... [Read More...]
February 5, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
AAC friends, we are back with another AAC Link Up in Spanish. If you have materials or videos in Spanish that you would like others to know about, we’d love to have you add that information below. Also, please share this with anyone who might be interested in contributing to or using the materials that get added to these posts. But before we get to that, we want to continue sharing AAC experiences with families in different Spanish-speaking countries, to help us create ties and form AAC communities in Spanish, to learn from each other. From Guatemala, we share with Isabel Orellana, who tells us her personal story with AAC and how she has contributed to making this field known in her country and offering AAC alternatives to many children, families, and professionals. “I’m the mother of 9-year-old Eddyto. Eddyto has complex communication needs and has been using Proloquo2Go since... [Read More...]