180 Search Results for rett
October 11, 2013
by Robin Parker -
It’s time for the 2nd 2013 AAC Awareness Month celebration! It is so exciting to see all of the AAC activities and plans from around the country and world to help spread AAC Awareness. There has been sharing of AAC information, AAC decorations, Silent teas, and much more. We hope that with increased awareness, there is increased ACCESS for ALL who need it. Keep spreading AAC information and keep teaching & learning. HAPPY INTERNATIONAL AAC AWARENESS MONTH! Celebrate with us by entering our AAC giveaway. Good Luck Everyone! The PrAACtical AAC Celebration is made possible by the very generous and awesome people at the organizations listed below: : Ablenet, Inc Abilipad Alexicom BeeVisual/ChoiceWorks Dynavox/Mayer Johnson Handhold Adaptive Hump Software MarbleSoft Mozzaz News-2-You Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company Safe N Sound Mobile Silver Lining Multimedia Smarty Ears Speak For Yourself SpeechPathology.com SpeechTree TapSpeak TherapyBox/TBoxApps TouchChat Verbally How Does It Work?... [Read More...]
October 1, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
AAC Awareness Month is something worth celebrating. From the amazing clients we get to work with, to the professionals who put their hearts into this work, to the families who make real change possible, to the researchers and scholars who give us evidence on which to base our practices, to the wonderfully supportive community of manufacturers and developers, AAC is a wonderful field. It’s time for a prAACtical celebration! Thanks to the generosity of a lot of companies and individuals, we’re hosting our second annual AAC Awareness Month Giveaways with drawings on October 9th and 30th. As you can see, we’ve had prizes donated from many wonderful people and organizations: Ablenet, Inc Abilipad Alexicom BeeVisual/ChoiceWorks Dynavox/Mayer Johnson Handhold Adaptive Hump Software MarbleSoft Mozzaz News-2-You Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company Safe N Sound Mobile Silver Lining Multimedia Smarty Ears Speak For Yourself SpeechPathology.com SpeechTree TapSpeak TherapyBox/TBoxApps TouchChat Verbally How Does It... [Read More...]
September 24, 2013
by Robin Parker -
More core word prAACtice ideas. To make core word prAACtice most successful, make sure everyone has access to a core word AAC display and you have some clearly defined communication goals. Then select activities that encourage social interaction, have a shared focus, and are mostly about the process of learning. Build in lots of communication opportunities to use specific target words for both you and the learner. For October, meaningful communication and language activities can include art projects, costume parties with photo’s, gardening/planting, and music/concerts. October has so many great options for fun socially motivating activities that all you have to do is go have fun and model on. OCTOBER WORDS another “another turn” “have another one” “we need another surprise” “We hope he does another song for us” change “change clothes” “please give me change” “I need to change it for the other one” “She will change her mind... [Read More...]
September 23, 2013
by Robin Parker -
We love organized productive speech therapy sessions. But, we don’t typically use speech rules in our sessions. It’s not that we are inherently against ‘behavior speech rules’ but overall, we don’t use them. Here are some of the reasons why: We use meaningful language activities. We try to use meaningful, fun, and engaging activities so learners want to participate. Even when we think an activity is enjoyable and it is not, it becomes enjoyable and meaningful to “stop” the activity. It is helpful to think about meaningful and fun from the learner’s perspective and not just ours. For example, having a pleasant conversation about awesome pretty pictures would be enjoyable for many students. However, if conversation is difficult, maybe not so much. It’s not that we would not work on conversation, but the activity structure may involve clear beginnings and endings to the conversation, a ‘take home poster’, and/or a... [Read More...]
September 10, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
There is no substitute for systematic instruction in reading and writing for building specific skills. AAC learners need high-quality instruction and lots of it. Beyond that, though, there are many ways to infuse literacy practice into the regular routine in therapy and at home. Writing for authentic purposes refers to experiences that reflect the writing activities of people in their regular lives. Authentic writing builds fluency, promotes skill generalization, and helps to build one’s self-concept as a writer. Plus, it’s fun, motivating, and pretty easy to do. Here are some things we try to do to include authentic writing experiences into our AAC therapies. 1. Sign in and out of the therapy session or classroom: Every AAC learner can do this. If the traditional sign-in form then doesn’t cut it, then make up a special sheet that has the client’s name in traceable letters, a name stamp, or placing a... [Read More...]
August 30, 2013
by Robin Parker -
by Carole Zangari, originally published on August 27, 2012 “How was school?” (Good) “What did you do?” (Nothing) This scenario plays out in many cars and kitchens in the after school hours and it can be hard to know who is more frustrated: the kids for being asked or the parents for not getting satisfactory answers. And still, we repeat the process day after day. Of course, we want to know the fine details of what happened and how our children felt, but in some cases, we’d settle for ANY school-related conversation at all. I’ll be the first to admit that it took me way too long to get the hang of how to get information about my children’s school days, and it seemed like just when I did, pow! They were pre-teens and then teenagers. New rule book. Here are some ‘lessons learned’ along the way about those afterschool conversations and... [Read More...]
August 28, 2013
by Robin Parker -
We continue to work with core words and if you have been following our ‘Year of Core Words’, here are some ways to use the September words for preparing, playing, & reading about ‘back to school’, making new friends, cooking and eating in the fall, and for general fall/autumn activities. Create opportunities throughout the day and add some aided language modeling (ALI), repetition with variety, and meaningful language experiences, you will expand communication, language, and core word vocabulary quickly. September Core Word PrAACtice Almost almost done he almost fell they look almost the same the book was almost my favorite Calltelephone call call me now call name softly let’s call her name loud Listen listen bell listen for the music the girl needs to listen I try to listen and learn Name same name name is not that her name is pretty that name is the same but spelled differen Nice nice and soft... [Read More...]
August 22, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
As a rule, SLPs are pretty good about collecting data in their clinical work. Here are some of our prAACtical thoughts about data collection. 1. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. We’ve visited several programs where the client data filled a huge 3-ring binder. In some places, they logged the data daily, reviewed it frequently, and actually USED it to make programmatic decisions. If that works for you, great! But most programs only reviewed the data when they had to report it or prior to a visit by someone who might want to see and discuss those data. In those cases, the data really wasn’t serving it’s original purpose: to see how instruction might need to be tweaked for a client who was learning quickly, slowly, or not at all. The takeaway: Don’t collect more data than you’re prepared to review and put to use. 2. We should... [Read More...]
July 17, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
Professionals of a certain age (ahem) may remember when the only switch-accessible toys we had to work with were the ones we adapted ourselves. Now, of course, there are a wide range of battery-operated toys that are already switch-accessible and we can buy as many as the budget will allow. The problem is that most of us have pretty limited resources for purchasing these toys, and a quick search yielded adapted toys in a wide price range ($45.00-$250.00 USD). Buying regular (non-adapted) battery-operated toys and then adapting them yourself is another option. This video explains the principles. “Me?? Adapt a toy for switches?! But I’m not handy.” “That’s okay. You don’t have to be.” The easiest way is to use an inexpensive battery interrupter. You can purchase them in various sizes (e.g. AAA, AA, C, D) or make your own. You can learn more about battery interrupters and how to... [Read More...]
July 4, 2013
by Robin Parker -
Check out these 4 free apps that can help SPARK commenting. They are great fun that will inspire commenting but can also help with core (and fringe) vocabulary as well as with being familiar with July 4th festivities. By engaging with these apps in an interactive manner, there is not the noise and confusion of the day. The apps become a good tool for familiarizing and preparing the learner for July 4th. Celebrate 4th of July, Independence Day of the United States , with sparkling fireworks (by Auryn Apps) Free – Just shake or touch the iPad and beautiful fireworks get triggered. The are really beautiful which are opportunities to comment again and again (“wow”, “beautiful”, “so cool”, “look colors”, etc.). Each firework reveals images that relate to Independence Day. This app is a gift from Auryn Apps which is a generous and dedicated developer for July 4th and throughout the year.... [Read More...]