132 Search Results for teaching tips
February 21, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
We couldn’t be happier to have a guest post by Jane Farrall for our How I Do It series. Jane has worked as a school and adult service based speech pathologist and literacy teacher. She has also worked as an assistive technology specialist and is currently working as an independent consultant in literacy, AAC and Assistive Technology. Jane has been working in the disability and assistive technology field for over 20 years. She has extensive practical experience in both AAC and in teaching children and adults with disabilities to acquire literacy. She has completed a Masters in Special Education focusing on literacy acquisition in children and adults without speech. Jane is a former Chairperson of AGOSCI (Australian Group on Severe Communication Impairment) and is the founder and organiser of the Big Mouth Camp, a camp for school aged students using speech generating devices and their families. You can get more... [Read More...]
February 9, 2013
by Robin Parker -
This month’s communication and language strategy goes beyond requesting into conversation. Beginning (and more advanced) communicators can be introduced to conversations through scripts. Scripts for teaching the art of conversation can help give the language to initiate, maintain, extend, and terminate social and conversational exchanges. Scripts can be used to talk about special interests, to participate in activities, and much more. When we teach scripts in a way a learner ‘learns’, the script shows the guidelines, boundaries, and organization of conversations. The communication and language goal is conversation. The strategy to teach conversation is scripts. Scripts are not that foreign to the conversational situation. We all may use scripts at times. Think about your ‘small talk’ scripts or your scripts that help you in unfamiliar or difficult conversations. If learners have difficulty knowing how to participate in conversation, a script can capitalize on strengths like memory and doing well with... [Read More...]
January 31, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
We couldn’t be happier that one of our first AACtual Therapists is Tanna Neufeld, a south Floridian on loan to the Pacific Northwest. Tanna was with us as a graduate student many years ago, and went on to build a fantastic reputation in our community for her excellent clinical skills. It was South Florida’s loss when she left last year and moved across the continent. (I know at least a few people scheming of ways to get her back.) Tanna is now working at the Children’s Therapy Center in Seattle. Tanna blogs at SNEAK Outside the Box and My Blind Side. You can read more about her at the end of this post, in which Tanna talks about using bubbles in her AAC therapy sessions. AAC Breakthroughs with Bubbles! When I first started using core vocabulary boards with my kids, I didn’t really know where to start. It was really... [Read More...]
November 28, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
PrAACtical Goals That Matter It’s All About Us Free & Lite Versions of AAC Apps + App Selection Resources Beyond Behavior Problems: How Visual Supports Can Help Our AAC Teaching Fire Safety Week Over, Need to Learn Strategies is Not Watch What You Heat- Fire Safety 3 Communication-Behavior Visual Support Power Tools Simple Start: Visual Supports for Places Around School Ain’t No Stopping Us Now! Video of the Week No Introduction Needed A PrAACtical Look at Getting Started with AAC Symbols Creative Uses of the iPod for Students Who Use AAC Video of the Week: Helping Hands + Visual Supports A PrAACtical Look at the Incredible 5-Point Scale Strategy of the Month Avoiding Insanity: AAC & the Pace of Change Strategy of the Month: Building Acceptance of AAC The Path to Acceptance AAC & Change: Some Thoughts on Influencing Behavior Building Acceptance for AAC: Sharing Information AAC Awareness Month Global... [Read More...]
September 2, 2012
by Robin Parker -
We have recently been surprised (ok, shocked) by the absence of communication supports in educational settings that are supposed to be supporting learners with significant communication challenges. To be even more specific and blunt, the students do not have functional spoken speech. They can’t speak to let you know: what they need, what they don’t need or want, how they feel, what they see, what interests them, what questions they have, what they like and don’t like, when they really reallywant something, etc., etc. etc. And, trust us, they do need to say all of these things. If you work with anyone who does not use spoken speech and we mean ANYONE, they deserve the basic right to communicate with you. Our PrAACtical AAC Absolute A’s: AAC displays need to be accessible ALLOVER. There is no special ‘communication time.’ Communication teaching is ALL the time in authentic situations.... [Read More...]
June 18, 2012
by Robin Parker -
We are now up to 72 Free or Lite version of AAC apps. There is another emerging price point category of apps that are not quite free but fairly close. We were so happy to find 25 apps under $5.oo. These are all regular versions. All the same teaching and preparation is needed when choosing AAC apps, no shortcuts here, but deciding if you need an app for ‘small talk’ or telling stories or labeling may help make it easier to decide which AAC apps to try. The RelAAAC rubric may help with these decisions after a feature match process is done. After selecting the AAC app, then comes the fun part. You can be creative by setting up fun opportunities to communicate. Communication temptations can be set up for requesting (putting favorite toys in a closed screw top jar) and commenting (wearing really big fun hats/glasses). And don’t forget... [Read More...]
May 31, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
The Fives 1. 5 Sites for Professionals who are Supporting Military Families with Special Needs Children 2. 5 Charitable Programs that Support Funding for Communication through Mobile Devices 3. 5 Sites for Tools & Tips on Self-Calming & Behavior Regulation 4. Five (More) Resources for Supporting Friendships in Individuals Who Use AAC PrAACtical Thinking Updated: 59 Free and Lite AAC Apps Magic Moments with Qwiki: PrAACtical Learning for Older Students and Adults PrAACtical Teaching PrAACtical Alert: How Your Junk Drawer Can Help People Who Use AAC Magic Moments with Toca Store Random App of Kindness Sticky Situation AAC ASD App From the Ivory Tower PrAACtical Resources: Evidence-Based Practice Maps PrAACtical Suggestions: 10 Ways to Help Families Make Informed Decisions about AAC PrAACtical Suggestions: How to Get Started with A New AAC Client, Part 1 International Cri du Chat Awareness Week Saying ‘I Love You’ on Mother’s Day iTaalk for Better Hearing and Speech Month... [Read More...]
May 16, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
Since Robin has been doing such an awesome job of talking about Twitter and sharing AAC-friendly Twitter resources, I thought today we’d shift gears slightly and talk about applications for the classroom. – 1.If you’re new to Twitter, you may want to start with this helpful post on GeekSLP. 2. Great ideas for using Twitter in the K-12 classroom, many of which can be adapted for SLPs. 3. More ideas on how to use Twitter for teaching and learning 4. Beyond K-12 Twitter is just as useful. Here are some great resources for using it in Higher Education from Edudemic and Web 2.0 Teaching Tools 5. Twitter Professors: 18 People to Follow for a Real Time Education http://on.mash.to/IS5rej –
May 12, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
Hope you are having a great Better Hearing and Speech Month! Our May Strategy of the Month continues to focus on building our Professional Learning and Resource Network in prAACtical ways. This week we’ll be posting about Twitter. – While some of you may have been early adopters of the microblogging trend, I just didn’t see the value of Twitter until the past year. As one who doesn’t much care what Paris Hilton had for breakfast or who sat next to whom at the Heat game, it just didn’t interest me. Robin, on the other hand, was tweeting away and kept telling me about wonderful connections she’d made that way. “I’ll get around to it one of these days,” I thought but kept putting it off until I was out of excuses. Once I was involved, it only took a week or so before I was hooked on the vast... [Read More...]
April 1, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
If March was as busy for you as it was for us, then you may have missed some of these posts. Grading exams, meeting with students, clinical paperwork, grant-writing, teaching, travel, etc. Know wonder we’re tired! Enjoy this bit of catch-up. – The Fives 5 Great Resources for Helping Individuals with Vision and Hearing Loss AAC on the Go: 5 Tips for Traveling with AAC Tech it Up’- 5 Visual Schedule Apps 5 Resources for AAC Data Collection 5 Tips to Make AAC Assessments Run Smoothly 5 References to Support AAC Use – PrAACtical Thinking 1. The Secret to Succeeding At Anything 2. National Quilting Day & Employment 3. AAC and March Madness 4. Games are More Than Fun… Gaming for ALL 5. Hearing the Knock 6. HijAACked! AAC & Anti-Bullying with Stand Tall, Mary Lou Melon! 7. Emergencies and Resources to Help 8. Random Acts of Kindness 9. Do... [Read More...]