January 23, 2012
by Robin Parker -
AAC & The Art of the Unconventional Conversation, Carole’s post from Saturday, recounts a young girl who some people might have thought was not ready for AAC. It reminds me a young man I know, Michael. I met Michael when he was 14, after he was discharged from all of his communication intervention or I should say his speech-language therapy sessions. He was discharged at school because when he moved from his autism classroom in middle school to a high school classroom for children with varying exceptionalities, it was ‘felt’ that he did not need it anymore. He had not made ‘progress’ in his speech and language goals, he did not talk, he did not consistently identify objects, and he did not essentially do a lot of things. He was discharged from his private therapy as he was not making progress in a lot of goals there either. Everyone... [Read More...]
January 4, 2012
by Robin Parker -
We have been thinking about what we would love to do more of for 2012. We seem to be thinking in 5’s. So in getting organized and goal focused for the year we will spend the next 5 days discussing 5 goals. Our first goal is More Cooking. We love to cook with EVERYONE. Cooking is an activity that everyone needs to do for independence. Cooking can also be a leisure activity and it is often naturally motivating because of the end result (our personal favorite)- eating. 1. You can use any of the picture recipe directions that are already on common food products. The picture supports may need to be enlarged at the beginning but the idea is to use the picture directions on many packaged foods. These natural AAC supports were pointed out to me several years ago by Dr. Bridget Taylor. 2. Check out Your Special Chef which was... [Read More...]