Monday – Sound/Music Cause and Effect Apps for Engaging AAC Learners Tuesday – Say What?!? AAC Assessment for Children Who Speak with Dr. Jill Senner and Matthew Baud Wednesday – Video of the Week: Communication Supports for Problem Behavior with Dr. Pat Mirenda Thursday – How I Do It: The All-in-One-Visual-Support Tool by Tabi Jones-Wohleber
If you’ve ever woken up in the middle of the night sweating over one of your AAC clients who doesn’t have a back-up communication tool, then this post is for you. Jeanne Tuthill is back with another prAACtical suggestion, this time on the importance of ensuring that people with AAC needs have communication options when their technology isn’t available or appropriate. In keeping with the generous spirit of the AAC field, Jeanne also shares her files for this project. Enjoy! How I Do It: Making a Back-up for High Tech AAC Each time I teach my graduate class I try to invite at least one AAC user in as a guest speaker to share their story with the students in the class. It never ceases to fill my students with awe and appreciation for the challenges that AAC users face on a daily basis. My students often list it as... [Read More...]
Monday: 5 Ways to Use Anchor Charts & Other Visual Supports in AAC Language Therapy Tuesday: PrAACtical Resources: Chronic Pain Assessment in Children with Disabilities Wednesday: Video of the Week – Lily Gets New Words! Thursday: Magic Moments with Toca Train by Nerissa Hall and Hillary Jellison
Monday: Fun Finds at #ATIA15 Tuesday: Core Words for February – Putting Sentences Together Wednesday: Video of the Week – Auditory & Visual Scanning with Jack and Mary-Louise Thursday: 5 Things Families May Not Know About SLPs and AAC Assessment
I had the pleasure of meeting Karen Natoci Florka last month when I visited Michigan and am delighted that she was willing to introduce us to the Shared Community of Practice from the team at The Communication Matrix. Karen is an SLP who has served students aged 3-26 with various physical, sensory and intellectual challenges at Wing Lake Developmental Center (Detroit area) since 2001. She is a part time lecturer at Wayne State University where she teaches a course entitled “Communication Acquisition and Educational Interventions for Students with Moderate to Severe Impairments.” She is part of the Communication Matrix Charter group. Click on the image below to learn more. The Communication Matrix is growing into a Shared Community of Practice! I remember the first few weeks in my new job at a wonderful, magical, school for children with complex communication needs. It was time for my first evaluation. These amazing students were challenging! They seemed... [Read More...]
In one of my AAC classes, we’ve been talking about working collaboratively with vendors of SGDs and other AT in a way that is ethically responsible. Clearly, we look first to our ASHA SLP Code of Conduct, best practices, agency policies and procedures, and regulations (such as HIPAA and FERPA in the US). Secondly, we use a feature match process to guide the evaluation so that there is appropriate diversity in the communications being considered. Beyond that, here are some of the things we came up with. Open a dialogue and the roles and expectations of each party. If we are inviting a vendor in to provide some support, then it’s best to precede that with a frank conversation so that everyone is clear on how to proceed. Be clear about acceptable and unacceptable behaviors prior to the start of the collaborative activity. Having some guidelines written out in advance... [Read More...]
Sunday: Video of the Week – Core Vocabulary in Activity-based Intervention Tuesday: Teach Me Tuesday – Dynavox V/VMax Wednesday: Now It’s Your Turn Thursday: AAC Assessment Forms Friday: The Faces of AAC – Paula and Brian
Sunday: Video of the Week – Getting Started with AAC Assessment Tuesday: Teach Me Tuesday – iAssist Communicator Wednesday: Global Day of AAC Thursday: How I Do It by Rachael Langley – PODD in the Classroom: Portable, Wearable, & Comfortable Friday: 5 Things that (Should) Guide SLPs in the Practice of AAC
Have you been hearing a lot about telepractice lately and are wondering how that works when the client has AAC needs? In this post, we turn to Nerissa Hall and Hillary Jellison of Communicare who tell us how they use it in their clinical practice. Nerissa and Hillary are both SLPs and assistive technology practitioners specializing in AAC, AT, and telepractice/tele-AAC. They have worked together for a number of years and are the proud owners of Commūnicāre, LLC, organization based in Western Mass and CT, that offers intervention, consultation, and evaluation services focusing on supporting an individuals, or a team’s, success and independence through implementation of AAC, AT and innovative and evidence-based practices. We are committed to our clinical work, as well as translational research and are members of the C.A.R.E. Consortium. Tele-AAC: A Powerful Way of Supporting Individuals Using AAC Telepractice, which is used to provide professional services by linking clinicians... [Read More...]
October is International AAC Awareness Month and giving us the perfect opportunity to go beyond our normal therapy-assessment-paperwork routine to spread awareness of AAC. Here are some thoughts for how to do that in the workplace. Inform: You’re probably already spreading the word about AAC as often as you can, but here are a few more ideas to help others gain an understanding of what can be done to support people with little or no functional speech. Create a brief AAC-related public service message that is delivered on morning announcements or staff meetings (E.g., “Everyone communicates, but some students with disabilities have difficulty talking. Did you know that just because some students can’t talk, they can still understand what you say? Special technology is sometimes used so they can better express themselves. Not only does that help them in the moment, but it may also improve their ability to talk”).... [Read More...]