May is Better Hearing and Speech Month, a perfect time to build awareness among colleagues and in the community. Monday – PrAACtically May: Resources for a Year of Core Vocabulary Words Wednesday – Video of the Week: Increasing Core Vocabulary Use at Home, Therapy, and in School Thursday – AAC Assessment Corner with Vicki Clarke: The Eyes Have It – Assessment Considerations for High Tech Eye Gaze
Hope your prAACtical week was productive and satisfying. Monday – PrAACtical Teaching in the ASD Classroom: Bigger is Better with Core Vocabulary Wednesday – Video of the Week: Building Linguistic Fluency with AAC Learners Thursday – AAC Assessment Corner with Vicki Clarke: Is Feature Matching Still Relevant?
Time for a new look for PrAACtical AAC. Hope you enjoy it and these posts from earlier in the week. Monday – AAC Assessment Corner with Vicki Clarke: Procedural Resources Tuesday – Martin Luther King, Jr Holiday: 5 Resources for AAC Learners Thursday – Video of the Week: Implementing Visual Supports Thanks for all you do to support children and adults with little or no functional speech.
You did the assessment and got funding for the AAC device/app/aid. You regularly implement aided language input and your therapy is progressing nicely. You’ve spent time with teachers, paraprofessionals, family members, and others to educate them about AAC. You’ve worked with them to develop some initial goals around requesting wants/needs (even though that wasn’t your favorite place to start). You’ve identified some of his favorite things and even programmed language that allows him to request ‘something else’ if he doesn’t care for any of the choices. The foundation is set and things should be coming along. So what’s the problem? Well, it seems that the AAC learner hasn’t quite gotten the memo. Sigh. Rather than use the amazing AAC tool to ask for what he wants, Jonah continues to reach, grab, whine, and cry to get his needs met in most situations. Yes, progress is happening, but s-l-o-w-l-y. You have a... [Read More...]
We are pleased to welcome back Dr. Jill Senner and Matthew Baud to talk about a topic near and dear to my heart: language sampling. Jill is an AAC SLP and the owner of Technology and Language Center. An experienced AAC interventionist, she has presented at numerous national conferences and has taught graduate AAC courses. You can follow Jill on Pinterest or visit her at the TALC Facebook page. Matthew (@Mbaud12/Twitter) is the AT Coordinator at Niles Township District for Special Education where he conducts AAC evaluations, trainings, and coaching of AAC. He has an AAC private practice and is an adjunct AAC instructor at Saint Xavier University. Matthew has presented at several national and state conferences. In this post, they share their favorite tips and resources for language sampling and language sample analysis. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Language sample analysis is an oldie but a goodie in the field of speech-language pathology. While writing down and analyzing what children say is not a new idea,... [Read More...]
It’s been a fine week for AAC! Monday – How I Do It: Bilingual AAC Assessment Tips by Lindsay Oesch Tuesday – Teach Me Tuesday: T-Series by Tobii Dynavox Wednesday – Video of the Week: AAC Assessment by Pat Ourand Thursday – 5 Ways to Use Judgment Tasks in AAC Therapy Hope you had some AAC fun, too!
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