Sunday: Video of the Week – Is It the Right Device? Monday: Speak AAC Tuesday: Calling All PrAACtical Advocates Wednesday: 5 AAC-related Assessment Tools You Should Know About Thursday: How I Do It – Using PODD Books and Aided Language Displays with Young Learners with ASD Friday: Fast FAACt Friday: Core Words
Sunday-Video of the Week: Teaming Up for AT Assessments Monday-See the Student Tuesday-Research Tuesday: Supporting Children with Severe and Profound Multiple Disabilities Wednesday-Watch It Wednesday: Towards an Inclusive Maker Movement Thursday-PrAACtical Questions: “Should I Put Yes/No on an SGD?” Friday-Supporting Communication Development in Children with Vision and Hearing Impairments
What do we know about the best ways to provide communication support to individuals with severe and profound multiple disabilities (PMLD)? PMLD is a term that generally refers to people who experience profound cognitive limitations in addition to sensory and/or physical disabilities. Many of these individuals have complex medical histories and chronic health concerns. Often, the communication difficulties experienced by individuals with PMLD cause them to be isolated and excluded from many social and educational opportunities. Despite their many challenges, there is evidence to suggest that AAC supports can help these children develop their communication skills. Not much is known, however, about how to structure the AAC intervention to maximize learning. In this study, Harding and her colleagues sought to reduce isolation and promote personal autonomy by providing AAC supports to two children with PMLD. As other researchers have demonstrated the positive impact of AAC on people with PMLD, this... [Read More...]
Sunday: Video of the Week – Every Move Counts Monday: What We Know Tuesday: On Not Talking Wednesday: 3 Ways to Promote Interest in Language Therapy for AAC Learners Thursday: AACtual Therapy: Informal Assessment Activity with Jeanne Tuthill Friday: Five Questions That AAC Practitioners Ask Themselves
What do we know about the best ways to provide communication support to individuals with severe and profound multiple disabilities (PMLD)? PMLD is a term that generally refers to people who experience profound cognitive limitations in addition to sensory and/or physical disabilities. Many of these individuals have complex medical histories and chronic health concerns. Often, the communication difficulties experienced by individuals with PMLD cause them to be isolated and excluded from many social and educational opportunities. Despite their many challenges, there is evidence to suggest that AAC supports can help these children develop their communication skills. Not much is known, however, about how to structure the AAC intervention to maximize learning. In this study, Harding and her colleagues sought to reduce isolation and promote personal autonomy by providing AAC supports to two children with PMLD. As other researchers have demonstrated the positive impact of AAC on people with PMLD,... [Read More...]
Sunday: Video of the Week – A Light-hearted Approach to Making People Comfortable with AAC Monday: Strategy of the Month – Building Sentence Length Through Conversational Routines and Games Tuesday: PrAACtical Resources: Developing Skills for Switch Use Wednesday: Watch It Wednesday – Client Priorities Drive AAC Assessment Recommendations Thursday: PrAACtically Reading with Brown Bear Friday: Learning How to Swim: On Being a New SLP Graduate in the Field of AAC
It’s prAACtically spring in much of North America! To all of our friends who suffered through a c-r-a-z-y winter: You made it!! Here’s what we’ve been up to. Sunday: Video of the Week – A Right to Communicate Monday: Strategy of the Month – Building Communication Skills During Storybook Reading Tuesday: Teach Me Tuesday – Predictable App Wednesday: On Communication and Behavior – Back to Basics Thursday: AACtual Therapy with Jeanne Tuthill – An AAC Assessment Activity Friday: 5 Resources for Creating AAC and Visual Support Materials
In terms of reinforcement, Jamie kept me on my toes. Initially, she preferred to be by herself so that she could do her own thing without any demands placed on her. Solitary time is not our favorite way to reinforce desired behavior, but it was a start. Jamie earned little bits of free time where she could have some uninterrupted play. Then, she seemed to like anything that she could line up. No sweat. (This is progress! We were much happier to see her desire things as opposed to the absence of company. We had lots of things that we could use and she loved the novelty of materials we presented…for short awhile). Quickly, that morphed into things that she could line up that had letters. Got it! (We can repurpose some alphabet puzzles/games and we’re good!). Then, things got interesting. One week there was an intense love of... [Read More...]
Scene 1 Alex looks at the picture symbol choices placed in front of him and knocks them to the floor. Simone looks distressed while she waits for her lunch and whines as she watches her classmates eating. Jason smiles engagingly and rocks enthusiastically when his favorite aide enters the room. Kyra takes a picture from her PECS book and begins to chew on it. Scene 2 “He can’t even make choices. I’m not even sure what he wants.” “She really doesn’t communicate.” “He doesn’t mean anything by it. He does that all the time.” “She needs hand-over-hand prompting for everything.” Great kids, caring professionals. Ineffective communication. This month, we focus on ways to support children and adults at the earliest stages of communication. It isn’t easy trying to figure out how to provide effective SLP services to individuals who are not yet sending messages intentionally. Communicators at the pre-intentional level are... [Read More...]
This may be the time of year you are thinking of adding AAC apps to your assessment collection or are planning on getting one for an individual learner or for a group of learners. As you consider which app or apps to purchase, here are some feature considerations as well as some options for learning about the apps. **For any individual learner, a specific AAC evaluation by a qualified speech-language pathologist is always highly recommended. Language Features Core word approach to language learning Functional language approach to language learning Visual scene approach to language learning Pre-made communication displays or create your own Communication Functions (requesting, Choicemaking, commenting, complaining, etc.) Sentence building options Options for morphological learning Allows for full communication including requests, saying no, greetings,ventings, and sharing of information Comprehensive language learning Small Talk Single or sequenced messages Technical Features Customization level Platform Options (iOS, Android, Computer) Digitized (recorded) vs... [Read More...]