180 Search Results for asha
May 9, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
In honor of ASHA’s Better Hearing and Speech Month, our May PrAACtical Strategy is all about building a network of professional resources. This week we feature Facebook. Throughout the week, we’ve been sharing our favorite groups/pages on AAC-related topics. – I Teach Special Ed is a great network of professionals and families who share information and support one another. We love how inclusive and open this group is. – “This group is a very active support network for those using iOS devices and apps in special education. We welcome any special education/general education/inclusion teachers, program specialists, administrators, service providers (SLP/OT/PT), AT consultants/specialists, ABA therapists, parents, students, as well as app developers!” – With almost 2,500 members, you can be sure to get answers to your questions and feedback on your posts. – Stop by and check them out when you can.
May 8, 2012
by Robin Parker -
In honor of Better Hearing and Speech Month, we wanted to share about iTaalk, one of the groups/pages on Facebook that we love. We had the pleasure of meeting (in person) the people who founded iTaalk. Wow- really special people! They work tirelessly to promote good teaching behind every app for communication and learning. They have programs to help families who need resources to begin teaching with technology, programs to help obtain more technology and try to ensure that quality teaching information goes with each app. They work to bring schools and families together with technology. You can expect to find great app lists, funding ideas, and much more from iTaalk. So check out iTaalk on Facebook and iTaalk website and enjoy!
May 5, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
– Usually, our Strategy of the Month posts focus on things that SLPs and others can do to enhance AAC learning with their clients. In honor of ASHA’s Better Hearing and Speech Month, our strategy focuses on you, the SLP. – Since we started blogging and using social media, we’ve learned a lot about professional learning networks and using the internet more effectively to access resources that enrich our work. That led us to our May Strategy, PrAACtical Learning and Resource Networks. – Our plan is to share an AAC-related resource each day that will help in developing our professional resources. As we tell our graduate students, if you have a well-packed toolkit and you know what to do with those tools, nothing can stop you! – We’ll be sharing resources that build on what you already know about and have, keeping a prAACtical focus, of course – ... [Read More...]
April 28, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
AAC is a field that involves many different disciplines, including OT, PT, SLP and education. In the best-case scenario, professionals in these disciplines work together to evaluate and provide intervention for the individual with little or no functional speech. If that option is not available, consider what discipline makes sense in your particular situation. For example, individuals with complex motor impairments may be best served initially through an OT who knows how to identify the best means of accessing AAC devices as the primary AAC service provider. For a child who is just learning to communicate, a speech-language pathologist (SLP) may be the best person to coordinate AAC services. A comprehensive AAC evaluation will always have the SLP playing a central role, which is important because of the special knowledge that they have about language and communication. How do you find an SLP with adequate skills in AAC? While there... [Read More...]
April 18, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
This is a strategy that is too powerful to ignore. Here’s why Aided Language Input is at the top of our list of skills that all clinicians should master. – 1. Helps children and adults learn their AAC faster: There is good research demonstrating how valuable this kind of modeling is for our AAC clients. See studies by Drs. Kathryn Drager, Cathy Binger and Janice Light, Jennifer Kent-Walsh, Shakila Dada and Erna Alant for starters.– 2. Helps the SLP get competent with the client’s AAC system: This is hands-down the quickest way for us to get familiar with our client’s AAC device. – 3. It’s common sense: Think about it: How many times does a typical 1-year old hear the word ‘more’ before she says it?? Don’t AAC kids need that much exposure to ‘their’ language systems?? – 4. Expands our sphere of influence: Other communication partners will imitate us. If WE use it, then parents and teachers are... [Read More...]
March 15, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
We’re big fans of AAC devices and apps that help with data collection. When used with appropriate attention to confidentiality issues (e.g., client consent, etc.) they can help SLPs gather data on how language is used under real-world conditions. When the data are interpreted skillfully, these are wonderful clinical resources that can help us adjust our intervention plans to accelerate learning. – Many times, however, we’re also looking for data collection tools that are separate from the AAC tool itself. – Here are some ideas for forms and tools for collecting data that help us plan better intervention. – 1. The book How Do You Know It? How Can You Show It? Making Assistive Technology Decisions (Reed, Bowser, & Korsten, 2002) has a good overview of concepts in data collection in AT and helpful forms. You can get a PDF of that book here. 2. The blog Teaching Learners... [Read More...]
February 11, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
The concept of Aided Language Input is simple: Speak AAC to the learner. If you were teaching her French, you’d speak to her in French. No one would dispute that hearing the new language is an essential prerequisite to learning it. It’s the same in AAC. If we want our folks to learn to express themselves with AAC, they have to have a lot of expose to people speaking AAC. – Here are the top reasons we are such strong advocates of this as an intervention strategy. – 1. It has a strong research base, thanks to studies by Kathryn Drager, Cathy Binger and Janice Light, Jennifer Kent-Walsh, Shakila Dada, and others. – 2. It is the fastest way for a clinician, teacher, or parents to get familiar with the language in the AAC device. If we don’t know what words are in there and where they are located, can... [Read More...]
January 18, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
It’s great to have some places to turn to when we need answers to AAC questions, resources to share, and the like. Here are some of the AAC groups that we’ve been able to count on for support. 1. ACOLUG: An oldie but a goodie. Run by Diane Bryen and Tracy Rackenberger, this email list is primarily a venue for people who use AAC to connect with one another but, in the spirit of inclusion, keeps the list open to professionals and students as well. 2. ASHA SIG 12: We can always count on their quarterly publication, Perspectives on AAC, and the online AAC community for support and pertinent information. We miss their annual conference, though! 3. Communication Matters AAC Forum : The ISAAC UK Chapter runs this and it is chock full of helpful information. We love the search feature and the digest options. 4. PACT: Promoting Augmentative Communication... [Read More...]
January 17, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
We’re super excited to see more and more AAC apps give real attention to core language. There are plenty of AAC tools and apps that allow for choicemaking, requesting, and other types of functional communication. Not all of them, however, have the key ingredients for the development of linguistic competence. We’ll be talking more about that in future posts, but for now, let’s just celebrate the fact that more AAC apps have what it takes for us to teach morphology and syntax.Speak for Yourself is one of the newest kids on the block and it looks like this one was worth waiting for. Developed by two SLPs, Heidi LoStracco and Renee Collender, Speak for Yourself piqued my interest when I saw it at the ASHA convention in San Diego. We’re having fun exploring what it can do and looking forward to using Speak for Yourself with some of our AAC... [Read More...]
January 6, 2012
by Robin Parker -
Explore Janice Light and Kathy Drager’s site on AAC and early intervention. Great information and adorable kids: guaranteed to inspire. Take a look at the white paper on AAC and iDevices by the AAC-RERC. Advocate for full funding for IDEA to make it easier for schools to serve kids with AAC needs. SLPs can do it quickly and easily at this ASHA page. Mentally run through the people you work with who use AAC. Make a schedule to periodically back-up their SGDs and apps. (You’ll thank yourself later.) Check out an EBP map from the National Center for EBP in Communication Disorders