December 7, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
Last month, we talked a lot about semantic intervention with people who are learning AAC. Once we got started, we realized we could have done another whole month on the topic, but we had to move on. We ran out of time before we could really talk about outcome measures. As clinicians, how do we determine whether our therapy is effective? Here are some things to do after you’ve provided high-quality, well-sequenced vocabulary instruction. Make small comprehension checks a regular part of your instruction. Ask the AAC learner to tell you about ___ . Then score their response as objectively as possible (e.g., complete & correct, correct but incomplete, vague, incorrect). You’ll get some real-time feedback and can clarify or re-teach as necessary. Assess in a standardized fashion. Standardized means doing something the same way each time. Set up appropriate assessment tasks that allow you to judge how well the... [Read More...]
May 31, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
The Fives 1. 5 Sites for Professionals who are Supporting Military Families with Special Needs Children 2. 5 Charitable Programs that Support Funding for Communication through Mobile Devices 3. 5 Sites for Tools & Tips on Self-Calming & Behavior Regulation 4. Five (More) Resources for Supporting Friendships in Individuals Who Use AAC PrAACtical Thinking Updated: 59 Free and Lite AAC Apps Magic Moments with Qwiki: PrAACtical Learning for Older Students and Adults PrAACtical Teaching PrAACtical Alert: How Your Junk Drawer Can Help People Who Use AAC Magic Moments with Toca Store Random App of Kindness Sticky Situation AAC ASD App From the Ivory Tower PrAACtical Resources: Evidence-Based Practice Maps PrAACtical Suggestions: 10 Ways to Help Families Make Informed Decisions about AAC PrAACtical Suggestions: How to Get Started with A New AAC Client, Part 1 International Cri du Chat Awareness Week Saying ‘I Love You’ on Mother’s Day iTaalk for Better Hearing and Speech Month... [Read More...]
May 24, 2012
by Robin Parker -
Memorial Day Weekend is big for us. We remember, appreciate, and honor the people who have protected our freedoms. We both have annual relaxing weekends planned. As we started to get ready, though, we started looking for Memorial Day AAC materials. It was surprising to see that there was not much to be found. We found some gluten-casein free Memorial Day recipes, which are great, but what about symbols to go with the recipes or symbols to explain the holiday and what about AAC language activities for the typical long weekend or trip? Not much…. So as we began preparing for our own weekends, these are some of the things we have done or are doing for PrAACtical AAC at home and on our mini-vacations: – Before We Leave Create a personal participation story (modified social story) so ALL the children can SEE the language for the trip. Here’s something that... [Read More...]
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...]
March 3, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
Here’s a riddle for you. Read the clues and guess what tool or strategy we’re talking about. Clue #1: It’s used in almost every classroom and therapy room serving students with ASD. Clue #2: The one for Johnny looks almost the same as the one for Jenny. Clue #3: It looks as nice in June as it did in September. If you guessed visual schedules, you’ve just named our March Strategy of the Month. Visual Schedules? But everybody already uses those. Why post about those? — Here’s why. – They’re ubiquitous. And yet when we talk with educators and SLPs about how the children are doing with their schedules, we get a look and a shrug. “Okay, I guess.” To be sure, okay is better than not okay. But visual schedules have so much potential to make lives better for clinicians, educators, and people with AAC needs that okay isn’t... [Read More...]
February 25, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
The only thing better than watching someone who uses AAC get the hang of it, is having the privilege of seeing this develop in future SLPs. Turn up the music, it’s time for the Happy Dance! I had the distinct pleasure this week of watching some of our graduate student clinicians ‘get it’ with respect to using the Strategy of the Month, Aided Language Input. It’s taken a few weeks, but then again they only see their AAC friends for a short amount of time. – Here are a few things we learned along the way. – 1. It takes time to get good at this. We’re speaking pidgin AAC until we get fluent, so just keep at it. Give yourself permission to be halting at first. Keep at it and the fluency will come. 2. It helps to start small. If the communication aid, SGD, or app is complex,... [Read More...]
February 15, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
This is the first in an occasional series in which we attempt to address questions posed to us by families, SLPs, and others who are providing AAC services. The first question we’ll tackle came from a school administrator who asked about what happens to AAC devices during transitions. — The Situation: School district A had purchased an AAC device for a student following sound educational practices, such as a feature match assessment in which all key stakeholders played a significant role. The student then moved to a different part of the state but the device did not. The administrator from School District B wondered, “Shouldn’t the student be able to keep her AAC device?” The administrator from the original school district didn’t think so. The device was costly, she reasoned, and while it had been customized for this particular student, it could easily be re-programmed for a different student. Budgets are... [Read More...]
February 4, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
Is anyone else totally floored by the stories of good people getting into bad situations that have been in the news lately?? While it can happen to anyone, it is probably true that people who use AAC face a number of safety risks that the rest of us don’t think much about. The people we work with may not have the vocabulary they need to talk about safety issues, report abuse, or even state objections/resistance in a forceful way. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The latest story to cross my inbox made me think of some of our AAC friends and what we, as SLPs and clinical educators, should be doing to provide support. The Canadian organization Augmentative Communication Community Partnerships, has some wonderful resources to help get us started. Among them is a set of communication displays, both text and picture-based, that can be useful to individuals with AAC needs.Originally... [Read More...]
January 4, 2012
by Robin Parker -
PrAACtical AAC was started by two professors of speech-language pathology, Robin Parker and Carole Zangari, both passionate about AAC. Our blog is a virtual space where we can muse aloud about the state of the field, share information about implementing AAC strategies, provide resources, and discuss news of interest to the AAC community. Robin passed away in July 2014. Carole continues to blog on a variety of AAC topics. You can read more about our blogging journey here and here. PrAACtical AAC’s Mission: To improve the level of AAC services available to individuals with significant communication challenges by supporting speech-language pathologists and other interested stakeholders Disclosure: This blog does not accept any form of advertising, sponsorship, or paid insertions. While we write for our own purposes, we may be influenced by our background, occupation, religion, political affiliation, and/or experiences. We occasionally accept products for giveaways or review. We try to avoid... [Read More...]