We had a busy week filled with learning about AAC, autism, and inclusive education. Hope your week was just as productive! Monday: Three Ways to Use AAC Goals to Strengthen Implementation Wednesday: Video of the Week – Observational Assessment of Beginning Communicators
Today, we welcome back Vicki Clarke with more helpful information on conducting AAC assessments. If you work with individual who are at the early stages of communicative development, this post is for you! :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Some of my most favorite students are those who, at first, may not seem to notice me at all. Sometimes these students seem to exist in their own worlds. They don’t seem to respond in ways we would expect: looking, attending, listening, or gesturing. They may have a diagnosis of Autism, significant developmental delay, epilepsy, or any number of syndromes. I love these kids, and unfortunately, these are often the students who don’t get referred to me. Sometimes it takes years of working in a district before I get to see students with significant developmental delays. These children are typically served in classrooms for students considered to be severe/profound or multi-handicapped. Honestly, I usually get the... [Read More...]
We’ve been writing about aided language input, a pivotal strategy for supporting AAC learners, for several years. In fact, there are over 200 posts tagged with this term. In this post, we gather together some of the most popular posts on this fundamental intervention strategy. Implementation A PrAACtical Idea for Aided Language Input Using Aided Language Input to Build Communication Opportunities! How I Do It: Implementing Aided Language Input with Alicia Garcia Pivotal Skills for AAC Intervention: Aided Language Input How We Do It: Controlled Practice in Partner Augmented Input with Jill Senner & Matthew Baud Text-Based Aided Language: Making the Literacy-Communication Connection for Children with Autism Videos PrAACtical Resources: Video Explainers for Aided Language Input Video of the Week: Aided Language Input with Gail Van Tatenhove Video of the Week: Aided Language Input with Dr. Caroline Musselwhite PrAACtical Resources: Video Examples of Aided Language Input Aided Language Input in... [Read More...]
AAC posts you may have missed in your busy week. Monday – PrAACtical Resources: Video Examples of Aided Language Input Wednesday – Visual Immersion Program Thursday – How We Do It: Controlled Practice with Partner Augmented Input
Had a busy week? Here are a few posts that you may have missed. Monday – PrAACtical Teaching in an ASD Classroom: Little Tips for Big Core Wednesday – Video of the Week: AAC at Home Thursday – Beyond Autism Awareness to Acceptance, Understanding and Inclusion
Hope you had a great start to Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month! Monday – PrAACtical Resources: Video Explainers for Aided Language Input Wednesday – Video of the Week: Getting Started with PODD Friday – PrAACtically April: Resources for a Year of Core Vocabulary Words
Last month, I had an opportunity to hear Dr. Barry Prizant, Director of Childhood Communication Services and Adjunct Professor at Brown University, at the 2016 Center for Autism and Related Disabilities Conference. Many of you know Dr. Prizant as co-author of SCERTS, the Social Communication Emotional Regulation Transactional Supports Program, and his recent book, Uniquely Human, discussed in this video. At this conference, he spoke on ‘An Emotional Regulation Approach to Preventing Problem Behavior.’ Here are some points of interest from his presentation. Dr. Prizant suggested that when someone is dysregulated, the first thing we should think about is biological factors that may be causing or exacerbating the problem. Why? Because unless we address the root of the problem, chances are slim that any behavioral, communicative, or psychological strategies will be effective in the long run. In some cases, there is a rather straightforward solution, such as teaching our client... [Read More...]
I had a wonderful time this past weekend connecting with colleagues and learning from ASD experts at the 2016 Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (CARD) Conference in Orlando. One of the keynotes, “From Building Social Relationships to Improved Quality of Life Outcomes for Youth on the Autism Spectrum: We Finally Know What We Already Knew,” was given by Dr. Scott Bellini. I also attended his talk on the Building Social Relationships program. Here are some of the take-aways from those two sessions. Evidence Base The evidence base for social skills training is variable. While his meta-analysis on school-based social skills training found that social skills interventions were minimally effective, there are several effective strategies that can be used in that and other settings. When evidence-based strategies, including video modeling and video self-modeling and social narratives, are used within the context of social skills training, the overall efficacy is much greater. The evidence... [Read More...]
Joel Shaul, of Autism Teaching Strategies, has been so generous in sharing the creative resources that he has developed over the years. In this post, we take a look at Fix the Problem, a game that he created to support learners who have difficulty in social situations. The game board, playing cards, tokens (play money), and other materials are all free downloads. You can get them here. If you download and use these materials, please consider heading back to Joel’s website to leave a comment, provide feedback, or share a photo. Enjoy! You can see more of Joel’s work here.
When SLPs and teachers work together for the benefit of students with little or no functional speech, the results can be magical. Today, we travel to Wisconsin to visit with SLP Dana Brown and Special Educator Sara Olsen who work together at the elementary school level. In this post, Dana and Sara tell us about their experiences using PODD in a classroom of students with intellectual disability. You can learn more about their work on YouTube (Watch Your Language) where they post Word of the Week videos and snippets of AAC use in different clasroom activities. Regular readers know that we’ve posted a few articles and videos on PODD. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: We write as a team of special educators, a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) and an Intellectual Disabilities teacher, and one thing that we’ve learned working closely together is that AAC is difficult and ongoing. In this post, we are excited to share... [Read More...]