30 Search Results for wagner

How We Do It: The Talk Flock – Taking Care of Caregivers

July 1, 2019 by - 2 Comments

How We Do It: The Talk Flock - Taking Care of Caregivers

How can we better support parents and caregivers of children with AAC needs? Meredith Laverdure and Jaime Lawson, who are SLPs and former co-workers, wanted to do more for the families they served. Meredith is currently a doctoral student at Old Dominion University.  Her clinical and research interests include building communicative competence for children with complex communication needs with group interventions, as well as family- and community-level support.  Jaime has predominately worked with pediatric clients, focusing on AAC/AT evaluations and intervention. Her clinical and research interests include enhancing communicative opportunities for children across settings and in various social settings, group intervention, family-centered therapy, and communication partner training. In this post, Meredith and Jaime share their experiences in developing The Talk Flock, a parent education and support group. Enjoy! The Talk Flock: Taking Care of Caregivers As speech-language pathologists in the outpatient pediatric setting with a busy AAC/AT clinic, we tried to... [Read More...]

PrAACtical AAC Spanish Language Initiative

May 13, 2019 by - 3 Comments

PrAACtical AAC Spanish Language Initiative

We couldn’t be more excited that the world’s AAC experts will be coming together in Mexico next summer for the ISAAC 2020 Conference. In recognition of this wonderful event, we’re excited to embark on a new project here at PrAACtical AAC. We hope that you will support this initiative and help us get this new project off the ground. PrAACtical AAC en Español is our effort at supporting the Spanish-speaking community and we are thrilled that this will be headed up by AAC specialist and veteran SLP, Deanna Wagner. Many of you are familiar with Deanna through her work in Arizona, her presentations around the world, her articles on the wonderful blog AAC Girls, and her guest posts on these pages (like her AACtual Therapy posts here and here, and videos such as this one).  Over the next few months, she will be coordinating efforts to build a collection of Spanish-language... [Read More...]

AAC Posts from Our PrAACtical Week: December 2018

December 30, 2018 by - Leave your thoughts

AAC Posts from Our PrAACtical Week: December 2018

Hope you are having a happy, healthy holiday season, AAC friends. Here are some posts you may have missed amongst all the festivities. Monday – ‘Twas the Night Before an AAC Christmas Tuesday – Merry Christmas! Wednesday – Top AAC Videos of 2018 Thursday – PrAACtically January: AAC Resources for A Year of Core Words Saturday – PrAACtical AAC Question of the Month: Terminology :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Interested in a few more articles to browse? Here’s a selection to choose from. Got Holiday Cards? 5 PrAACtical Suggestions AACtual Therapy with Deanna Wagner: Why Cook When You Can’t Eat? Communication Access Cards Visual Organization, Themes, & Duct Tape Beyond Requesting: Thoughts on Teaching Information Transfer Before you go, would you take 2 minutes to answer a 4-question survey? We’re providing some feedback to authors who write AAC textbooks and journal articles and they want your opinion on terminology. Loading…

Thoughts on Embracing Multilingualism and Diversity in AAC

December 3, 2018 by - Leave your thoughts

Thoughts on Embracing Multilingualism and Diversity in AAC

How can we best support learners with complex communication needs who come from a variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds? Today, we turn the reins over to Arizona-based SLP Deanna Wagner who shares her thoughts on embracing and encouraging multilingualism and diversity in our AAC work. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: My latest article on cultural diversity has just been published in the ASHA Special Issue on Cultural and Linguistic Diversity and AAC, guest edited by Gloria Soto!  That means that ASHA members who have a Special Interest Group affiliation can access it and receive CEU credit for studying the content and answering a few questions.  Since not all readers are members of an ASHA SIG, I would like to take a moment to share my experiences in preparing the manuscript that I submitted for this article. Most importantly, as people who serve the needs of those who benefit from AAC, we all need... [Read More...]

AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week #50: December, 2017

December 10, 2017 by - Leave your thoughts

AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week #50: December, 2017

Baking, shopping, wrapping. Grading, report-writing. Ugly sweaters, Secret Santas, Elf on a Shelf, Mensch on a Bench. December is zooming by. If you missed a few posts, we get it. Put your feet up, take a breath, and click away! Monday – PrAACtical Research: AAC Intervention for Children with ASD Wednesday – Video of the Week: Parent’s Guide to AAC Assessment Thursday – PrAACtical Collaboration: Teaming Up to Build Communication with a Treat Cart (Part 1) Saturday – When Disaster Strikes: USSAAC’s Response to Families with AAC Needs Still in the AAC mood? Here’s a sampling of previous posts on cooking and AAC for your browsing pleasure. PrAACtical Supports for Older Learners: AT Recipes for Success, Part 5 – Let’s Cook! How I Do It: Cooking in the Classroom with Carol Goossens’ Literacy: Cookies & Core AACtual Therapy with Deanna Wagner: Why Cook When You Can’t Eat? PrAACtical Peek: Decorating Cookies

PrAACtical Resources: AAC 101 Flipbook Handout

June 5, 2017 by - 13 Comments

PrAACtical Resources: AAC 101 Flipbook Handout

Looking for a quick, easy-to-read resource to supplement your AAC trainings with colleagues and families? In today’s post we share a flipbook-style handout that might come in handy. It covers basic tips under these headings: AAC Near Me (See me, see my AAC) Speak AAC (Aided language input) Speaking Style (Descriptive talking) Expectations (Setting the bar high) Support (AAC facilitation strategies) FAQs (Q & A about implementation) Top 10 Tips You can download the file here. Edited: This was translated into Spanish as part of the Hablando PráctiCAAmente project, coordinated by Deanna Wagner. Dianna Angeles was the translator and Claudia Marimón assisted with the editing. You can access the Spanish edition here. Enjoy!  

Video of the Week: Shared Writing and AAC

September 28, 2016 by - Leave your thoughts

Video of the Week: Shared Writing and AAC

Looking to round out your literacy supports with writing activities? Shared writing using a predictable chart is a great strategy to utilize with students who use AAC because there are so many rich opportunities for learning about print while practicing communication. In this video, SLP and AAC specialist Deanna Wagner describes the process of using core word sentence starters and covers essential elements of implementation. If you are not doing formal writing instruction with AAC learners, this is a great place to start. Direct Link to Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll90gwo5rQQ

LiveBinders: 5 Online Notebooks on AAC Implementation

August 22, 2016 by - 1 Comment

LiveBinders: 5 Online Notebooks on AAC Implementation

At the ISAAC 2016 conference in Toronto, I had the opportunity to talk about using technology to share information with families, colleagues, and pre-professionals. LiveBinders, is one of the tools that were discussed both in the pre-conference session with Chris Bugaj and in my seminar on pre-service AAC education. LiveBinders are digital notebooks that make it easy to collect, curate, and share information. We’ve been writing about this tool for the past four years, but there is new material being created all the time. Here are some AAC-related LiveBinders that I’ve been exploring. AAC by Jill Beall/Region 7  ABCs of AAC (Preschool AAC) by D. McLauchlin  Literacy and AAC/Balanced Literacy by Deanna Wagner  TAAT 2015 by Janice Reese  Visuals for ASD by Penelope Arp  For more information on LiveBinders and features that you may not know about, check out their tutorials and blog. Do you make or use LiveBinders? We’d... [Read More...]

5 Presentation Handouts on AAC Topics

May 19, 2015 by - Leave your thoughts

5 Presentation Handouts on AAC Topics

AAC people are notorious for their love of professional development. If you haven’t been able to attend as many conferences as you would have liked, you might enjoy these handouts from AAC presentations in the US and Australia. Jane Farrall and Sally Clendon (AGOSCI, May 2015): Self-selected Reading Ashley Robinson (NCACA, 2015): Building Classroom Communities to Support AAC Users Caroline Musselwhite, Erin Sheldon, Deanna Wagner, Laurel Buell, & Gretchen Hanser (Closing the Gap, 2014): Communication Circles Lauren Enders (ATIA, 2014): AAC-Ideas for Infusing Core Language Across the Curriculum Jennifer Buxton (ATIA, 2014): AT Implementation in the School Setting – Struggles and Successes    

How We Do It: AAC at the Larc School with Kaitlyn Connors and Rachel Egbert

May 18, 2015 by - Leave your thoughts

How We Do It: AAC at the Larc School with Kaitlyn Connors and Rachel Egbert

In honor of ASHA’s Better Hearing and Speech Month, we’ve invited clinicians who use AAC in their schools to share a bit about their work here on PrAACtical AAC. Today’s post is from Kaitlyn Connors and Rachel Egbert, two school-based SLPs in New Jersey. For the past 8 years, Kaitlyn has worked with children who use AAC. She earned her Master’s degree from Ithaca College and remains passionate about AAC, and helping each student communicate to the best of their abilities. Rachel earned her Master’s degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2013.  She eagerly keeps abreast of the latest advances in AAC, which help her to deliver the most positive outcome possible for her students. Both Kaitlyn and Rachel currently serve students at Larc School. Beyond Requesting: PrAACtical Ideas for Building Language in the Classroom To take one student beyond requesting during snack time we implemented a core language board... [Read More...]