448 Search Results for autism
February 15, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. Sally SLP planned an adorable craft activity, but her students with autism and AAC needs just didn’t take to it. Tara Teacher brought out some age-respectful stickers to decorate cards, but several of the students stopped after placing just one sticker and got frustrated when encouraged to add more. Olivia OT pushed into the classroom as they were painting hearts to help with fine motor skill development, but some of the kids resisted doing anything more than a few brush strokes. Sound familiar? Art activities offer great potential for communication learning and practice, but they aren’t always preferred activities for some of our AAC students. There can be several good reasons for that, but a common problem is that the activity itself may be too open-ended. Some of our students do best with activities that have a clear beginning and ending. Open-ended activities, like many of... [Read More...]
February 8, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
Chances are, you are already using visual supports with your AAC learners. If they aren’t as effective as you imagined they would be, or if you need ideas for how to make them more appropriate for middle and high school students, this video is worth watching. Karine Gleason helps us learn more about making age respectful visual boundaries, cues, and schedules, and gives us tips for fine-tuning our implementation. Many thanks to TASN and the Tri-State Autism Spectrum Disorder Network for making and sharing this video.
January 18, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
What’s something that both AAC novices and experienced interventionists have in common? We all appreciate the opportunity to see AAC in action, particularly when we get some insight into how communication and language develops over time. In today’s featured video, we return to TASN Autism and Tertiary Behavior Supports in Kansas for a case study. Be sure to check out the accompanying resources on their site after you view the video. Enjoy!
January 12, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
The NJC has been one of my go-to resources for many years, so I was delighted when Amy Goldman agreed to write an update on recent activities. Amy is one of my AAC heroes but you may know her best from her long career of advocacy with AAC and AT through professional organizations (e.g., ASHA, USSAAC, ATIA, PSHA, ATAP). Amy is now one of three technical assistance specialists with the national Assistive Technology Act Technical Assistance and Training Center (AT3). She recently retired from her position as Co-Executive Director of the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University, PA’s University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities where she directed local, state, and federal projects related to assistive technology. She is honored to represent ASHA on the National Joint Committee for the Communication Needs of Persons with Severe Disabilities (NJC). She and I co-chair the ATIA strand on AAC and hope to see many... [Read More...]
December 5, 2016
by Carole Zangari -
At the ASHA Convention last month, I chatted with an SLP about her secret longing: To take a sabbatical and travel the world to see AAC in action. Wouldn’t that be exciting?! In the meantime, we’ll have to live vicariously and peek into AAC practices through the words and pictures of dedicated professionals. Angi Pearce, a teacher at Kowhai Special School in Hastings, New Zealand, was kind enough to help us out and share her experiences in increasing AAC use in her classroom. Angi is the team leader for the Junior School classes (ages 5-11) and graciously prepared this post with support from SLP Michelle Roberts. As you’ll see, Angi is a highly experienced educator but new to the world of AAC and not afraid to take risks and embrace change. Let’s take a look at how a veteran teacher stretched herself to incorporate more AAC into her classroom. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: AAC IN THE CLASSROOM My... [Read More...]
November 23, 2016
by Carole Zangari -
Looking for information on how to help people with autism and significant communication challenges become readers and writers? Dr. Janice Light has a full webinar on this topic that will certainly be of interest. Many thanks to the AAC RERC for the support in making this available to all.
November 10, 2016
by Carole Zangari -
We’re excited to welcome back SLPs Lori Sanzeri and Chelsea Collins, creators of Core City, to tell us more about implementing this approach. They both work for the NYC Department of Education and created Core City to promote classroom-wide support of AAC. Last month, they introduced us to Core City. In this post, they share some of the ways that they get everyone involved in using and teaching AAC. STAFF TRAINING The most difficult part of training all staff is finding the time. We are fortunate to have a supportive administration that understands the importance of communication and works to find time to allow us to meet for professional development. If you are not afforded this time, our experience has shown us that the most successful staff training occurs by us modeling our strategies while we are working with the children in the classroom. We encourage the following strategies to... [Read More...]
November 3, 2016
by Carole Zangari -
Today, we welcome Dr. Kimberly Ho, SLP and Director of Speech, Language and AAC Services at Confidence Connection in Needham, Massachusetts. In this post, she discusses how professionals in her organization are supporting AAC learners with autism on the journey toward flexible, generative language. I am the Director of Speech, Language and AAC Services at an ABA clinic, so naturally we serve many individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) of all ages. A vast number of learners with ASD can speak, but their speech is not functional to meet their communication needs. We have begun to provide word-based AAC systems for these students to move beyond scripting. Many individuals with ASD “script.” That is, they may not produce novel utterances, but rather chunks of phrases and sometimes entire sentences they have memorized. Sometimes this scripting is based on a character from a TV show or movie. Other times the script has been memorized in... [Read More...]
October 27, 2016
by Carole Zangari -
Nothing makes us smile like seeing teams in which professionals serving students with AAC needs work together to ensure that those students can use and grow their language skills. In this guest post, we learn about an approach that has worked for one such team, Lori Sanzeri and Chelsea Collins. Lori Sanzeri, MA CCC-SLP, TSHH, received her B.S. in Speech Language Pathology from SUNY Cortland in 2003 and M.A. from St. John’s University in 2009. She has worked for the NYC Department of Education since 2003 and teaches AAC and phonetics at St. John’s University. Chelsea Collins, MS CCC-SLP, TSSLD, received her B.S. in Special Education from Seton Hall University in 2009 and M.S. in Communicative Sciences and Disorders from New York University in 2012. She has worked for the NYC DOE since 2012 and specializes in AAC and early intervention. They are on Instagram as @thelanguageladies and have a Facebook page as... [Read More...]
October 24, 2016
by Carole Zangari -
Looking for some additional ways to support learners with AAC needs in educational settings? Here are some visual supports that you may want to explore. Emergency Drills from The Success Box Morning Meeting Binder from Central/South AT Center Social Narratives and Other Visual Supports by SET-BC “When I’m Upset” by File Folder Heaven Tri-fold Displays with for conversation and behavior regulation by TASN