This week, we’re heading back to the Autism and Tertiary Behavior Supports Project of the Kansas Technical Assistance Network. They have two wonderful videos by Lori Chambers on Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). – You can view an overview of this approach here: Part 1 and Part 2 . Also, look for the handouts that accompany these videos. –
We’ve been thinking a lot lately about the social skills of some of our AAC friends who are not quite fitting in the way that they would like. SLPs frequently work on social interaction skills with learners on the ASD spectrum, but it’s not something that we always think about with learners who have cerebral palsy, apraxia, or other developmental disabilities. – The idea of using a balance scale as a metaphor for balance in conversational turns is intriguing and one we’ve explored a bit. In this video from Autism Teaching Strategies, Joel Shaul demonstrates the strategy and discusses it relative to turn-taking (Click here for Part 1 and click here for the second video). That makes sense for a lot of learners who don’t respond to non-obligatory situations as well as they could. – We’ve also used it for helping people with AAC see how their utterances compare to... [Read More...]
This week, we return to the team at the Autism and Tertiary Behavior Supports Project of the Kansas Technical Assistance Network. They have two wonderful videos by Jane Goetz and Lori Chambers on Pragmatically Organized Dynamic Displays. You can view ‘It’s All About the Interaction,” Part 1 and Part 2 . Also, look for the handout and tip sheet that accompanies these videos. –
Cohesion is a tough concept for many of our learners who are developing their AAC skills and struggling to build relationships. In this week’s featured video, Joel Shaul, from Autism Teaching Strategies, discusses how to use two metaphors for building cohesive conversations. One is the idea of links in a chain and the other is the girders of a building. Of course, we are big fans of the use of visual supports whenever we talk and teach. — Although the focus here is learners with ASD, we’ve used this and similar strategies many kinds of learners. Hope you enjoy this informative video. – – – –
This week we return to the Geneva Centre for Autism for have two short videos from on strategies to support positive behavior. – Enjoy these explanatory videos on Clear Expectations With Visual Rules and Classroom Rules. –
Throughout this month we focused on visual supports & strategies for positive behavior. We have discussed transition supports, environmental arrangements, and consequence mapping. As we wrap up, we don’t want to forget PrAACtical AAC strategies for self-calming. We like to think about self-calming like this- some weeks we need it more than others, some days we need it more than others. We all need self- calming strategies. Whether we vent to a friend, go for a run, knit, take deep breaths, or get a glass of wine (although we are not advocating this), we all use self-calming strategies. It makes a huge difference. Sometimes though helping our students self-calm at times may seem “easier said than done”, but we know it truly is ‘easier when SEEN‘. Self-calming strategies can help before, during, and after behavior challenges . We will often teach and use self calming strategies if we know a potentially stressful situation will... [Read More...]
This week’s video comes from Katie Thomas of the Autism and Tertiary Behavior Supports Project of the Kansas Technical Assistance Network and deals with the who, what, when, where, and why of using visual supports to promote positive behavior. – There are several supporting documents including the PowerPoint handout, and some of the supports they review (e.g., calendar, first/then, wait card). We love the detailed description and the many examples they share. – Click here to view the video. –
This week we have a series of short videos from the Geneva Centre for Autism on strategies to support positive behavior. Enjoy these explanatory videos on Supporting Positive Behaviors During Changes, Change in Routine, and Learning to Wait. –
We’re back again with an updated list of free and lite versions of AAC apps that includes many additions for the Android platform. As in the past, we’re including some additional resources and excerpts from previous posts related to AAC app selection and the larger context of AAC assessment. We’ve appreciated the feedback on first draft of RELAAACs, our attempt to quantify some of what we look for when we try to compare AAC apps based on their language and communication features, and continue to welcome your suggestions. We do have plans to revise and update this once we get through the summer semester. (The trimester system is a killer!) —————————————————————————————————– – Thanks to all who’ve given us great feedback and suggestions on our list of free and lite AAC apps. If you’ve been following our blog, you know that we have mixed feelings about the AAC app revolution. More specifically, we’ve... [Read More...]
A young AAC user whom I know shared a story with me recently about feeling left out and struggling to find out why. Although she is smart, has age appropriate receptive language, and good command of her high tech SGD, building and maintaining friendships is a struggle. One of the things we’ll be doing to make changes in that area is to learn more about what makes a good conversation, adding vocabulary to make small talk easier, and practicing that. – Here’s a nice video, from Autism Teaching Strategies, that shows how to use visual supports and music to help learners remember to use some of the conversational continuers. Although Joel Shaul demonstrates this with visual supports that have words and phrases, the strategy works just as well with pictures for pre-literate communicators. – – Enjoy!