Today we head to Australia to see some great examples of communication support in the daily lives of women in a group home. Enjoy this video by Inner South Communication Service. Direct link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PljrI54od6A&app=desktop
As SLP’s we love to have families learn and carryover the work we do in speech-language treatment sessions. This helps ensure carryover of progress and generalization of therapy success. However, as Carole clearly illustrated last Monday, there are a lot of family dynamics, cultural issues, and family challenges that make adding extra work possibly burdensome. We really (really) do not want to burden families, but its beneficial to have AAC communication happen all day long. We once had a client who had a very huge house with lots of bedrooms, but mom chose to keep her children together in one bedroom. This was just in case the AAC user woke in the middle of the night. Then she would have someone close by as a communication partner. This was a family who took home programming to the max and expanded and modified it to fit their family. A main issue... [Read More...]
Practicing skills outside of therapy is a good way to extend the learning process and generalize skills to functional environments. It isn’t appropriate for every situation, but when it is, here are some things we try to think about. 1. It should focus on skills they have, not ones they need to learn. Why? Because when we’re learning new things, we get it wrong fairly often. And we don’t want to give them practice getting it wrong. Instead, the home practice should be on things they know and can do, but don’t do consistently. Home practice is a great way to build fluency and automaticity. 2. Tie it into the client’s interests. Use materials or topics that they enjoy. 3. Teach it. Resist the temptation to quickly go over the home practice in the last 60 seconds of therapy or in the waiting room. We’ve all done it, but strive... [Read More...]
Yes. Although this question was settled definitively in 1991 by US Special Education Programs former director Judith Schrag, there are still some misinformed professionals saying otherwise. In most cases, administrators cannot limit AAC device use to school grounds only. As long as the team agrees that the student needs to be able to communicate throughout the day, then the AAC device can go home in the afternoon, on weekends, on holiday breaks, and during the summer. The “Schrag Letter” (OSEP, November 27, 1991) asserted that “if the IEP team determines that a particular assistive technology item is required for home use in order for a particular child to be provided Free Appropriate Public Education, the technology must be provided to implement the IEP.” There may be an IEP team out there somewhere who feels that a student only needs to communicate during the 6-hour school day, but we haven’t met... [Read More...]
These videos from Autism House (in Indiana) have some great illustrations of using visual schedules and calendars at home. If you’re looking for different kinds of examples, these videos are for you. Click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2. —
In a previous post, guest author Sara Ware shared a tool for progress monitoring. Today, she returns to discuss how it is used in her own clinical practice. Evolving Progress Monitoring for Beginning AAC Users- Where Do I Begin? As AAC SLPs, we often also assume the roles of coach, cheerleader, teacher, mentor, team member and advocate. However, in order to advocate for AAC, we need to be able to identify the benefits that AAC brings to the lives of our clients. As I mentioned in Part 1 of this series, progress looks different for everyone, particularly beginning AAC users. This is what led to the development of the “Pediatric Prelinguistic and Linguistic Skill Assessment for AAC Users.” You may be asking yourself, where do I begin with this tool or how do I use it? Let’s dive in with a few examples by meeting AAC users Eddie and Abigail... [Read More...]
Looking for a way to support families who are getting started with AAC or want to reboot their efforts to include it in everyday life? Today’s video features AAC SLPs Tabi Jones Wohleber, Rachael Langley, and PrAACtical AAC’s own Carole Zangari, providing an overview of the free materials available through the Stepping into AAC project. Many thanks to all of the presenters and the Angelman Syndrome Foundation for recording this session as part of their 2024 Angelman Syndrome Family Conference and making it available. If this sounds like a good fit for you, check out the Stepping Into AAC resources here. Direct Link to Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0sHcsUZw3A
We’re in the home stretch of our Stepping Into AAC series! Follow along as we continue with a focus on ‘AAC on the go’ and talk about connecting with the AAC community. If you missed the earlier posts, you can view those using the links below. Introduction: A PrAACtical Guide to Stepping into AAC Week 1: Starting a Journey with Stepping into AAC Weeks 2-5: Building a Foundation with Stepping into AAC Weeks 6-8: Customizing AAC Tools with Stepping into AAC Weeks 9-12: Getting More Comfortable with AAC Practices Weeks 13-14: AAC & Reading Weeks 15-17: AAC in Everyday Life Target Words: do, he, over, she, they, where Communicative Intents: Social exchanges, exclamations, & humor Hands-on Activities: Try your best to complete the 5 daily activities, each of which take less than 10 minutes. These brief, simple AACtion steps help in building habits of AAC use that will allow your... [Read More...]
In the US, the new school year is underway in some places, and others are gearing up for the return in a few weeks. Here are a few things from previous posts that might come in handy. AAC 101 Flipbook This all-in-one resource contains information on how to implement key AAC support strategies: AAC 101 Handout. AAC Options Ensure that every student who needs AAC has access to at least a starter set of words and phrases. There are plenty of core communication boards and flipbooks to choose from, and this post has links to a variety of them: Core Boards. Hands-on AAC Interactive experiences where communication partners get to try out and use AAC to learn and express themselves can be very powerful. If you need ideas or materials to use, check out the options we shared in an earlier post: Hands-On Activities. Parent Training Materials The Stepping into... [Read More...]
As we prepare for a new academic year, we’re delighted to reconnect with guest authors Michaela Sullivan and Lindsay Dougherty. Today, they kick off preparation for the upcoming school year with another wonderful set of Older Student Lessons in the School Year of Core Vocabulary Words series. Scroll down for some terrific resources, including two slide decks full of activities and the data collection forms specific to the Sugust core words. Their post also includes some helpful information on a key AAC support strategy, aided language input. SCHOOL YEAR OF CORE- Older Student Lessons Access & Copy below: Weeks 1-2 Google Slides Weeks 3-4 Google Slides INTRODUCTION- AUGUST 2024 Welcome back to the School Year of Core – Older Student Lessons: August! School is back in session for many and the summer is nearing the final stretch. Welcome back to the School Year of Core- Older Student Lessons (SYOC-OSL resource,... [Read More...]