44 Search Results for teenage
May 5, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
We are fortunate to have a return visit from Tina Moreno, who brings her experiences both as an SLP and also as a mom of a teenager who has used AAC for most of his life. In this post, Tina shares some of the strategies that she has used to support AAC students in their classrooms. If you are a school-based SLP, don’t miss Tina’s classroom observation form for gathering data on how AAC is being used in various activities and lessons. GIVE THEM FIVE As an SLP in the school setting, helping teachers support students in the classroom can be a big challenge. While we can see students making progress in our therapy sessions, it can be difficult to get the same results in the classroom. An important role of the SLP is to collaborate with teachers to help students generalize these skills in conversation with their peers and other... [Read More...]
February 12, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
Those of you who are still digging your way out of the most recent snowstorm may not believe it, but it’s almost time to make plans for summer. There are quite a few AAC camps, some that are quite well established and others that have been running for only a few years (see our AAC Camp Pinterest board here). In this post, we hear about one of them from Tina Moreno, an SLP and mom of Mateo, who uses PicturePower 100 on the Maestro to communicate, maintain friendships with his teammates on the cross country team, advocate for himself, reveal his wicked sense of humor, and even sing the National Anthem for his high school’s basketball games. Tina blogs at Voices4All. With the help of Drs. Karen Erickson and David Koppenhaver, she and her friend Gina Cunningham created Camp ALEC together in memory of Gina’s son Alec, who never gave up, and... [Read More...]
September 8, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
Summer is over in our part of the world and that means we get the opportunity to work with a whole new crop of students and clients. There is so much for beginning clinicians to know about providing AAC services that it is intimidating at best and overwhelming in most cases. In previous posts we’ve written about expectations, goal-setting, intervention strategies, therapy activities, reinforcement, feedback, and the like. This month, we’ll focus on a construct that permeates everything: engagement We all know what it looks and feels like when a client is engaged, but how do we make that happen? Here are some thoughts. 1. Start by presuming that your client is a learner on his/her way to developing competence. Good intervention, consistent language models, the right tools, and plenty of practice will move them along the journey toward improved communication. It’s important that, as clinicians, we truly believe that.... [Read More...]
August 14, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
We got this question from an SLP who recently helped a young adult get funding for a speech generating device (SGD): Should we put symbols for yes and no on the student’s communication device? Like other things in clinical practice, it depends of the specifics of the situation. In this case, she wanted to start out with a very small vocabulary set and build gradually. That sure makes sense, but where she got stuck was with which specific words to include. Team members were encouraging her to include yes and no, hence the question. There is no one-size-fits-all answer for this. Here are some things we think about in making that decision for and with an AAC learner. Does he/she have another way to say yes/no? If so, then this may not be the best use of the limited ‘real estate’ on the learner’s SGD. In the case of this... [Read More...]
February 26, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
When we did our graduate training, there was little or no mention of Rett Syndrome, a genetic disorder involving a mutation of the MECP2 (Methyl CpG Binding Protein 2) gene on the long arm of the X chromosome. It is a complex disorder and the abilities of those who are affected by it are generally masked by the motor challenges that are a part of Rett. We’ve asked some professionals experienced in Rett and AAC to help us use this space to help us gain a better understanding of the disorder and its implications for AAC intervention. Sally-Ann Garrett (Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist; Reg. HCPC; MRCSLPT, Reg. ASLTIP) is one who agreed to do so and we are grateful for her perspective. Sally-Ann is semi-retired now but has worked with girls affected by Rett Syndrome for 30 of her 42 years as an SLT. She lived in Canada for a number... [Read More...]
February 11, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
If there is anything scarier than having a very sick child in the ICU, it has to be when that child has no means of communication. In this Research Tuesday post, we join the efforts spearheaded by Rachel Wynn of Gray Matter Therapy to share an article that discusses the issues and presents some solution strategies. When we think of research studies in SLP, we think of experimental designs and randomized controlled trials (RCTs). In AAC, group research designs are uncommon because of the immense heterogeneity of this clinical population. Even limiting the study to one single disorder and age group, say teenagers with dysarthria secondary to cerebral palsy, contains too much heterogeneity for most group research. Instead, we see more single subject design experimental studies (SSEDs) in AAC. When well-designed, SSEDs have strong experimental control and allow researchers to answer causal questions, such as “did the treatment (e.g., teaching... [Read More...]
September 11, 2013
by Robin Parker -
We have students of all ages who love dinosaurs. From young children to the teenager or adult we can use the theme of dinosaurs when teaching AAC, language and literacy. You can do a theme of fun dinosaurs all the way to paleontology and archeology. Dinosaurs as a theme can support goals for core & fringe vocabulary, narratives, reading, and writing. Many students will do more and work harder if there is a high interest theme. Here are some apps for those dinosaur loving students. Dinosaurs Books BooksHow to Hide A Dinosaur– children, iPad, fun book Dinoboy Adventures– children, iPad & iPhone +, interactive book where you can make choices to modify the story Tiny Time Machine- Dinosaurs– children, iPad & iPhone +, a travel adventure mystery Oh Can You Say Di -NO -Saur Dr. Seuss Cat In the Hat– children, iPad & iphone + , fun book Dinosaur Book HD: iDinobook–... [Read More...]
August 30, 2013
by Robin Parker -
by Carole Zangari, originally published on August 27, 2012 “How was school?” (Good) “What did you do?” (Nothing) This scenario plays out in many cars and kitchens in the after school hours and it can be hard to know who is more frustrated: the kids for being asked or the parents for not getting satisfactory answers. And still, we repeat the process day after day. Of course, we want to know the fine details of what happened and how our children felt, but in some cases, we’d settle for ANY school-related conversation at all. I’ll be the first to admit that it took me way too long to get the hang of how to get information about my children’s school days, and it seemed like just when I did, pow! They were pre-teens and then teenagers. New rule book. Here are some ‘lessons learned’ along the way about those afterschool conversations and... [Read More...]
July 13, 2013
by Robin Parker -
The Strategy of the Month involves AAC and the ‘older learner’. The ‘older learner’ involves a range of ages (We are ‘older learners’ for way longer than we are children) as well as a wide range of functioning levels. Even with this variation though, we know that ALL older learners can learn. There are challenges with ‘older learners’ that need to be addressed in order to facilitate spontaneous and generative communication and language. The challenges may result from years and years of going to intervention (some of it effective, some not), from perceived failure by the learner and/or the professionals, or may even just be related to that ‘teenager or adult’ independent streak. These challenges can definitely be overcome in order to help develop a functional and robust communication system for ALL learners. Just remember respect the learner as a competent teenager or adult (e.g., think what a typical language... [Read More...]
July 6, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
When learners are still struggling with communication in their teenage years and beyond, it means we have a lot of catching up to do. There are lots of implications for us as SLPs, of course, but the main one is this: Every interaction should have a purpose. As we head to the waiting room or classroom to see this student, we’re focused on how we can elicit practice on meaningful skills in the next few minutes. On a good day, we can use these few minutes before the session productively. Before we get to the therapy room we try to: use expectant pauses and graduated prompting to elicit a greeting at his/her highest level engage him/her in conversation to practice social exchanges provide opportunities for him/her to respond to a non-obligatory communicative context and facilitate a response make basic requests, like asking for help to open the door that we’ve... [Read More...]