Sunday: Video of the Week – AAC App Selection Help Monday: Strategy of the Month – Building Sentence Length Tuesday: Research Tuesday – Comparing PECS and SGDs Wednesday: Watch It Wednesday: Effective Communication Strategies Thursday: How We Do It: Using the Pocket Calendar With Heather Buhr and Dr. Kristy Weissling Friday: Evidence-Based AAC Strategies for Students with Autism with Betsy Corporale
It’s prAACtically Father’s Day. There are many things to talk about, create, eat, and prepare for this special day. Check out these fun activities that can be done during communication therapy, at home, or at school. Some can be done with dad and others can be done for dad as gifts. Enjoy the communication process. Record “I Love You” on a one hit message device/card/picture. You can give a card or talking picture as a gift. You can use the one hit message device to tell dad “I love you” many times for father’s day and beyond. Use Talking to Dad Visual Supports/Worksheets by Joel Shaul at Autism Teaching Strategies to create meaningful conversations Play a memory game with dad that is supported with PCS (Thank you Mayer Johnson) Use a visual recipe to prepare a sweet treat for dad. Consider chocolate covered pretzels. Create a power point book about... [Read More...]
This month’s ‘Strategy of the Month’ has been focused on supporting families. To fully support families, it is essential to provide family friendly resources that can aid in creating Personal Learning Networks (PLN’s). The more families know and learn, the more likely the AAC learner will progress in their communication skills. Also, the more information families have, the better advocates they will become. And since families are one of the only constants in an AAC learner’s educational and life journey, the family is really the most important part the communication team. About AAC About AAC- ASHA AAC Institute- Parent’s Corner Center for AAC & Autism AAC -Family Resources Assistive Technology Resources- Autism Speaks Communication Matters Communication Books & Boards ConnectAbility http://www.setbc.org/pictureset/ Pre-made Communication Boards Help Designing Communication Books Free & Discounted AAC Apps Appy Malls Smart Apps for Kids Moms with Apps The iMums Apps Wheel *(categorized wheel of apps to... [Read More...]
We believe all months and days should be dedicated to better speech (communication) and hearing. However, May is the official Better Speech and Hearing Month. With that in mind, no-tech visual supports help us all have better understanding and expressive communication. Watch the University of Miami and Nova Southeastern University- Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (UM-NSU CARD) webinar by Maricarmen Saleta as she gives great explanations and examples of ‘Visuals Everyday’. Direct Link: http://umnsucard.adobeconnect.com/p59bqo69epm/
Sunday – Video of the Week: Apps for Autism Monday – About Difference Tuesday – A Little AAC Reading Wednesday – Watch It Wednesday: Seating and Positioning for AT Access Thursday – AACtual Therapy: Positive Behavior Management with Gail Bennell Friday – PrAACtical Questions: Does Word Prediction Really Make Communication Faster?
There is a lot of prAACtical buzz around 2 AAC apps that have recently released free/lite versions Check them out: Avaz Lite Version- AAC App for Autism (Augmentative Picture Communication Software for Children with Special Needs)- Try out Avaz AAC app with the lite version and a 7-day promotional subscription period to the symbols and voices which can be used for decision making options. Learn more about the full version at Avaz Support. Dynavox Compass (try for 30 days or full version for ASHA Certified Professionals)- A full version for professionals with weekly resource emails with videos and tips to help learn the full potential of the app. Other long standing free and lite versions: 133 Free or Lite Versions of AAC Apps
We are pleased to share a guest post by SLP Jason Butcher, who serves students at Grant County Middle School. Jason has been working with middle and high school students for the past 14 years. He earned his Master’s in Communication Disorders from the University of Kentucky in 1999. He admits that he came to do AAC more out of necessity than interest due to serving a huge variety and degree of speech/language impairments on his caseload. He has always enjoyed working with technology and is patient when fixing problems, qualities that he thinks have served him well when hitting the inevitable roadblocks that come with working in the area of AAC. In this post, Jason shares some candid thoughts on the transition from PECS to an iPad for a student with whom he works. It was nearing the end of September when I began to fear that Ms. Ruff, a teacher... [Read More...]
We are so excited to launch, PrAACtically SLPs, a new series featuring the voices of graduate students in SLP programs who do outstanding work in AAC. We start off with a wonderful group from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Allie Rodriguez, Caitlin Rich, and Megan Latta are second year SLP students who will be graduating in May. They recently concluded an AAC course taught by Dr. Penny Hatch, who continues to mentor them in the field of AAC and literacy. I met these energetic young professionals at the North Carolina Augmentative Communication Association Conference in February and was inspired by their passion. In this post, they tell us about their AAC experiences on a trip to Guatemala. Hungry for Bilingual AAC? Today, our population is becoming more culturally diverse, which, in turn, has caused our caseloads to reflect this change. There is a growing... [Read More...]
Hope your prAACtical week is going well! Sunday: Video of the Week – Connecting with Prelinguistic Communicators Monday: Strategy of the Month: Thoughts on Teaching Word Prediction Tuesday: 10 AAC Things to Do for Autism Awareness/Acceptance Month Wednesday: Watch It Wednesday – Music and Communication by Ryan Judd Thursday: AACtual Therapy – Supporting the Development of Early Grammar with Kimberly Ho Friday: 3 AAC Presentation Handouts You May Have Missed
Our guest post for today is from SLP Kimberly Ho, an AAC specialist who operates a private practice, AAC Services. I met Dr. Ho many years ago when she was getting her master’s degree at Purdue University. She went on to get her doctorate and now consults for a number of public schools and works with individuals with AAC needs from preschoolers to adults. Kimberly is active in teaching (undergraduate and graduate courses), writing (published three articles in peer reviewed journals) and public speaking (15 presentations at regional, national and international conferences). In this post, she discusses some concepts in teaching grammar to people who are learning AAC. Traditionally, individuals with complex communication needs (CCN) were provided with communication boards or speech generating devices (SGDs) filled with topic specific vocabulary often called fringe words. The field of AAC is only just beginning to provide early communicators with access to Core... [Read More...]