448 Search Results for autism
August 29, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
We are so excited to start off the new school year with a wonderfully prAACtical post by Lauren Enders. Lauren’s “How I Do It” posts have been very popular and this one is no different. Today, she shares ways to incorporate key AAC principles in engaging intervention activities and models that with high school students. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: LEARNING TARGETS (Samples: can be changed to meet student goals) Using core vocabulary, the student will: control the actions of others (beginning with core words like “more”, “stop”, “go”, “again”, and “different”) express his or her opinions through commenting (beginning with core words such as “like”, “don’t like”, “good”, “bad”, and “silly”) TARGET POPULATION: all ages (I have used variations of this activity successfully with students from age 3 through age 21.) TYPE OF AAC: ALL types!! What’s crucial here is the availability of core vocabulary, not the system used. Systems used can vary from... [Read More...]
August 13, 2013
by Robin Parker -
Today, we are so excited to have our new friends from the awesome blog lunchbuddiesplus sharing how and why they incorporate visual supports into their sessions. In their lunchbuddiesplus group sessions, the focus is on social skills and they find that visual supports make a huge positive impact. So as you get ready for back to school, think about the visual supports that will help make your goals and activities go smoothly. Robin McCallister is a Speech/Language Pathologist working at Mary Munford Elementary School in the Richmond City School district in Richmond, Va. She has 36 years of experience in the public schools. Currently, she spends most of the school day working withchildrenwho experience autism. She especially enjoys the social skills groups known at Mary Munford as “lunch buddies”. Visuals are a big part of social skills coaching and Robin knows that one can never have too many visuals! You are invited... [Read More...]
August 10, 2013
by Robin Parker -
As we were getting ready for back to school and thinking about ‘must haves’, it quickly became apparent that it is not so easy to narrow it down. And the ‘must haves’ would definitely vary depending upon type of class, students, and even school. Based on a wide variety of differences, we organized a wide variety of choices to explore (we apologize in advance if we got carried away but…). Choose what you need, bookmark what you may need later and let us know your ‘must haves’ for a classroom and speech room AAC collaborative approach. We will create an ongoing list. Get Started Before School Starts Do these 10 Things to Get Started with AAC if you are new to an AAC student or classroom Provide AAC Support in the Classroom. Support teachers and educators with tips from Jane Farrall, & learn about AAC in the Classroom by Joan... [Read More...]
August 4, 2013
by Robin Parker -
Great video for supporting students with autism in inclusive secondary settings. But, actually, these strategies can work for everyone. Most of them are just good teaching strategies. Can you count the visual strategies for understanding, for expression, for organization and behavior? Direct link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veQKDDE9C_w” site=”youtube
July 29, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
Social Stories™ are a research-supported strategy for helping people to better understand situations and concepts by making these events and the expected behavior within the events more explicit. Initially developed by Carol Gray of The Gray Center, they have a specific structure with rules for development. Here’s a quick overview. Direct Link to Video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjlIYYbVIrI Other people have developed their own form of social narratives with similar goals but a more flexible structure. If you’re looking for information and ideas for using social stories and narratives, take a look at some of the resources below. First, let’s take care of an important question that should be on the mind of anyone thinking about using social narratives. Where’s the evidence regarding the effectiveness of this strategy? Lucky for us, much of it has been collected at the National Professional Development Center on ASD. Here in our own state, the Florida Diagnostic... [Read More...]
July 28, 2013
by Robin Parker -
We first introduced SpeakAll, an app from Purdue University more than a year ago. Dr. Oliver Wendt explained how SpeakAll (free) was developed from a service-oriented project. SpeakAll has helped many children with autism and other significant communication difficulties. Watch to see how Dr. Wendt and families talk about SpeakAll and the soon to be released SpeakMore.
July 24, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
There’s nothing that says ‘exciting’ like seeing a little person have their first successful experience with AAC. I had just that kind of experience recently and had some fun with a little guy who went from requesting by grabbing to requesting by handing me a picture symbol in about 15 minutes. His parents are interested in using the Picture Exchange Communication System® (PECS®) and that’s probably a good next step. While looking for online information to send them, I can across this wonderful tutorial on how to make your own book in the PECS® style from a 3-ring binder. Hope this excellent post from Educate Autism comes in handy. Picture Exchange Communication System® and PECS® are registered trademarks of Pyramid Educational Consultants, Inc.
July 19, 2013
by Robin Parker -
Inner speech is important. Recent research has strengthened our belief that developing inner speech is an important strategy for many people who use AAC and are working to build their literacy, sensory, and language skills. But how do we teach someone to develop that inner voice? Here are some ideas. 1. Begin by using a ‘think aloud’ strategy to make your internal thought processes obvious to the person who uses AAC. Articulating your thoughts as you work through different communication and literacy learning processes gives the learner insight into what you are thinking. Once they are used to that, it is easier to introduce the concept of private/inner speech. – 2. Use explicit instruction. “Say it to yourself.” “Say it in your head.” Using natural gestures, like tapping your temple, can be helpful as well. We’ve found that this allows us to reduce the prompting over time. Fade the verbal prompt and... [Read More...]
July 10, 2013
by Robin Parker -
This month’s strategy is about AAC and older children. This topic happens to dovetail with some work I am doing regarding healthcare options for many of the children in our community who have quickly become adults. It seems like so many families struggle to find physicians and dentists who have experience working with adults with autism spectrum disorder and/or developmental disabilities. It seems that as children become adults, their pediatric doctors and dentists say goodbye and families are left to fend for themselves. A workgroup of parents and professionals are trying to change this trend by finding interested physicians and providing them with formal training options, introducing them to their personal adult children, and working with medical school and residency programs. As I was researching some healthcare training options, I came upon the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (Thanks Deborah Chin). As I was reading through the website... [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...]