97 Search Results for atia

Make It PrAACtical: DIY Adapted Toys

November 7, 2019 by - 3 Comments

Make It PrAACtical: DIY Adapted Toys

Have you looked at the retail prices for switch-adapted toys lately? And have you noticed that the selection is fairly limited? Just in time for the holiday season, we’re pleased to introduce our youngest guest author to date, Michael Dicpinigaitis, who is stopping by to help us figure out a more affordable alternative. Michael used his interest in technology to learn how to adapt toys and create switches with the help of a 3-D printer. Learn about his organization, Jericho Adapts Toys, and peruse the resources he shares. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer or know someone who is, this post is for you. Kudos to the entire team at Jericho Adapts Toys: Michael Dicpinigaitis, Eric Li, Jai Joshi, Corinne Dicpinigaitis, and Sohil Dharia. Enjoy! ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: JerichoAdaptsToys.org was a vision that became a reality. The vision was to provide children with significant motor impairments the ability to independently play, have control of their environment, and learn important... [Read More...]

Sharing Your AAC Experiences

October 18, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts

Sharing Your AAC Experiences

Whether you are a highly experienced AAC professional or a relative newcomer to the field, you’re invited to share your perspective. It’s been several years since the Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) first surveyed SLPs to find out about their AAC preparation and experiences. You can take a look at the White Paper that summarizes the results of that survey here. In this current survey, ATIA is expanding its reach and is looking for input from parents, AAC users, paraprofessionals, and professionals from a range of disciplines and backgrounds. Created with the input of a panel of AAC and AT specialists, this new survey is designed to gather information about the training, advocacy, and technology needs of AAC stakeholders. Please take a few moments to provide your feedback. You can access the survey here or by clicking on the graphic below.  The survey is available until October 25.  

From Wheelchair to Hands-free Walker for Preschool Children with AAC Needs

October 10, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts

Decorative image with text: From Wheelchair to Hands-free Walker for Preschool Children with AAC Needs

We are excited to share the second post in Christine Wright-Ott’s series on promoting hands-free independent mobility in young AAC learners. Christine is an Occupational Therapist and consultant at The Bridge School in Hillsborough California. She authored the chapter “Mobility” in the 4-7th editions of the book, Occupational Therapy for Children. She lectures at universities and conferences including ATIA, Closing the Gap, ISAAC, ISS, and AAC by the Bay. Enjoy! Support Walker Mobility at the Bridge School I would like to share with you an innovative hands-free Support Walker Mobility Program developed at The Bridge School, which is a private school for preschool and elementary children with complex communication and physical disabilities located on the district’s public elementary school campus.  It is dedicated to ensuring that students achieve full participation in their communities through the use of augmentative & alternative means of communication (AAC), mobility and assistive technology (AT) applications. ... [Read More...]

AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week #40: October 2019

October 6, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts

Decorative image with text: AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week #40: October 2019

Happy Sunday, AAC friends. We have a couple of things to share with you today. One is an invitation to join me in Orlando in January for a full day of language intervention and AAC. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to present a full-day pre-conference workshop with Gail Van Tatenhove and Gloria Soto, two of the biggest names in AAC and language learning, at ATIA 2020. You can find out more about that using the slider on the graphic below or visit this site for an overview and registration link.   Also, we kicked off AAC Awareness Month (#AACaware19) with a number of posts that contain resources for you to use. Take a look. Monday – Spreading the Word About AAC Awareness Month Tuesday- AAC Awareness Month Ideas Wednesday – Video of the Week: Connection – The Heart of Communication Thursday – AAC Assessment Corner: Evaluating Skills For... [Read More...]

From Wheelchair to Walker: The Cascading Benefit of Hands-Free Mobility

September 12, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts

Decorative image reading From Wheelchair to Walker: The Cascading Benefit of Hands-Free Mobility

When young children with significant motor challenges are unable to move freely around the environment, it impacts many things. Today, we introduce a limited series on why hands-free mobility is so crucial during the early years, and what we can do to promote independent mobility. We are extremely fortunate to have Christine Wright-Ott authoring this series. Christine is an Occupational Therapist and consultant at The Bridge School in Hillsborough California. She authored the chapter, Mobility, in several editions of the book, Occupational Therapy for Children. Christine lectures at universities and conferences including ATIA, Closing the Gap, ISAAC, ISS, and AAC by the Bay. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Why Hands-free Mobility Matters for Children with AAC Needs Speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists have long been aware of the many ways that mobility and communication go hand-in-hand.  Without a way to move around, a child’s opportunities for incidental learning and motivation to communicate are severely... [Read More...]

Crowdsourcing AAC “Better” Practices: The AAC Agreements

March 7, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts

Crowdsourcing AAC “Better” Practices: The AAC Agreements

What would happen if a group of dedicated AAC stakeholders could come together around the idea of improving AAC services? Today’s guest authors, Chris Bugaj, Chris CichoskiKelly, and Shaun Pearson set out to explore issues around AAC practices and are inviting us all to join in the conversation. Let’s see where this takes us! :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The Genesis of the AAC Agreements In 2016, Chris CichoskiKelly went to the Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) conference with a question: what are the best practices for AAC implementation? He saw a lot of great talks on AAC but found little in the way of common ground or agreement amongst them. One of those sessions was co-presented by Chris Bugaj. After the session, the two Chris’s got to talking about the differences. An idea emerged. Given all the difference, what would be the similarities? If all those invested in AAC got together in one... [Read More...]