675 Search Results for communication book
July 25, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
There are so many great apps to use for building communication and literacy skills: games, utilities, e-books, photos, storytelling, etc. There are too many gems to list! Did you ever start to plan a therapy session or some home practice activities using specific apps, only to realize that you don’t know if that client’s mobile device actually HAS the app you plan to use? As you can guess, this has happened to us a time or two. If you are using your own device, this isn’t problematic but often we are trying to build skills with an app that we want to client to use outside of the therapy session. Here’s a quick tip for avoiding that scenario: Take a photo showing the apps the client has on their device and send it to yourself or upload to a cloud (taking care to follow privacy policies if you do the latter).... [Read More...]
July 19, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
As many of you know, it was a very sad week for PrAACtical AAC and many of our friends. Thanks to all who reached out with comments, emails, Facebook messages, and texts. Sunday: Video of the Week – The Right to Be Heard Monday: A PrAACtical Resource – Communication Access Tuesday: AAC Knowledge and Skills for SLPs Wednesday: Watch It Wednesday – Selfie Bandit Thursday: PrAACtically Heartbroken Friday: On Autism and AAC
July 18, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
Today we are revisiting some of Robin’s most popular posts. 30 Ways to Celebrate Autism Awareness Month AAC Must-Have’s for the Classroom and Therapy Room The First 12: Getting Started with Core Words Literacy For Everyone with Adapted Books Beyond Requesting: Using Scripts to Teach Conversation AAC Goals That Matter Creating Communication Boards: There are Lot of Apps for That! Join Together: Core and Fringe Vocabulary Beyond Requesting: Let’s Chat with Peers Begin AAC Now: 10 Things to Do
June 27, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
We’re pleased to welcome a new guest blogger, Kate Munro, to our pages today. I first ‘met’ Kate on Twitter (@SpeechieKate) and was even more excited by her passion for AAC when I met her in person last month. Her passion for AAC began during a clinical placement while training at the University of Queensland. This snowballed when completing her honours with Dr. Bronwyn Hemsley on health professional’s views on communication in hospital for children with Cerebral Palsy and CCN. Now living in South Australia, she is a speech pathologist working at Two Way Street, a private practice which specialises in AAC. In addition to this, she tutors students at Flinders University’s Disabilitiy and Community Inclusion Unit and volunteers her time as the South Australian Representative for AGOSCI. Since her honours research was published as part of a larger study, she has developed a greater interest in research but isn’t ready... [Read More...]
June 6, 2014
by Robin Parker -
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...]
May 28, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
Recently, I had the opportunity to share some thoughts on AAC at the Spectronics Inclusive Learning Technology (ILT) Conference, in Gold Coast, Australia. It’s hard to explain the level of enthusiasm and energy for all things AAC and AT to those who aren’t familiar with that passionate group of professionals and parents. As a newbie, I was especially impressed with the level of warmth and support provided to anyone there who reached out for information or encouragement, and the ways that the speakers helped participants come away totally re-energized. Since it may have been a bit too far away for many of our prAACtical friends, I thought I’d share some of the websites of other keynote speakers and featured presenters I met along the way. Jason Gibson and Jason Carroll (Systems of Support) – Who challenged us to set smart goals for ourselves, not just the learners we serve Kevin Honeycutt – Who... [Read More...]
May 21, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
We are so thrilled to have a guest post today, from Australian SLP Harmony Turnbull. Harmony is a Consultant Speech Pathologist for Ageing, Disability and Home Care in NSW, Australia. In her role, she provides support and supervision to senior speech pathologists, carries a small caseload of people with complex needs and provides expert consultancy for management. She has specialised in supporting people with disabilities including complex communication needs for 11 years and is addicted to networking. She can often be found sharing her knowledge and asking many questions on Facebook and Twitter (@SP_Harmony). Harmony is passionate about the work speech/language pathologists can do to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. The Importance of Support and Supervision when Providing AAC Services Scenario – Jane Jane is an SLP who has been working with people with disabilities for over 5 years, including people with complex communication needs. Her caseload... [Read More...]
May 19, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
One of the challenges in helping AAC learners maximize their communicative potential is that they often interact with people who do not facilitate positive interactions. We know, for example, that partners may focus on the SGD rather than the topic or communicator (e.g., “Can you find ‘go?’, “Press it again”). They may dominate the conversation by taking more than their fair share of turns, making for a lop-sided and uninteresting context that is more of a monologue than a true conversation. They also tend to interrupt the AAC learner, often in an attempt to guess the learner’s message, save time, or correct the person. These actions come from a good place (wanting to support the learner) but are not things that facilitate improved communication. In a previous post, we talked about the RAAP strategy, for building partner skills during storybook reading. In this post, we continue to share the work of... [Read More...]
May 14, 2014
by Robin Parker -
Learn with AbleNet University. Watch excellent free AAC webinars. There are live and recorded webinars so you can learn at your convenience. Share the information with colleagues and families. Give an AAC Gift. Create AAC informational bookmarks and distribute to educators, staff, and families. Print some free communication boards. Go to the PrAACtical AAC e-Tool Box and print out some great core word or activity specific communication boards. Put in your AAC clinic tool box or share with educators or families. Debunk AAC Myths. Use our AAC Myth buster quotes. Print and hang in public spaces so everyone can be an AAC myth buster. Learn and PrAACtice a New AAC System (device or app). Go to prAACtical AAC’s Teach Me Tuesdays and choose an app or device to learn- (Alexicom, Proloquo2go, PRC Accent, The Grid, Tap Speak Button & Sequence, Avaz, Tobii C8, Proloquo4Text, Go Talk Now Text, Nova... [Read More...]
May 12, 2014
by Robin Parker -
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...]