Happy Valentine’s Day, prAACtical friends! Hope there’s a lot of AAC love in your week. Monday: Make it PrAACtical: Switch Mounts Wednesday: Video of the Week: Designing & Using Visual Supports for Older Students Thursday: PrAACtically Valentine’s Day: Core Vocabulary Activities
Happy February, all! Anyone interested in some online AAC conversation? I’m looking forward to connecting with AAC stakeholders from around the world this Thursday on Twitter, as I host the #USSAACchat (Feb 9, 7:00 pm ET). Our topic is ‘Beyond Awareness: Building a Culture of AAC Support.’ All are welcome! If you are new to Twitter or Twitter Chats or just don’t ‘get’ how it can support professional growth, you can learn more about that here. Even if you are an infrequent Twitter user, or if you are more of a lurker than a participant, we welcome you to join us. Lots of AAC in your busy week? Here are some posts you may have missed. Monday: PrAACtically February: Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary Words Wednesday: Video of the Week: Mobilizing the Power Of Special Interests Thursday: Privacy and AAC: A Few Reflections
“He knows what to do. He just doesn’t do it.” “He’s prompt-dependent. How can I get him to use AAC on his own?” “I love his strong-willed nature, but it works against him sometimes. He doesn’t initiate.” If any of these remarks sound familiar, it may be time to think about alternative approaches to build independent communication. Here are a few things to try with AAC users who’ve learned to wait for support before communicating. Exaggerate the pause time: Many of our AAC learners need at least 5 seconds of pause time after a communication opportunity presents itself. This helps them process the experience, organize their thoughts, decide on a response, and then begin to execute that response. Sometimes, though, we work with people who’ve learned that if they just wait, the communication partner will start to help (whether or not they need it). We can sometimes nudge the learner... [Read More...]
Looking for ways to help others use AAC more frequently throughout the day? Today, we return to The Center for Literacy and Disability Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to view video on this topic. We love the clear explanations, solid rationales, and helpful tips in this video. For more information on the Universal Core Vocabulary they discuss, as well as downloadable communication materials, and professional development materials, explore the Project Core website. Direct Link to Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhJ1B8h8Hd0&feature=youtu.be
The good news is this: A growing number of people with complex communication needs are getting access to AAC. Educators whose students had AAC only at circle and snack time are now using it more consistently with their students throughout the day and teaching lessons specifically designed to build skills with AAC systems. SLPs who had eschewed AAC or who had focused their AAC efforts on choicemaking, requesting, and labeling are now embracing their role as language specialists and teaching a fuller array of semantic, morphological, and syntactic skills to AAC learners. AT specialists who had been doling out the same few SGDs and AAC apps are now digging deeper and using established practices for AT selection in supporting minimally verbal and nonverbal students. Behaviorists who had previously focused primarily on receptive identification and verbal imitation are supporting the expressive needs of their clients in new ways. Families who had little... [Read More...]
And just like that, the year is over. Ups and downs; Highs and lows. 2016 was anything but boring. Hope that 2017 is off to a great start for you and your prAACtical friends. Monday: Holiday Talk: AAC Conversations Using Partner-focused Questions Wednesday: Holiday Photos in AAC Learning: 3 Ideas for Using Them to Build Language Thursday: PrAACtical Teaching in the ASD Classroom: Predictable Chart Writing with Core Vocabulary
At the ASHA Convention last month, I chatted with an SLP about her secret longing: To take a sabbatical and travel the world to see AAC in action. Wouldn’t that be exciting?! In the meantime, we’ll have to live vicariously and peek into AAC practices through the words and pictures of dedicated professionals. Angi Pearce, a teacher at Kowhai Special School in Hastings, New Zealand, was kind enough to help us out and share her experiences in increasing AAC use in her classroom. Angi is the team leader for the Junior School classes (ages 5-11) and graciously prepared this post with support from SLP Michelle Roberts. As you’ll see, Angi is a highly experienced educator but new to the world of AAC and not afraid to take risks and embrace change. Let’s take a look at how a veteran teacher stretched herself to incorporate more AAC into her classroom. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: AAC IN THE CLASSROOM My... [Read More...]
Hope you are coping well with the busy holiday season! Here a couple of posts from our prAACtical week. Monday: PrAACtically December: Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary Wednesday: Video of the Week: Teaching Self Regulation Skills
As usual, the ASHA Annual Convention was so chock full of AAC learning opportunities that there was no way to get to everything of interest. Here are some handouts on AAC topics from the first day of the conference. Aided Language Stimulation for All Communication Partners of Children Who Use AAC by Eric Sailers of Expressive Solutions and Jhoselle Padilla at Chula Vista Elementary School District AAC Multidisciplinary Treatment for Communication & Functional Participation by Amy Sonntag of Ohio State University and Lindsay Ripple of Akron Children’s Hospital “A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words.” An AAC Intervention for Children With Complex Communication Needs by Jamie Boster and John McCarthy of Ohio State University Expanding & Customizing Spanish Core Vocabulary for Augmentative & Alternative Communication by Amy Munekata, Bridget Carlile, and Lisa Domby of the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill An Analysis of Conversational Interaction of an Individual With... [Read More...]
Today, we welcome Dr. Kimberly Ho, SLP and Director of Speech, Language and AAC Services at Confidence Connection in Needham, Massachusetts. In this post, she discusses how professionals in her organization are supporting AAC learners with autism on the journey toward flexible, generative language. I am the Director of Speech, Language and AAC Services at an ABA clinic, so naturally we serve many individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) of all ages. A vast number of learners with ASD can speak, but their speech is not functional to meet their communication needs. We have begun to provide word-based AAC systems for these students to move beyond scripting. Many individuals with ASD “script.” That is, they may not produce novel utterances, but rather chunks of phrases and sometimes entire sentences they have memorized. Sometimes this scripting is based on a character from a TV show or movie. Other times the script has been memorized in... [Read More...]