79 Search Results for motivation
May 14, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
I am constantly in awe of the creativity and generosity of AAC practitioners, particularly those like Tabi Jones-Wohleber who make fabulous materials and share them with colleagues that they’ve never even met. Tabi is an SLP on the AT Team for Frederick County Public Schools in Maryland. A graduate of Penn State University, her career has focused on AAC. Though she works with many schools and addresses a variety of AT needs, most of her time and creative energy is devoted to working with students with the most significant disabilities. In this post, she introduces us to the All-in-One-Visual-Support Tool. You wont want to miss Tabi’s treasure trove of prAACtical materials. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: It was a conversation I’d had many times before. A conversation that kept resurfacing in one form or another. It’s the conversation of how to manage all the stuff; all the visuals, all the reinforcers, all the communication tools. The benefit of visual supports to... [Read More...]
April 7, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
In many clinical training programs, new SLPs are taught to teach skills to mastery level, which generally means something like “80% over 3 consecutive sessions.” For our clients who are developing communication skills using AAC, though, this isn’t always the best approach. Here’s why. It doesn’t always make sense. Having a single standard for mastery is useful as a clinical management tool, but often doesn’t make sense in individual situations. Consider the skill itself. Would you be comfortable with your clients being 80% accurate when they: Cross the street? (Of course not.They need to be 1,000% accurate with that.) Ask for things? (Probably. Although Johnny has many days where he’s pretty happy with everything and doesn’t really have clear preferences or desires that we can ascertain. It would be nice to respect that. Not to mention the fact that he might want something that we haven’t offered him.) Make a... [Read More...]
February 12, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
Those of you who are still digging your way out of the most recent snowstorm may not believe it, but it’s almost time to make plans for summer. There are quite a few AAC camps, some that are quite well established and others that have been running for only a few years (see our AAC Camp Pinterest board here). In this post, we hear about one of them from Tina Moreno, an SLP and mom of Mateo, who uses PicturePower 100 on the Maestro to communicate, maintain friendships with his teammates on the cross country team, advocate for himself, reveal his wicked sense of humor, and even sing the National Anthem for his high school’s basketball games. Tina blogs at Voices4All. With the help of Drs. Karen Erickson and David Koppenhaver, she and her friend Gina Cunningham created Camp ALEC together in memory of Gina’s son Alec, who never gave up, and... [Read More...]
September 29, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
We’ve been musing about engagement this month. Here are some final lessons we’ve learned along the way. “If you don’t believe in me, you won’t be a successful interventionist.” “Put yourself in my shoes once in a while. Be aware of how much focus and effort it takes for me to cope with sensory input, breathe, swallow, and move so that you can plan activities at an appropriate level of difficulty.” “Set a top priority for the lesson, and let me focus on that. It’s hard to sustain interest and motivation when you make things challenging on ALL fronts: cognitive, linguistic, motoric. Pick one area in which to challenge me and let’s dive in!” “Make it worth my while to work hard. We all look for rewards and compensations that are proportionate to the effort expended. I’m no different than you in that respect.” “Use my areas of interest when you... [Read More...]
September 22, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
We can’t complete our thoughts on engaging AAC learners without a bit of conversation around the topic of priorities. Here’s the main idea: Go into each activity having a clear priority for what you want to achieve. Everything else become negotiable. As SLPs, sometimes we want it all. We want therapy activities where the AAC learner initiates communications, uses new vocabulary, creates novel sentences, experiments with new grammatical forms, and kicks some morphological butt. We.want.it.all. After a few decades of being an AAC practitioner, I think I’m finally learning that trying to have it all isn’t always the best option. It isn’t about what I want, it’s about what my client needs. Sigh. In this approach, we look at the lesson or activity and create our “Must Have List.’ For Mayra, a kindergartner just learning to use symbols for the first time, our lessons ‘must’ be engaging, have high pay-off... [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 10, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
Sunday – Video of the Week: Shared Book Reading Monday – Strategy of the Month: Understanding and Supporting Families of AAC Learners Tuesday – Teach Me Tuesday: Sounding Board by AbleNet Wednesday – Watch It Wednesday: Visuals Everyday by Mariacarmen Saleta Thursday – AACtual Therapy: On Motivation and AAC with Samantha Weatherford Friday – Core Words Visualized 2014
March 3, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
We get so many questions about the best way to ‘do’ literacy with AAC learners that decided to build on the earlier posts from and talk more about the ways in which we can support the development of reading and writing skills. For AAC learners, the most important skill set (after communication) is the ability to read and write. When given the chance, we’d teach literacy before almost anything else. Why? First, because it opens the door to so many things. When someone can read and write they are more likely to be successful with academics, find jobs and develop real careers, and enjoy productive leisure time. Secondly, we find that it changes people’s perceptions of an AAC learner. When they see Billy writing or reading with comprehension, they understand that his severely limited speech does not reflect his intellect, motivation, or potential. It shapes their perception of him to... [Read More...]
January 13, 2014
by Robin Parker -
Planning for communication opportunities in every aspect of speech-language therapy helps ensure productive use of time and effort for both clinician and learner. It is not enough to talk to a student, it is not enough to provide fun activities without lots of opportunity for active participation and more specifically communication initiation. Another word for communication initiation/opportunities is communication temptations. Communication temptations are structured situations designed to entice a variety of specific communication functions or semantic relations (Wetherby, 1988). There needs to be lots of times where there is targeted modeling and then a specific, obvious reason for the learner to be the initiator of communication. A temptation to communicate. Take a look at this sample therapy session for frequent and multiple communication opportunities. Please let us know a favorite or creative communication opportunity that you use. PrAACtical Considerations Meaningful AAC Goals– All quality speech-language intervention sessions start with meaningful... [Read More...]
December 4, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
As clinical educators, we have lots of conversations with student SLPs about reinforcement of specific skills. We’ll save that for another post, but today we want to put reinforcement into a large context. We all learn best in an environment in which we are accepted and encouraged. It’s often hard to ‘see’ how to do that in a therapy session where the AAC learner has so many skill deficits, particularly if you are starting out in your AAC career. Here are some ideas. Accept their responses without judgment.The Dot (click on image) is a great reminder to us all of how our responses to a learner’s attempt can make ALL the difference in how they see themselves. Use the language of communication. Instead of ‘show me on your board’ or ‘point to what you want,’ use communication-oriented verbs, like ‘tell’ or ‘say.’ “Tell me what you’re thinking.” “I like what... [Read More...]