74 Search Results for object symbols
September 3, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
It’s a(nother) new semester for us and that means we get the chance to work with a whole new crop of graduate student SLPs who are learning to provide AAC services for the very first time. It just doesn’t get any better than that! One of the challenges for all beginning clinicians is deciding what intervention strategies to use to facilitate their clients’ learning in various areas. Recently, I had a wonderful conversation about the power of contrastive examples. I was taught this strategy by Dr. Ed Kame’enui and still use his ‘glerm’ activity today to illustrate the concept. The ‘glerm’ activity was quick way to demonstrate how to use carefully chosen examples to teach a new concept. Here’s the activity. You have to use your imagination and pretend this is a demonstration rather than a paper-and-pencil activity, but you’ll get the idea. And glerm is….? If I did a good... [Read More...]
June 8, 2013
by Robin Parker -
We know aphasia intervention has moved well beyond traditional speech and language training and intervention. We are so happy it has moved to an authentic participation, functional communication, and social interaction focus. Communication books are one tool for helping people with aphasia be active participants in conversation and comprehensive communication. Here are some thoughts and ideas about communication books to get started. Communication Books- Communication books for adults with aphasia can be in grid format with relevant communication messages. There can be a few pages or many, but keep in mind that the more pages, the longer it will take to navigate. It is most important to include high priority and relevant messages that will support needed communication and not just ‘standard’ messages. There are many samples and templates that can be purchased or downloaded for adult communication books. These may be good as a start, but should be individualized when... [Read More...]
June 1, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
Many people with aphasia fail to regain sufficient speech and language skills to meet their communication needs. With more than one million people with aphasia in the US alone, chances are most people reading this know at least one person affected by the disorder. While many go on to regain functional speech and language skills, some remain unable to communicate well enough catch up with a neighbor, talk about bills with a spouse, ask a question in a store, play with a grandchild, or tell their healthcare providers about side effects or symptoms. It’s hard to really imagine how devastating and isolating this experience may be. Aphasia Awareness Month seemed like the perfect time to reach out to SLPs with information on AAC for people with aphasia. In this post, we’ll share some thoughts and resources on assessment. Assessment activities are, of course, driven by the purpose for which the... [Read More...]
May 23, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
In our SLP training programs, few of us learned about Rett Syndrome or how to provide services to children with that disorder. We’re so pleased to have a guest post on AAC services for children with Rett by Dr. Theresa Bartolotta, Director of Assessment in the Office of the Provost, and Associate Professor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology, at Seton Hall University, in South Orange, New Jersey. An SLP with over 30 years of clinical experience, she specializes in communication disorders in children with significant disabilities with a special interest in autism and Rett syndrome. Our field is still learning about Rett syndrome and we are still discovering new things about the range of skills and abilities present in the children who have it. In this post, Dr. Bartolotta gives us some background about the syndrome and discusses implications for treatment. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to post... [Read More...]
April 25, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
We’re so happy to welcome Lauren Enders back to share some more thoughts on AAC and the IEP. In her first post on this topic, Lauren addressed some frequently asked questions. Today, she provides a very valuable perspective on writing IEP goals for students who use or need AAC and some wonderful resources. Very often, I receive requests for support from teachers and speech therapists that are writing IEP goals for their students who use AAC. When we sit down to discuss their questions, the first thing I remind them is that AAC goals are no different from any other IEP goal. I recall a workshop I attended years ago presented by Gail VanTatenhove that helps put IEP goals for AAC into perspective. Gail said that AAC therapy is just language therapy. Isn’t that true? Aren’t we just teaching language? For this student, language is simply being expressed in a... [Read More...]
April 4, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
Today, we’re pleased to introduce SLP Jackie Kearns, coordinator of the Technology Resource Center at the Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital for Rehabilitation. Prior to that, she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Ohio University. She completed both an undergraduate and graduate level thesis and has published in Contemporary Issues in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Jackie has over 5 years’ experience working with medically complex children in both inpatient and outpatient hospital settings. She has provided numerous AAC evaluations and treatment for children ranging from 1-21 years of age. In addition, she has done numerous presentations and in-services for staff at the Cleveland Clinic. We’re grateful to Jackie’s AAC professor and mentor, Dr. John McCarthy for recommending her to us. Therapy Activity: Fun with Puzzles Intended audience: Early intervention, preschool aged children, and/or emergent AAC communicators Type(s) of AAC: Eye gaze, reaching Picture communication symbols Single message voice output communication... [Read More...]
March 23, 2013
by Robin Parker -
March continues with story telling or narratives as the Strategy of the Month. All learners have stories to tell but some may need special teaching to be able to express their stories. Goals for the beginning communicator can and should include narratives. Personal narratives are a good place to begin but any type of narrative can be taught with structure, routines, partner support, prAACtical strategies. Robust communication includes story telling. Yes, beginning communicators need to be able to express wants and needs however, authentic and comprehensive language involves much more. The quicker we start teaching, the quicker beginning communicators (or anyone) can learn. Beginning Communicator Narratives 3 Types (Just some of the options) Remnant Books are a visual and tactile way of telling stories by recording important events. Learners can help choose items from meaningful personal experiences which serve as a reminder of stories to tell. Create routines and visual supports... [Read More...]
March 14, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
We’re back to share more from SLP Shareka Bentham whose enthusiasm for providing AAC services to children in Barbados is infectious. If you’ve read any of her previous posts, you’ll know why we appreciate her perspective. Today, Shareka shares some of what she’s learned through starting AAC groups. Groups can be daunting for many Speech & Language Therapists. They sure were for me for many years. So to make the decision to start an AAC group was more than out of my comfort zone, especially as a beginning AAC therapist. However I think that it has been a great decision so far, as the changes that I have been seeing in the children, parents, and in myself as a therapist have been extremely encouraging. As I keep stressing I am by no means an AAC expert, but I’m an expert in reflection. I have been able to review each... [Read More...]
March 7, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
We’re happy to welcome back, Lauren Enders, an AAC specialist from Pennsylvania. You can read her earlier post here. This month, Lauren shares some of ways she addresses AAC learning in the IEP. Frequently, SLPs and teachers contact me in a complete panic because they need to generate an IEP and write IEP goals for a student who is using (or beginning to use) Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). These folks have lots of questions and most often, have no idea where to begin. There are a number of questions that come up repeatedly in these panicked requests. When approached by PrAACtical AAC to write a post about IEPs and AAC, I thought it might be helpful to share some of the most common questions I hear along with the answers I provide. I will structure the post in a Question & Answer format in the hopes that the post... [Read More...]
February 14, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
We are delighted to have Shareka Bentham back to share another post about the AACtual therapy she provides to little ones in Barbados. Last month, we followed her along to the zoo where her little friends got to generalize the language skills developed in therapy sessions. In this post, Shareka discusses her approach to something we all struggle with: selecting vocabulary that will both fun and functional. One of my biggest challenges in AAC is choosing good vocabulary targets, and working on vocabulary instruction for early communicators. By ‘good’ I mean targets which are functional for their everyday settings, representative, and most of all fun for children who are not only beginning communicators, but also beginning AAC users. I have become the AAC ‘specialist’ at a school for children with complex communication needs, so I generally have to cater to the communicative needs of children from the pre-communication to... [Read More...]