Happy holidays, everyone! Monday – AACtual Therapy: Making Core Words Fun for Students with Autism Wednesday – Video of the Week: Chat with Me in AAC Thursday – An AAC Christmas Carol
Baking, shopping, wrapping. Grading, report-writing. Ugly sweaters, Secret Santas, Elf on a Shelf, Mensch on a Bench. December is zooming by. If you missed a few posts, we get it. Put your feet up, take a breath, and click away! Monday – PrAACtical Research: AAC Intervention for Children with ASD Wednesday – Video of the Week: Parent’s Guide to AAC Assessment Thursday – PrAACtical Collaboration: Teaming Up to Build Communication with a Treat Cart (Part 1) Saturday – When Disaster Strikes: USSAAC’s Response to Families with AAC Needs Still in the AAC mood? Here’s a sampling of previous posts on cooking and AAC for your browsing pleasure. PrAACtical Supports for Older Learners: AT Recipes for Success, Part 5 – Let’s Cook! How I Do It: Cooking in the Classroom with Carol Goossens’ Literacy: Cookies & Core AACtual Therapy with Deanna Wagner: Why Cook When You Can’t Eat? PrAACtical Peek: Decorating Cookies
Dr. Kathy Howery is back with another helpful post an AAC research. Kathy is based in Alberta, Canada, and has worked in the field of AT and special education for over three decades. In the past year, she completed her doctoral studies where she used phenomenological methods to seek to understand the lived experience of speaking with/through a speech generating device. Kathy is currently working as a consultant to schools and school districts across Alberta focusing primarily on children and youth with complex communication needs. In this article, she discusses research on AAC interventions. Enjoy! ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Almirall, D. , DiStefano, C., Chang, Y.-C., Shire, S., Kaiser, A., Lu X, Nahum-Shani, I., Landa, R., Mathy, P. & Kasari, C. (2016). Longitudinal Effects of Adaptive Interventions with a Speech-Generating Device in Minimally Verbal Children with ASD. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 45(4), 442-456. What this article is all about (the focus... [Read More...]
Hello, December! Life seems to be speeding up these days, with little time for reading blog posts. Here are a few that you may have missed. Monday – PrAACtically December: AAC Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary Wednesday – Video of the Week: CVI – The Everyday Impact on People Who Use AAC Thursday – PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: Hello, Holidays! Shopping, wrapping, baking, decorating…all part of the holiday preparations. But, as AAC interventionists, we’re also thinking about preparations of a different sort – helping our AAC learners get ready for the holidays. Holidays can be tough, not just because of the change in routine, but also because there are so many expectations for conversation. Here are some past posts related to conversational skills. Balance Pans: A Learning Toy that Helps Build Conversation Skills From Conversation to Skill-Building Conversations with Adults who have Intellectual Disabilities AAC Conversation Club Holiday Talk: AAC... [Read More...]
Getting ready for the holidays? Karen Natoci has some ideas and downloadable materials to help you plan your therapy and instruction. In today’s post, she shares some PowerPoint books (with audio) that you can download and use, as well as activity suggestions. Karen has supported AAC learners in different capacities throughout her career and is currently an AAC Supervisor with The Speech Pathology Group in Walnut Creek, California. Enjoy! PrAACtically Reading: Hello, Holidays! Books: Holiday Themed Powerpoint stories (downloadable) This month I want to share a wonderful way to integrate reading through the use of seasonal materials that are meaningful and emotional. This activity works well in preschool and elementary classrooms through the continued sharing of life from home to school. What could be more fun than sharing holiday traditions through the creation of a power point book! Please download and use the power point stories. Include family input so that you... [Read More...]
It’s throwback Thursday! Today, we are revisiting some prior posts on the topic of helping parents, colleagues, and classroom staff learn ways to better support people who use AAC. Explore these past posts to get ideas for videos, download presentation slides, and peruse suggestions for hands-on activities to use in your training. Enjoy! How I Do it: AAC Inservices by Tabi Jones-Wohleber Hands-On Activities for AAC Training PrAACtical Ideas: AAC Core Vocabulary Practice for Workshops and Inservices How We Do It: S’MORRES and Partner Augmented Input with Dr. Jill Senner & Matthew Baud Video Explainers for Aided Language Input
In a perfect world, we’d all be able to travel to conferences whenever we wished to soak up the AAC expertise from presenters around the world. Until then, we’ll keep posting links to handouts from conferences, workshops, and inservices with AAC content. Developing Language and Communication Power Usin a Core Vocabulary Classroom Approach by Gail Van Tatenhove Getting and Keeping AAC After High School Considerations for Transitioning Students who Use AAC Now, and Who Will Need AAC in the Future by Kathryn Helland AAC Strategies and Considerations for Children with Severe Speech Disorders: Not a Substitution, Just Part of the Solution by Erinn Fincke Life Before and After PECS: Reflections on Supports for Early Communication and Language by Cathy Binger Is the iPad the Best AAC Choice? by Nykki Montano
Busy week? Here are a handful of AAC posts that you might have missed. Monday – PrAACtically November: AAC Resources for a Year of Core Vocabulary Wednesday – Video of the Week: Understanding Functional Communication Training Thursday – PrAACtical Families: 5 Grants That Support AAC Looking for materials to get ready for another busy week? You might get some ideas from these posts: AAC on TpT: 5 Free Downloads Miami Dade Prekindergarten Program for Children with Disabilities 5 ‘Go-To Sites for Visual Supports Free Resources for Making AAC and Visual Supports Downloadable AAC Posters
Looking for ways to engage AAC learners in language therapy? Today, we welcome back SLP Rachel Madel to tell us about her experience in using wordless videos. Her prAACtical tips will get you excited about using videos like these, curated by The Activity Tailor, in your lessons. Enjoy! ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Using Animated Shorts to Build Language Skills with AAC Learners We are living in a digital age, where video content is often free and easy to access. Children on my caseload are tech savvy and are constantly dazzling me with how well they can navigate YouTube to find their favorite videos. Motivation is paramount in creating meaningful communication interactions and watching animated videos is highly motivating for both students and clinicians. I’ve had great success utilizing wordless videos in my practice and was lucky enough to present on the topic during “AAC After Work” with a fellow AAC colleague, Susan Berkowitz. In case... [Read More...]
Today, we look to South Africa to learn from AT specialist Desirae Pillay who shares her thoughts on using AAC for communicating at a distance. In an earlier post, Desirae shared her experience as an AAC parent. In the current post, she talks about things we don’t always think about when supporting people with AAC needs. The Power of AAC for Distance Communication I am an Assistive Technology Advisor for a company in South Africa and a parent to a young adult, Savannah Pillay who is cerebral palsied and autistic. As an advisor, it is my job to know of all the communication options that are available which includes knowing about unaided AAC options. I am a big fan of gesture dictionaries as I have seen how impactful it can be especially when using a multi-modal communication system. I am also a fan of AAC software that not only has... [Read More...]