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May 5, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
– Usually, our Strategy of the Month posts focus on things that SLPs and others can do to enhance AAC learning with their clients. In honor of ASHA’s Better Hearing and Speech Month, our strategy focuses on you, the SLP. – Since we started blogging and using social media, we’ve learned a lot about professional learning networks and using the internet more effectively to access resources that enrich our work. That led us to our May Strategy, PrAACtical Learning and Resource Networks. – Our plan is to share an AAC-related resource each day that will help in developing our professional resources. As we tell our graduate students, if you have a well-packed toolkit and you know what to do with those tools, nothing can stop you! – We’ll be sharing resources that build on what you already know about and have, keeping a prAACtical focus, of course – ... [Read More...]
May 5, 2012
by Robin Parker -
We love when our students are kept up to date with current events. Often times, current events are not explained to students with significant communication challenges because the language surrounding the event seems “complicated” or “too high” (not actually our words but unfortunately ones we have heard). However, we know ALL our students understand some aspects of major current events because that is what everyone around is talking about (back in the day… American Idol winners or the Super Bowl, or even just the anniversary of the Titanic Tragedy). So it is great when we have access to symbol based newspapers that take complicated topics and make them more concrete and then add symbols so we do not have to do all the work. We love News- 2- You which includes various activities, levels, recipes, and even jokes. The ONLY problem with News-2-You is the price (We think it is... [Read More...]
May 1, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
— – – Strategy of the Month From Disney Princesses to Houseplants: More on Building Communication Opportunities 5 Apps for Tempting Commenting and Other Language Functions Go Ape! 10 Commenting Communication Temptations PrAACtical Play: Creating Communication Opportunities with Favorite Toys How to Make Communication Temptations Really Work Mining Preschool Routines for PrAACtical AAC Opportunities. Meaningful Communication Opportunities – The Fives 5 ‘Go-To’ Sites for AAC and Visual Support Downloads 5 Apps for Tempting Commenting and Other Language Functions 5 AAC-Related Facebook Pages/Groups We Love 5 Tools and Tips for Making Transitions Easier 5+ Sites for Free AAC-Friendly Literacy Resources 5 eGames for Switch Users 5 AAC/AT YouTube Channels We Love – PrAACtical Thinking 49 Free or Lite Versions of AAC Apps A Myth About Visual Schedules Lives On PrAACtical Resources: Making Decisions about Reading Accessibility Options PrAACtical Resources: Toolkit for ASD PrAACtical Questions: How Do I Find Good AAC Service... [Read More...]
April 28, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
AAC is a field that involves many different disciplines, including OT, PT, SLP and education. In the best-case scenario, professionals in these disciplines work together to evaluate and provide intervention for the individual with little or no functional speech. If that option is not available, consider what discipline makes sense in your particular situation. For example, individuals with complex motor impairments may be best served initially through an OT who knows how to identify the best means of accessing AAC devices as the primary AAC service provider. For a child who is just learning to communicate, a speech-language pathologist (SLP) may be the best person to coordinate AAC services. A comprehensive AAC evaluation will always have the SLP playing a central role, which is important because of the special knowledge that they have about language and communication. How do you find an SLP with adequate skills in AAC? While there... [Read More...]
April 23, 2012
by Robin Parker -
More About Communication Opportunities: It doesn’t matter your personality, but for students who do not naturally comment, you need to go ape! And then still, you need to teach with wait & signal cues, visual supports, aided language input, modeling, expansions, and positive feedback. We will never forget a semester with Mikey and our hair clips of butterflies, whales, dinosaurs, and even a spider. These hair clips allowed for the item to hang in our face…… until Mikey commented and we could ‘go ape’ with surprise. A great strategy to use with commenting communication temptations is Wait & Signal. Wait and Signal involves setting up the temptation and then pausing with raised eyebrows like you expect the learner to take a ‘turn/a conversational turn’. As always, make sure the learner has access to the appropriate communication device or communication boards. 10 additional commenting communication temptations and opportunities: Move a huge stuffed... [Read More...]
April 17, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
We’re in the mood to play! – 1. AbleGamers Foundation: http://www.ablegamers.com/ 2. Free from Shiny Learning: http://www.shinylearning.co.uk/freegames/ 3. Assistive Gaming: http://www.assistivegaming.com/ 4. Switch Games from the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/games/by/type/switchgames 5. Switch Effect’s Gamebase: http://www.gamebase.info/home.html – Let the (accessible) games begin!
April 7, 2012
by Robin Parker -
Toca Boca App Developers make general education preschool apps. They are dedicated to providing interactive play opportunities using mobile technology. We have loved every one of their apps since we first saw them. There seems to be some philosophical similarities between the Toca Boca Apps and so we will begin with why we love ALL of them. We have found them to be engaging to all ages (including us). They also provide practice and interaction with life experiences in a fun and pretend tech way. We love the beautiful artwork. We love that they are reasonably priced, often participate in ‘give aways’ and they even do free GIFTS (think Toca Hair Salon Christmas Gift and now Toca Kitchen Monsters). We use these apps so often that we can say we have officially HijAACked them for PrAACtical AAC. We have HijAACked ALL of these apps to use with AAC... [Read More...]
April 7, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
April is springtime where we live and spring is a time of beginnings. It’s fitting, then, that our AAC strategy of the month speaks to the very beginning of AAC intervention. Learning how to create focused opportunities to teach or practice an AAC skill is a pivotal skill for SLPs. The concept is a simple one: create an environment in which the learner WANTS or NEEDS to display the target skill. – Communication opportunities are related to the concept of communicative temptations. As SLP blogger Becca Jarzynski of Child Talk puts it “Communication temptations are pretty much just what they sound like: we set up the environment to tempt children to communicate with us.” Stop by and read her excellent post here . While Becca focuses on their use with young children, the approach can be used with people of any age. – Tempting people to communicate is all about... [Read More...]
April 4, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
PrAACtical Questions is an occasional series in which we address concerns that our graduate students and others have posed to us about the real world challenges of implementing AAC. This post focuses on AAC evaluations. – The Question: I don’t have many SGDs in my school/clinic. How can I evaluate someone for AAC? — The Situation: A clinician with a good background in using the feature match process for AAC evaluations needs to evaluate a student with severe speech difficulties. Her center has a few AAC devices that she can use for this evaluation but there are a few others that she doesn’t have which are appropriate to consider. There isn’t much chance that she will be given approval to purchase those. How can we get the student an appropriate AAC evaluation? Some Ideas: This is a fairly common problem since few practicing SLPs have access to all of the SGDs, iDevices, apps, and... [Read More...]
April 1, 2012
by Robin Parker -
Please check out the most recent set of suggestions here. We love getting EVERYONE involved in Autism Awareness Month. We like to take a goal focused approach to our Autism Awareness Month activities by choosing projects that facilitate positive attitudes & discussions. We pass out materials, have contests, go to events, do extra talks, and try and engage EVERYONE we know and even some we do not know. We do a lot of shopping (with small amount of money, but we have to EAT and accessorize). Our families, pets, friends, and students all participate. It is a month filled with purposeful fun. Here are some of the things we will be doing. Please share any activities or projects that you know about. Bake, share, & eat some desserts. Need inspiration?.. try these Puzzle Piece Rice Crispy Treats Join the webinar Autism Explosion by Dr. Coplan will be shown... [Read More...]