We’ll take any opportunity we can get to see teachers eliciting AAC in the classroom. Take a look at some of the clips in this brief presentation by the folks at Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia. Direct Link to Video: http://www.lcps.org/cms/lib4/VA01000195/Centricity/Domain/116/CommVideos/ECSADL.wmv
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: back to school, classroom, Loudoun County
In many schools, educational teams struggle to develop appropriate curriculum-based instruction for students with significant disabilities. In this week’s video, the group from PaTTAN has collaborated with from University of Kentucky to present a workshop addressing this topic. Enjoy Educating Students with Complex Support Needs in a Standards-Aligned System, presented by Jeannine Brinkley, Sarah Kennedy, Dori Anderson, Debbie Brown, Mariel Zeller, and Sharon Leonard.
Filed under: Video of the Week
Tagged With: classroom, education, Instruction, PaTTAN, standards
How can SLPs support students who use AAC and help them communicate more frequently in the classroom? Collaboration with the teacher is, of course, central to making this work. If you’re paired with an educator who knows, loves, and supports the AAC needs of her students, then you are in for a real treat. Collaborating with someone like that is fun and energizing. But what if your partner is new to AAC or one who doesn’t really know (or care to know) much about it? What if there is a bit of resistance to change or a passive-aggressive style? No match for a committed clinician! Ah. The ART of being an SLP. Take equal measures of creative problem-solving, wonderful pragmatics, and tenacity, and solutions will be found. In really sticky situations, we’ve seen colleagues make breakthroughs on the strength of brownies and iced coffee. You know how to make this... [Read More...]
Filed under: Strategy of the Month
Tagged With: classroom, education, participation
Do you know any of our friends? Jenna can use a talking switch with only a little bit of support. But at calendar time, no one thinks of asking her a question. Hao knows almost two dozen signs and can use a communication wallet with non-signers. But at social gatherings, he’s mostly off to the side playing a game on his iPhone. Isaac uses his SGD capably and can create grammatically correct sentences that include noun phrases and conjunctions. But in Chemistry, his lab group conducts their experiments and writes up the lab report without his contributions. Sienna is able to choose between preferred and non-preferred items in a field of three and is learning to do so in a field of four. But the only time she gets to make a choice is at mealtimes. Like many of you, we put in countless hours helping children and adults who... [Read More...]
Filed under: Strategy of the Month
Tagged With: assessment, classroom, discrepancy analysis, generalization, participation, peer
The SETT Framework by Dr. Joy Zabala (Director of Technical Assistance at CAST) is a widely used approach for collaborative decision-making in AT. It’s a tool we love, teach about, and use, but many SLPs aren’t that familiar with it. Here are some of the reasons we think it deserves your consideration. 1. It gives everyone a common focus. We all look at the student from our own perspective and sometimes fail to think about how our priorities intersect with those of other team members. The SETT Framework helps us to all look at the same thing at the same time. 2. Defensive, who me? When you focus on a framework or process, people are less likely to become defensive when we’re trying to make things better for the student. 3. It becomes a way of thinking. Teams that are in the habit of using the SETT Framework are generally... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: assessment, classroom, collaboration, general education, Joy Zabala, SETT
We are so excited to start off the new school year with a wonderfully prAACtical post by Lauren Enders. Lauren’s “How I Do It” posts have been very popular and this one is no different. Today, she shares ways to incorporate key AAC principles in engaging intervention activities and models that with high school students. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: LEARNING TARGETS (Samples: can be changed to meet student goals) Using core vocabulary, the student will: control the actions of others (beginning with core words like “more”, “stop”, “go”, “again”, and “different”) express his or her opinions through commenting (beginning with core words such as “like”, “don’t like”, “good”, “bad”, and “silly”) TARGET POPULATION: all ages (I have used variations of this activity successfully with students from age 3 through age 21.) TYPE OF AAC: ALL types!! What’s crucial here is the availability of core vocabulary, not the system used. Systems used can vary from... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: activities, aided language input, classroom, education, Lauren Enders, schools
Like many of you, we are always racking our brains trying to help students who use AAC be successful academically. Because we serve these students in a clinical setting, we could easily pass on the opportunity to align our AAC goals with academic standards but what would be the fun in that? Here are some things we try to think about with school-aged kids who have AAC needs. SLP to SLP If it takes a village to raise a child, how many people does it take to help a kids with AAC needs to develop communicative competence and succeed academically? It boggles the mind. As SLPs, message is this: We have to work together. Many kids who use AAC have private therapies in addition to their school services, and yet, we rarely connect. We have to find a way to do a better job at this so that kids with... [Read More...]
Filed under: Strategy of the Month
Tagged With: assessment, classroom, collaboration, education, testing
Marlene Cummings is back to share some thoughts on creating communication-friendly environments. As an AAC consultant to the Oakland Schools, Marlene gets to support AAC implementation in a variety of classrooms with all types of learners. You can read her earlier posts here and here. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 5 Things to Consider in the “Communication Environment” The first thing we want to ask: Is language being represented visibly? We in AAC are often known by our “stuff”. Because we need to represent language visibly and love technology, we typically have a lot of “stuff”. I, for one, currently have a large storage unit holding 30+ years of “stuff” waiting to be distributed to all my new teams since I am no longer in the classroom. Let’s start by looking around our instructional environment. It is our intention to model the use of language being represented visibly and to provide the vocabulary and opportunities for... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: 24/7, access, aided languagge input, classroom, core vocabulary, education, Marlene Cummings, modeling, opportunity
We couldn’t be more excited to have a return visit from Marlene Cummings, a wonderful SLP who is currently serving as an AAC Consultant to the AAC Team at Oakland Schools. In her first post, Marlene talked about strategies for cultivating the right mindset for AAC teaching. In this post, Marlene continues sharing elements of her Framework for Success in discussing the Knowledge Toolbox, developed with the Oakland Schools AAC Team. 5 Things in Your “Knowledge Toolbox” What is already in my “knowledge toolbox” of communication, language and learning? Yes, you do have a full toolbox. You just don’t realize it. And of course there are always new and exciting things to add. You already know this stuff!! REMEMBER??? It is important to step back and think broadly about communication and what it really does. Sometimes we get caught in the details of our work and can’t see the forest through the... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AAC team, classroom, communication opportunities, communicative competence, communicative function, communicative intent, education, How I Do It, language development, Marlene Cummings, schools
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...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: classroom, goal setting, goals, How I Do It, IEP, Lauren Enders, schools