Tag Archive: education

AAC in Secondary School: Using Surveys to Support Language Learning

March 8, 2021 by - 1 Comment

AAC in Secondary School: Using Surveys to Support Language Learning

It’s a great day to explore ways to support AAC use, and today AAC SLP Ashley Larisey joins us with some activity suggestions and lots of implementation tips.  Ashley is an SLP at Community High School District 218 in Oak Lawn, Illinois. She is also an Adjunct Clinical Supervisor and Instructor at Saint Xavier University. This post, part of the AAC in Secondary School series, focuses on the use of language experience surveys with students who are learning to use AAC. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Surveys Surveys can be used within almost any classroom activity to provide students with opportunities to communicate with both familiar and non-familiar listeners. Questions that are used for the survey can be used to gather more information about a topic that guides decision-making. Surveys can be embedded into academic, social, vocational, and community-based instruction. Take a look at some examples of how to use surveys in your classroom... [Read More...]

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AAC in Secondary School: Defining Age Respectful

February 8, 2021 by - Leave your thoughts

AAC in Secondary School: Defining Age Respectful

Today, we welcome back AAC SLP Ashley Larisey to these pages for another post in the AAC in Secondary School series. Ashley is an SLP at Community High School District 218 in Oak Lawn, Illinois. She is also an Adjunct Clinical Supervisor and Instructor at Saint Xavier University. In today’s post, she shares thoughts on being age-respectful in choosing content, activities, and materials for high school students who are learning to use AAC. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Defining Age-Respectful The terms “age-appropriate” and “functional” are terms that come up frequently when working with older learners with complex communication needs and/or significant cognitive impairments. These students are entitled to receive an education that is aligned with the grade level standards in their state. Instruction should respect that these learners are no longer children, but in fact teenagers or young adults. But what do the terms “age-appropriate” and “functional” really mean? How are those terms... [Read More...]

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Video of the Week: Calendar Time & Weather Report, AAC Style

February 3, 2021 by - Leave your thoughts

Video of the Week: Calendar Time & Weather Report, AAC Style

Many special education programs have a daily routine of discussing the weather and reviewing the calendar. In today’s featured video, we take a look at how special educator Amy Campbell integrates no tech and high tech AAC into this activity. Direct Link to Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsAQ4ol-ETU&ab_channel=AmyCampbell  You can read a post by Amy on normalizing AAC here and see another of her videos, Cooking with AAC, here.  

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Video of the Week: Supporting Core Vocabulary in a Life Skills Classroom

January 20, 2021 by - Leave your thoughts

Video of the Week: Supporting Core Vocabulary in a Life Skills Classroom

Planning, designing, creating, teaching. Helping students become more proficient with their AAC systems often involves teaching core vocabulary and it can take considerable effort to integrate that into the daily routines of a busy classroom. In today’s featured video, we hear from Special Educator April Weitkamp who describes the process she used to support core vocabulary in an elementary school classroom. She shares her experiences and many lessons learned through the process of collaborating with the SLP and paraprofessionals to support core vocabulary learning in this multi-age group of students. Many thanks to April and the Special Education Technology Center (SETC) in Washington for this helpful presentation. Enjoy! Direct Link to Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVbeHg2Vl2Y&ab_channel=SETCSpecialEducationTechnologyCenter  You can see another video from April here.

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AAC in Secondary School: Research Project AACtivity

January 4, 2021 by - Leave your thoughts

AAC in Secondary School: Research Project AACtivity

We’re excited to start off 2021 with a new series focusing on supporting students who use AAC during their high school years. AAC SLP Ashley Larisey is the guest author for the AAC in Secondary School series which will have ideas for specific activities in some months and articles on issues pertinent to secondary school AAC in others. Ashley is an SLP at Community High School District 218 in Oak Lawn, Illinois. She is also an Adjunct Clinical Supervisor and Instructor at Saint Xavier University. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Introduction to the Series: AAC for Secondary Students Some of the most common questions that I hear from my SLP colleagues are specific to AAC treatment planning and implementation. As a high school AAC SLP, I am privileged to have the opportunity to work with students as they prepare and transition into adulthood. I often find that many SLPs are looking to provide their students... [Read More...]

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AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week #49: December 2020

December 6, 2020 by - Leave your thoughts

AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week #49: December 2020

Happy Sunday, AAC friends! Here are some posts that may be of interest. Monday – School Year of Core Vocabulary Words: AAC Resources for Month 5 (December) by Michaela Sullivan, Alisa Lego, & Beth Lytle Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Personal Narrative Writing & AAC Thursday – Throwback Thursday: AAC Assessment Practices     Still have time for a little more AAC? Here are some of our suggestions. 10 Apps to Gift an AAC SLP Helping Beginning Communicators Expand Their Sentence Length 5 Ways to Make Semantic Maps More Effective in AAC Therapy PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: The Family Book How I Do It: A Year of Core Words in Action Have a great week, everyone!

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AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week #18: May 2020

May 3, 2020 by - Leave your thoughts

AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week #18: May 2020

Happy Sunday, AAC friends. Here are some posts from our prAACtical week. Monday – PrAACtically May – AAC Resources for A Year of Core Words: The Learn-at-Home Edition Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Environmental Communication Training – Strategies for Implementation Thursday – Connecting Intubated Patients with Loved Ones: Co-VidSpeak :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Before you leave, here are a few more posts that may be of interest. Aided AAC & the IEP How I Do It: AAC in the IEP AAC & the IEP: 5 Resources to Explore 5 Reasons to Put AAC Training for Staff and Parents into the IEP How I Do It: Writing IEP Goals for Students Who Use AAC with Lauren Enders One last thing…check out the updates to this interactive flyer by using the slider at the right or visiting the full-sized version here. Scroll to the bottom for the latest additions.

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AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week #4: January 2020

January 26, 2020 by - Leave your thoughts

AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week #4: January 2020

Happy Sunday, AAC friends. Here are some posts that you may have missed in your busy week. Monday – TELL ME About It: AAC Learning with ‘What Do You Like?’ Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Growing with Language & AAC Thursday – Throwback Thursday: Books & Reading, AAC Style :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Need a few more suggestions? Try these posts from the archives. How We Do It: Incorporating Core Vocabulary Throughout the School Day How We Do It: AAC in the Special Education Classroom – Continuing the Journey PrAACtical Resources: Teachers’ Toolkit For Students With Little Or No Speech PrAACtical Resources: AAC for School Staff AAC and the IEP

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Video of the Week: Aided AAC and the IEP

July 18, 2018 by - Leave your thoughts

Video of the Week: Aided AAC and the IEP

Last month, CoughDrop held the 2018 AAC in the Cloud conference, offering 3 tracks of presentations and online discussions with the presenters. I was thrilled to find this ‘meaty’ session by Amy Goldman, Technical Assistance Specialist and AAC SLP, at the National AT Act Technical Assistance and Training Center. Amy is a tireless advocate for AAC and has shared some of her work here in the area of emergency preparedness and on the activities of the NJC. In this video, she gives us a solid overview of the IEP as it relates to AAC and AT. There’s something to learn even if you’ve already done a lot of work around the topic of AAC and the IEP. Many thanks to CoughDrop for putting on another wonderful, online conference and offering it to the AAC community without charge, and to Amy for sharing such valuable information. Enjoy! Direct Link to video... [Read More...]

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Video of the Week: AT in the IEP

April 4, 2018 by - Leave your thoughts

Video of the Week: AT in the IEP

If you work in school settings and serve students with AAC needs, or if you have a school-aged child who uses AAC, today’s featured video is an important one for you. Lisa Lightner, parent, disability rights leader, and author of the popular blog A Day In Our Shoes, shares useful information of interest to families and professionals alike. The webinar was sponsored by the Center on Technology and Disability (CTD).  Direct Link to Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5spq37ooWRk&feature=push-u&attr_tag=ayID2iP5sKPBsTQX-6 Interested in this topic? Check out some of the other work by the CTD on AT in the IEP here. Kudos to the CTD and Lisa Lightner for creating this presentation and making it available to all.

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