April 23, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
While we may play a variety of roles, a commonality among those of us on teams serving individuals with AAC needs is that we often struggle with developing goals that are meaningful. Let’s work together to develop a list of potential goals that we can reflect on as we work with our clients and their families on a plan for becoming more competent communicators. There are two sections in this post: Qualifiers (for information applying to all goals) and Goal Areas (for actual goals). This is not meant to be a comprehensive list but rather a starting point for a collaborative document. Please join the effort by adding goals in the comment area below or reaching out using our contact form. SECTION 1: QUALIFIERS Each goal can be prefaced with a description of the communicator’s AAC system or the elements of that system can be named. Terms used in this document... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: goals, objectives
October 11, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
Like some of you, we often get asked “The Question.” People sometimes ask us to give them a recommendation about what AAC device or app is best for a particular individual. When the question comes from a parent or therapist whom we don’t know, it’s understandable. But when it is from a clinician we’ve taught, (who should know better), it’s a bit baffling. Obviously, we’d never make that kind of recommendation without having done an evaluation, or at least reviewing someone else’s assessment. We dread “The Question.” On the other hand, there are a lot of things that we wish people would ask that relate to how to help the communicator develop strong skills. This post relates to to one of those type of questions. “What should I work on?” “What kinds of AAC goals should we write?” We like those kinds of questions and our answers generally have one... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: collaboration, goal bank, goal setting, goals, objectives
July 18, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
This post was inspired by a budding young professional who loves AAC and is DETERMINED to provide best practice services for the young students she serves. (See?? This is why we love being clinical educators!) We were chatting about a youngster on her caseload who uses an eyegaze SGD and is making some good progress with the technical aspects of it. Our conversation turned to goal setting. – First, a word about how to talk about AAC in the goals and objectives. For people who use SGDs, there are pros and cons to naming the actual device in the goal. Some SLPs favor that, while others prefer a more flexible approach and describe the device features. More about that another time. A more general concern about writing AAC goals is the tendency to focus more on operating equipment than on becoming an effective communicator. Clearly, we advocate the latter: AAC... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AAC system, communicative competence, goals, intervention, language, linguistic competence, objectives, operational competence, social skills, strategic competence