AAC in the Cloud 2019 Conference

AAC for Caregivers: When aging parents or a spouse suffer speech loss following a stroke, surgery, progressive illness or dementia, life at home gets very stressful. This presentation provides an overview of how to use no tech/low tech Augmentative Communication Aids to help individuals get their care needs met at home, in the hospital and out in the community.

I worked with children who were non-verbal and minimally verbal 20+ years ago. There were so many things I didn't know that I wish I had and many people still don't believe now that I know would have made kids I worked with who had no communication have much more communication.

Yesterday I posted on Facebook, took my medicine, went to class, answered emails, and went out to eat. I can do this because I can read and write. I can read my medicine bottle, my Facebook feed, my class books, emails, and the menu at the restaurant. It was hard to learn to read. I will tell my story about learning to read and how I read and write now.

An overview of low tech communication, including some of the reasons why people use low tech. We will demonstrate different physical access methods: • Pointing by hand • Pointing with a laser (head mounted or handheld) • Eye Gaze • Scanning • Gestures

Kelly is excited to bring together this panel of Mothers who have children of a variety of ages (from preschool to young adults) who use AAC Systems. Each Mom will give their "Top 5 Tips" from their unique, experienced based perspective on AAC.

This presentation will cover types of switch, how to find the placement for the switch to be accessed, the different kinds of scanning patterns used with switch access, and the difference between auditory prompts vs auditory scanning.

Whether you work in the schools or in health care or community settings, whether you are a person who uses AAC or someone who supports people who use AAC, you'll want to learn how you can prepare yourself and others for emergencies and disasters.

AAC stands for augmentative and alternative communication. People can speak and still choose to use AAC. It can be a powerful tool when someone has difficulty being understood. Research shows that people with Down Syndrome and other disabilities have more difficulty being understood by unfamiliar communication partners, or when speaking longer sentences. Even if their speech is understood by those who know them well, it may still be of benefit to use AAC. AAC can broaden the range of potential communication partners and ensure communicative independence.

After selecting a device and language system for an AAC user, it’s important to consider how the system will be introduced and implemented throughout the day. This session will introduce a plethora of ideas to support families and professionals who are learning to speak symbol language and support the AAC users in their life.

We talk a lot about the importance of training in AAC, but are only starting to talk about how to do that training. With years of teaching AAC to pre-service and in-service SLPs and teachers, Vicki has become a firm believer in hands on activities and she will share some here.

The best way to teach AAC is to speak AAC. As an SLP serving many families with a consumer of AAC, I am often encouraging parents, caregivers, and other providers to incorporate AAC into daily routines. The goal of this presentation is to provide a basic overview of language development and instruction, aided language modeling, and providing examples of two-word phrases to model during every-day activities.

Over the last 4 years the speech language pathologists at P.G. Chambers School have been working to improve staff knowledge, skills, and interest in increasing their use of aided language stimulation with students using AAC in the classrooms. P.G. Chambers School is a private school for children with complex communication needs, and 75% of the students attending our school use some form of AAC (from beginning communicators to advanced high tech device users). Research states that successful communication interactions between AAC users and communication partners will depend heavily on the skills of the communication partner, (Kent-Walsh, McNaughton 2015) and that partner instruction should be viewed as an integral part of AAC assessment and intervention and provision of instruction should be routinely provided… (KentAWalsh, Murza, Malani & Binger, 2015). Being an effective communication partner or AAC facilitator is not intuitive. It often requires one to change long established, unconscious ways of communicating (Blackstone, 2006). We have engaged our staff in several different learning opportunities, trainings, and projects that have focused on giving everyone the boards/tools to provide aided language stimulation to the wide range of students using AAC. We will discuss the trainings, projects, and tools we have provided and our successes and the continued challenges that we face.

Occupational Therapists love thinking outside the box! We will discuss when to involve an OT on your team as well as hidden benefits of doing so. Resources to share with your current teams will be provided to support your thinking outside a typical team and help your AAC users succeed!

In the world of AAC (Augmentative Alternative Communication), we tend to really focus on the alternative piece. As an SLP working in the public schools, I work with a lot of students who are partially verbal. That is they are speaking words but it might just be one or two word sentences or telegraphic speech. Oftentimes these students really benefit from the structure of a low tech communication board to give their sentences correct grammatical structure and by having a multi-sensory method of expressing themselves. This presentation will give you some tips and ideas for ways you can help your students "augment" their communication.

Community based instruction is an essential piece of today’s life skills curriculums. Unfortunately, supporting students who use AAC in the community setting can be a difficult and daunting process. This presentation aims to provide resources and support to help professionals provide the best possible services to the individuals they serve.

This course will teach participants how to utilize the latest apps, extensions and software to streamline multidisciplinary communication and collaboration. Strategies discussed will include how to support carry-over of AAC implementation across environments, setting up and maintaining efficient data collection systems as well as encouraging team “buy-in” on adopting new technology systems to support AAC learners. Attendees will leave this session with an action plan that will increase team collaboration.

To improve AAC skills, it helps to write for an authentic audience. Organizing and marking up photos can be a fun family activity. It provides opportunities for commenting, asking/answering questions, and using the alphabet. Once photos are organized, they can be used in the AAC app to set a topic or share a memory.

What is the meaning of voice in the life of a young person who speaks using a SGD? This presentation provides a glimpse into the lived experience of people who use speech generating devices, drawing upon their first hand accounts. “Giving voice”, both literally and metaphorically, will be explored.

I would like to discuss what I have learned working as an AAC user, and hopefully share ideas and experience that can help other AAC users in workplace and professional environments.

Technology fails. It’s a horrible but very real truth. Other times, technology cannot do as much as we would like (like go for a swim with us). During this presentation, we’ll discuss creating backups of systems (high-tech and paper-based), as well as creative solutions to access language across all environments.

Presentación teórico práctico que brinda fundamentos actualizados basados en la evidencia sobre comunicación aumentativa y alternativa, proporcionando estrategias de intervención y recursos para niños y jóvenes que presentan complejas necesidades de comunicación. English Practical theoretical presentation that provides updated fundamentals based on the evidence of augmentative and alternative communication, providing intervention strategies and resources for children and young people who present complex communication needs.

Shared storybook reading is a great way to build language skills and emergent literacy skills. But a lot of new-ish AAC users think books are B-O-R-I-N-G. This presentation will offer practical tips to make shared storybook reading fun!

This session will share 10 unique ways that devices, core boards and other multi-modality methods have been adapted to ensure communicative success in our school district. While the words remain the same, the manner in which each student accesses and uses the words is customized to their individual strengths and needs.

The “real world” of school communication does not always play out easily for the student using AAC. This session will expand the use of the Participation Assessment Model as an implementation strategies to be used when working with Preschool through K-12 Classroom teachers who have students with AAC systems.

The ultimate goal of a comprehensive AAC assessment is effective communication. Given the complexity of AAC evaluation, the diversity of those needing assessment and the constraints imposed by time and reimbursement factors, the need for a systematic, comprehensive approach to assessment is critical to the goal of successful AAC use. But how to get there when there are few systematic assessment protocols available? This session reviews the iOS app AAC Evaluation Genie, an informal assessment framework that provides a cohesive protocol for evaluating the skills that are most commonly looked at during an AAC evaluation process.

All parents teach their children to communicate. Without classes or workshops or the direction of a specialist, moms, dads, and caregivers teach language. Yet, when we look at a young (or older) child who is not able to communicate fully using spoken language we become afraid. We don’t know where to start or what to do. Advice varies and everyone has an opinion. This session will focus on looking at the skills all parents draw upon to teach their children to communication and harnessing those skills to teach your child with complex communication needs.

It is easy to agree that all learners should be placed in the Least Restrictive Environment. But sometimes students with complex communication needs are placed in general education classroom without a robust plan for support. Inclusion is not a place, it is a concept and it is not just about physical placement. The goal of general education placement is authentic inclusion, not merely a seat at the table.

People who cannot rely on speech are at-risk of neglect, abuse, and medical errors. This session will examine the causes of this vulnerablity. We will then explore the most effective safeguards to ensure AAC users have the tools, support, and strategies they need to be safe and heard.

In 2018, Natalie created a monthly social group for families of emerging AAC users. This presentation will discuss what has worked and what is still a work in progress, including: fostering opportunities for AAC users in a larger, relaxed recreational setting; supporting modeling by family members; increasing sibling involvement; and training graduate students.

Explore a classroom-based communication model and supporting tools which assist IEP team members in assessing current AAC skills and progress toward communicative competence in both social and academic environments. Discover the Dynamic AAC Goals Grid-2 and the Classroom Communication Goals Grid with application of these tools in the development of IEPs.

Some autistic adults, including myself, use both speech and AAC. Out of necessity, preference, or both, we may not (only) use a dedicated device, or even a dedicated application. I will discuss why we look beyond dedicated options, other tools we may use, and how to apply this more broadly.