Singing in the Rain (Thanks, Isaac!)

By tradition, we post an AAC-related video on Sundays. Today, we’re thinking that it’s time for a song, and those who attended ISAAC 2012 know that there’s nothing like the songs sung using AAC. This video features an adaptation of a classic folk song, If I Had a Hammer, performed by the talented Snoopi Botten.

Lightning, Thunder, & Rain Oh My

We live in Florida and there are lots of general summer storms. They can be very loud and dark.  There are also many hurricane warnings (like now for Hurricane Isaac).  Many children and adults with communication challenges can become upset or anxious because of the loud noises, the change in routines, and/or the heightened state of anxiety that is usually around the house or community. Because of this we are often asked to help find visual support resources. Here are some great prepared visual support stories and resources that we use:

Bad Weather Tips and Story by Hands in Autism
Hurricane Preparedness
More Hurricane Preparedness
Thunder/Lightning Storms
Thunder Box

Sometimes though the prepared supports do not meet the needs for specific learners. Here are our tips for developing your own storm visual supports and resources

Creating Personal Participation Stories

• Use language of the story that is at the level of the learner

• Use picture symbol support for the text of the story
• Write about possible or known problems for the specific learner with the event, activity, or experience (i.e., the noise, the fact that you can not go outside to play, etc)
• Write about possible solutions for the specific learner with the event, activity, or experience (i.e., you can wear headphones and listen to music to not hear the storm, etc)
• Use non-specific language (i.e., ‘probably’, ‘will try’, ‘may’, ‘about’ -vs- ‘will’, ‘must’, ‘have to’)
• Conclude on a positive note

Creating Visual Support Resources

• Use choice boards for things you can do inside during a storm
• Use a monthly calendar to show when you probably can have a ‘make up’ for any event that got cancelled
• Relaxation ‘bag’ with relaxing objects (i.e., stress ball, massager, etc) and visual instructions for relaxing activities (i.e., yoga, deep breathing, etc.)
• Feelings board to ‘vent’ about any anxiety
• Storm ‘bag’/’box’ with special things that can be used inside during a storm and supplies for a storm (i.e., extra batteries, favorite books, music player, etc.)
• Any other visual support that gives the learner information or allows them to express their thoughts

5 Presentation Handouts from ISAAC 2012

It seems like only last week that I was enjoying ISAAC 2012, spending time with friends, and attending AAC sessions. Here are some links to handouts for a few of the sessions.

1. Sarah Blackstone and many others: Effective Patient Provider Communication: The Expanding Role of our Professions


2. Jane Farrall: What’s APPropriate: AAC Apps for iPhones, iPads and other devices


3. Melanie Fried-Oken: A Comparison of Communication Board Use for Conversations in  Primary Progressive Aphasia and Alzheimer’s Disease


4. Janice Light and her colleagues: Effects of AAC Systems with “Just in Time”  Programming For Children with Complex Communication Needs


5. Janice Light & David McNaughton: Evidence-based Literacy Intervention for Individuals with Autism who Require AAC

5 Things We Love About the AAC Evaluation Genie

We loved it as a computer program and now we love it as an app. 

1. The AAC Evaluation Genie app covers a lot of ground, starting with simple discrimination tasks all the way up through word prediction.

2. It helps keep us organized and focused in the app portion of the assessment process: The way the assessment activities are laid out helps us move beyond picture identification in a organized fashion.

3. It allows for a lot of flexibility. How many times have you done an AAC evaluation where you prepared for a client with a certain set of skills, only to find yourself face-to-face with someone whose skills are way above or below what you planned for? It’s great when you have a tool that will let you move easily to another set of tasks when the need arises.

4. It accommodates both direct selection and scanning. 

5. The testing process also helps us teach the client what to do. In the picture discrimination set, for example, we can start at a very easy level (e.g., set of three 5-inch pictures) to help the client gain experience with the task so that when we get to the larger fields (it goes up to 32 1-inch pictures), the client knows what to do. The Genie makes it progressively more challenging and allows us to see how the client does with an increasingly larger field of options.

Thanks, Celeste Helling, for this very useful tool!

Comparing AAC Apps: A Look at the Language & Other Features

Well, the school year is all of 3 days old and already we’ve had plenty of questions about AAC apps. Sigh. We’ve had our ups and downs with AAC on mobile devices, but there is no sense rehashing all of that here. Instead, we’ll focus on some of the tools we use when helping to determine which, if any, are a good fit for a particular communicator.

AAC App Lists:

• Comprehensive AAC app list for iPhone and iPad by Jane Farrall

Feature Match Checklists & Forms:

• Jessica Gosnell at Boston Children's Hospital
• Scott Marfilius and Kelly Fonner

Our Rubric for Evaluating the Language Aspects of the AAC App

• RELAACs

Other Helpful Sources

• Scoop.It collection and Pinterest boards with AAC app sites and videos
• OCALI’s listing of apps for individuals with ASD
• Tech Connect’s Apps Assistant
• The App Academy’s site for app training videos

While We’re Waiting & the ‘Aha Moment’

We tried to be patient. We really did. We tried to wait until we had the new venue for our site all figured out and ready to go, but the truth is, we missed blogging and hated the thought of going a few more weeks without being able to post. So we decided to reactivate our old site for the time being and post occasionally to this site. Pardon our dorky look, please.

In case you missed these on Facebook, here are are a couple of things we shared in the past few weeks:

• Lemonade: http://screencast.com/t/xaFcbxySW
• Building Classroom Participation: http://www.screencast.com/users/CZee/folders/Jing/media/15818f72-c49f-4da6-a12d-e52250794234
• PrAACtical Alert: Online Trainings: http://bit.ly/NZ9HYT

• COCOA: http://www.edutecher.net/educlipper/index.php?shareImgid=2478
• AAC Rating Scales: http://www.edutecher.net/educlipper/index.php?shareImgid=2499 and http://bit.ly/Ocgte5

And now onto something new...

Last week, I had the chance to talk with Karyn, a mom whose adorable daughter with significant vision impairment and multiple disabilities is entering school for the first time. As she helped her little girl prepare for the transition, Karyn had an ‘aha’ moment. Up until now, she dutifully implemented the suggestions of the SLP, OT, PT, and early intervention teachers who worked with her daughter, Ella, trying to strike a balance between their home programs and the other demands on her time. AAC was a part of that, along with many competing priorities, but it never really got air play. Because Ella primarily had in-home services, Karyn was always available to interpret her daughter’s communicative attempts. Now, Ella is going to be on her own, without mom to interpret.

In this case, the ‘aha moment’ was Karyn realizing that for her daughter to succeed in school, AAC would have to play a central role. The people who are now going to be with Ella for 6 hours/day, aren’t familiar with the ways in which she communicates using sounds, subtle movements, and changes in muscle tone. “I took pride in being the one who knew her best,” Karyn told me. “I guess a part of me was secretly happy that I could read her better than anybody else.” “We’re a team,” she said, “but now she’s playing in a whole new league.”

A whole new league, with all new rules.

Karyn’s ‘aha moment’ sent her into a tailspin, and she wakes up in the night worried, as any mom in this situation would, about helping her daughter be safe, happy, and productive in school.  We brainstormed well into the night, and one of the brightest moments was a plan to introduce object symbols. Tangible symbols are a great option for kids with significant visual impairment, and we chatted about how to get started to develop a system that would allow Ella to make choices and know what’s coming up in her day. Perkins School for the Blind has a wonderful set of videos  by SLP Elizabeth Torrey on this topic. There are 6 short, expertly captioned videos totalling less than 15 minutes. They give a great introduction to how to get started with this approach.

You can view the videos here: http://bit.ly/PCScxm

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