ISAAC's organization’s mission is to inform everyone in the world about AAC. As we know there are many children and adults who are using AAC, but many who are not. ISAAC works with AAC users and those with speech difficulties to research ways to find new and improved AAC, as well as to make AAC recognized , valued and used everywhere in the world. They have a list of accomplishments on their website. Check it out!
13th Biennial International Conference of the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication. Designed for speech and language pathlogists, families, individuals who use AAC and/or who have speech challenges, teachers, occupational therapist and anyone else who who like to learn more about communication.
The conference will take place in Montréal, Québec, Canada, from August 2-7, 2008. In 2010 the conference will be held in Barcelona, Spain.
Pragmatic Organization Dynamic Display (PODD) Training
What a great opportunity to learn from two of the leading AAC experts in the world! Gayle Porter, from Melborne, Australia, has over 25 years of experience working with people with complex communication needs. She has developed and published resources on the PODD communication books and pages sets for speech generating devices. Linda Burkhart, from Maryland, a former teacher and AT/AAC expert, has worked with many children and adults with significant disabilities and has developed adapted materials and innovative strategies for working with them. If you have a chance, and some money, go see these two in action!
Chicago, Il - July 21, 22, and 23, 2008
Sponsored by Easter Seals DuPage and the Fox Valley Region
Trying to stay abreast of the latest on social networking? Wondering what this entails and why it is important? Visit a wiki that was created and recently shared at the Virginia 2008 Transition Forum on "Social Networking Tools and Techniques: What Every Transition Practitioner Needs to Know". VCU TTAC Technology Coordinator Fran Smith chose this medium to share her handouts and resources while modeling the technology and sharing multiple web-based examples.
http://socialweb20.pbwiki.com
Many of you VAAP folks are working with students on recognizing signs; this site seems like a nice place from which to pull images. (Added bonus- we learn more about India--some of their signs are very different from ours..!) Click on http://www.hscripts.com/freeimages/icons/traffic/regulatory-signs/index.php
In a follow up to the blog posting on Friday....Hear Sara sing the National Anthem before a Pittsburg Pirates game using her Dynavox communication device.
Click on http://www.atia.org/i4a/pages/Index.cfm?pageID=3396 for a great story from the Assistive Technology Industry Association about a college student who uses the DynaVox AAC device as well as a few other pieces of AT to fulfill her goals of being a composer and performer.
For those of you who work with students who benefit from visual supports for understanding and communication, display surfaces are a constant struggle during instruction. Will the Velcro stick? Is the surface to large or small? Can the students’ access the pictures if necessary? Is it portable? Have you ever tried a tri-fold board? If you make it as described by Caroline Musselwhite, you could have actually six areas to display visual supports---which allows instruction to move more smoothly. I will send the link to the PDF from the March 2003 Tips
http://www.aacintervention.com/tipthre.html#May%202003---get out your sewing machine and start stichin’! If anyone has other ways to make one, post directions!
If you missed the Summer issue of Remedial and Special Education, you may want to go back and glance at one of the articles...here's the abstract:
"Many individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) have difficulty recognizing emotions in themselves and others. The present pilot study explored the use of assistive technology to teach emotion recognition (ER) to eight children with ASC. Participants were between the ages of 8 and 11 years and had a diagnosis of Asperger syndrome (AS). ER testing was conducted using a computer at pre- and postintervention. The intervention consisted of 10 weeks of using the computer software Mind Reading: The Interactive Guide to Emotions™ in either home or school settings. The results indicated that after intervention, participants improved on face and voice ER for basic and complex emotions that were in the software, as well as for complex voice ER for emotions not included in Mind Reading. The implications of these findings are discussed."
LaCava, P., Golan, O., Baron-Cohen, S., & Myles, B. S. (2007). Using assistive technology to teach emotion recognition to students with Asperger Syndrome. Remedial and Special Education, 28, 174-181.
When we are working with children who use augmentative communication systems, many of us struggle with what to put on the device. If you only had 8 things to access at a time, what would be most critical? Test it for yourself. Use only 8 words or short phrases to communicate with others throughout the day. Is it possible? Did you have to sit and listen a lot or use gestures to get more specific information across? I bet it was frustrating! Caroline Musselwhite’s Tip for November 2007 on her site http://www.aacintervention.com has a book to down load comes from Jane Odom, PRC consultant in Phoenix, and an amazing group of people who use AAC devices, who worked to share tips to younger AAC users. When talking about what would have been useful for them to learn during their many years of therapy, this book offers a range of sample messages, often in form of a social script, for a variety of community situations. These messages were created by AAC users themselves, which is much more beneficial than teacher created scripts.
HELP to support AAC communities affected by the hurricanes in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Work with USSAAC members, as well as professionals and families from affected areas before, during and after the conference.
When: February 21-23, 2008 in New Orleans, Louisiana
Look here for more information and the many ways you can help.
The first annual International AAC Awareness Month is sponsored by ISAAC and USSAAC to raise awareness and support for individuals who use AAC. How many times have you tried to explain to others that your child/student uses AAC for communication and without it (if it’s broken or not maintained) he/she doesn’t have a “voice”? There are lesson plans and activities for students that involve experiencing communicating without using their voice, listening to AAC users as they lead some of these discussions and finally visually expressing their thoughts about these experiences using artwork or writing that can be shared across the world!
Imagine the impact not only in schools, but the potential to change the world!
I am attaching the lessons and information.
If you would like more information about the event, contact Tom Reed, at treed@tjreed.com
The latest WATI Monitor reports: "Sign Smith Studio adds an animated character to sign text you type. You may get your animated character to sign directions, ask questions, or have them lead your child on a tour signing the whole way. People who are fluent in American Sign Language (ASL) can create a script to change the characters facial expressions, mouthing, and eye gaze. Studio creates web page HTML, script or video output."
Click on http://www.vcom3d.com/Studio6b.pdf or visit http://www.vcom3d.com/index.php?id=signsmith for more information.