This week, we share Chris’s interview with Dr. Cheri Dodge Chin, an AAC researcher, blogger, and professor who recently has done research into the effectiveness of caregiver AAC training via online video chat. She shares valuable strategies for Her results showed that many caregivers were able to learn modeling strategies for shared reading during online video chat in as little as an hour!

Before the interview, Chris shares with Rachel about his trip to the about the ImpAACt Voices Conference (https://www.impaactvoices.org/)! Chris touches on creating opportunities for adult AAC users to gain employment through community training, the need to evaluate how we can better prepare AAC users for employment, and the value in bringing the community and AAC users together to learn from each other.

Key ideas this week:

🔑 Being a good shared reader and communication partner is something that takes practice; it’s not a talent that people are just born with.

🔑 Some parents need to be taught not to turn reading into an interrogation. We want the AAC user to relax and have fun, not just answer a series of questions.

🔑 Dr. Dodge Chin taught the “WISE” strategy parents to use when modeling AAC, which stands for: Wait five (or more) seconds, Invite (don’t quiz), Show (i.e., model), and Expand.

🔑 Dr. Dodge Chin used the “Read Ask Answer Prompt” strategy for building communication skill during storybook reading by Drs. Cathy Binger and Jennifer Kent Walsh. You can learn more from Carole Zangari here https://praacticalaac.org/praactical/building-communication-skills-during-storybook-reading/

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