Talking With Tech AAC Podcast

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This week, Chris interviews with AAC enthusiast, SLP, and TWT podcast listener Sarah Gregory (@SGregorySLP on Twitter) about “authentic” inclusion, social belonging, peer modeling, universal access, and more! Before the interview, Chris and Rachel talk about Rachel’s upcoming trip to Nepal to train and coach teachers and caregivers about AAC!

Key ideas this week:

🔑 If we include students with complex communication needs into a general education classroom, we should try and help them feel they are part of the class and they have friends in the class. See this graphic by Shelley Moore.

🔑  Running peer modeling groups in school is a great way to teach everyone in school about AAC & celebrate our differences.

🔑  Culturally responsible teaching - can we structure classrooms so that AAC users are better represented?

Visit bit.ly/twtpod for access to previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

We need your help to keep Talking with Tech going strong! If you are a loyal listener, please support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech.

This week, Rachel interviews Dr. Lisa Erwin-Davidson (www.lisa-aac.com) about some of the questions Lisa had working as an AAC specialist, what answers about language she has discovered in her research, and her areas of interest she is exploring next!! Lisa is a faculty member at CSU Fullerton who has conducted research into how preschoolers with and without disabilities are taught core language, and she has unique insights into how core language develops!

Key ideas this week:

🔑 Rachel gives an update on the family from the “Aggressive Behaviors” episode. 

🔑 One type of core word, a “concept relational word” (e.g., in/out, before/after, big/little), can make an excellent target for beginning AAC interventions.

🔑 Infusing graphic language into daily routines, whether done by teachers or parents, is a great way to expand how often AAC is modeled and used throughout the day. 

Visit bit.ly/twtpod for access to previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

We need your help to keep Talking with Tech going strong! If you are a loyal listener, please support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech.

This week, the TWT team is pleased to share Rachel’s interview with David Tobin, former TV producer and CEO of Audiojack! First, Chris and Rachel discuss how they have gone almost 2 years making the podcast, and haven’t yet met in person (but almost did last week). Chris and Rachel also connect about using audio as a tool in therapy, and the importance of being able to visualize and use our imaginations. Next, Rachel connects David Tobin, former TV producer and CEO of Audiojack (www.audiojack.com), to talk about his company and how Audiojack is being used in classrooms and therapy rooms to improve student engagement and foster creativity. Finally, the episode ends with a short Audiojack, with Rachel and Chris comparing what they heard in the clip!

Key ideas this week:

🔑 “Audiojacks” are audio-based, wordless stories created by layering lots of different sounds together.

🔑 Rachel  has used Audiojacks to help clients produce more language and get better engagement in therapy. 

🔑 Some of Rachel’s clients used vocabulary Rachel didn’t know they had when trying to describe an Audiojack.

Visit bit.ly/twtpod for access to previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

We need your help to keep Talking with Tech going strong! If you are a loyal listener, please support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech.

This week, Chris interviews SLP & AAC Specialist Brandi Lee Wentland, owner of We Speak AAC!  Brandi shares lots of helpful strategies for working with AAC users, including collaborating with other professionals, using a reinforcement matrix, helping others to get started on their AAC journey, and more!

Key ideas this week include:

🔑The cost of agreeing to increase speech therapy minutes can be much greater for a district than vs the cost of a device, but a request to increase speech minutes may be much less scrutinized in some settings than a request for AAC.

🔑BCBAs want research, preferably research of a certain type. Instead of debating the merits of some AAC research, more productive conversations can be had about video modeling, functional language, and utilizing AAC with motivating activities.

🔑Increasing the number of communication partners that model AAC with an AAC user both a) increases their exposure to language overall and b) demonstrates respect for the AAC user’s chosen mode of communication.

Visit bit.ly/twtpod for access to previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

We need your help to keep Talking with Tech going strong! If you are a loyal listener, please support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech.

This week on TWT, Rachel shares about her recent experience with a client who became aggressive, self-injurious, frustrated during a therapy session, and what she was thinking and feeling as the situation felt like it was slipping out of her control. Rachel and Chris discuss the wide variety of emotions and thoughts that can occur after an experience like this, and they consider how we can best support students with complex communication needs who also demonstrate challenging behaviors.

Key ideas this week include:

🔑 Chris wonders whether videotaping sessions with the client could be helpful in figuring out what may have caused the client’s aggressive outburst. 

🔑 Gradual exposure to a disliked item, like a particular food being moved closer to the client each session, can be effective in some cases where students become upset or disregulated interacting with it.

🔑It is worth considering whether we can we make therapy that is engaging and fun that in order to reduce aggressive behaviors overall?

Visit bit.ly/twtpod for access to previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

This week, Chris interviews SLP and AAC Specialist Meghan Betz about her experiences with AAC and what she has learned about reflective listening, working collaboratively in IEP meetings, working successfully with parents in the home, chunking information for parents & teachers, and more!

Key ideas this week include:

🔑 Rachel & Chris talk iPad stands - Rachel talks about her favorite sturdy and inexpensive iPad stand on Amazon and Chris shares about making iPad stands with 3D printing at thingaverse.com. 

🔑 Chris discusses his article for USAAC on using block coding to teach language.  Learn more about coding at code.org and about the robots Dash & Dot at https://www.makewonder.com/robots/dash/

🔑 Meghan & Chris discuss the importance of listening as much as we talk when interacting with parents and teachers in order to build their confidence and buy-in with therapeutic interventions.

bit.ly/twtpod also has previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! 

We need your help to keep Talking with Tech going strong! If you are a loyal listener, please support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech.

This week, Chris interviews Kelly Key about her role as Assistive Technology Coordinator with the Barrington 220 School District! They discuss promoting core vocabulary in Kelly’s district, using the SETT framework to evaluate AAC needs, helping to find communication opportunities in the school day, and more!

Key ideas this week include:

🔑 Discussion of the story on Twitter about Rachel Romeo teaching a young boy with ASD basic AAC skills during an 8 hour-flight.

🔑 Rachel & Chris’ experiences helping others with assistive technology out in public.

🔑 Kelly shares about growing her school district’s “Core Vocabulary Initiative” from 5 to 75 professionals!

Visit bit.ly/twtpod for access to previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

We need your help to keep Talking with Tech going strong! If you are a loyal listener, please support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech.

This week, Chris & Rachel connect with the amazing Gail Van Tatenhove about her career, working with adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities who use AAC, and more!

Key ideas this week:

🔑 Gail shares from her wealth of experiences, including how communication needs change as young AAC users grow into adulthood and beyond.

🔑 The idea that people with verbal speech don’t benefit from AAC is a myth - the first “A” in AAC is for “augmentative” communication!

🔑 If we rely only upon verbal speech to develop language, then language can be delayed when speech sounds are delayed. “Visual supports” are a great way to teach language while speech sounds develop.

Visit bit.ly/twtpod for access to previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

We need your help to keep Talking with Tech going strong! If you are a loyal listener, please support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech.

This week, the TWT team is pleased to share Rachel’s interview with Charlotte DiStefano. Charlotte is a researcher at UCLA with the Center for Autism Research and Treatment, as well as a Clinical Psychologist at the UCLA Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Clinic. Charlotte shares about being a researcher at UCLA, her involvement with JASPER, her research on autism & language development, ways therapists can improve interventions, and more!

Key ideas this week include:

🔑 The importance of school districts providing access to AAC devices after school and during the summer. 

🔑 When making device selections, try and involve parents, private SLPs, and teachers where possible! This can improve buy-in and help us make the most informed decision possible. 

🔑 JASPER (Joint Attention, Symbolic Play, Engagement, and Regulation) is a treatment approach that "targets the foundations of social communication and uses naturalistic strategies to increase the rate and complexity of social communication.” 

Visit bit.ly/twtpod for access to previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

This week, the TWT team presents their third “Productivity Hacks” episode! This episode covers additional “hacks” that Rachel and Chris were not able to get to during their AAC in the Cloud presentation, including Slack, Trello, Voxer, ITT, Doodle, and more!

Key ideas this week include:

🔑 Using Slack to coordinate and organize messages between groups of people, such as an IEP team.

🔑 Rachel is “obsessed” with Voxer, a walkie-talkie app for team communication that allows sharing of short voice and video messages.

🔑 Doodle makes scheduling easier for meetings by highlighting the times everyone is available at the same time.

Before Rachel and Chris share these “hacks”, the adorable Margaret Bugaj joins the podcast to share about modeling using LAMP Words for Life with a new AAC user while they watched movies together. Margaret also shares about being a temporary LAMP user herself when she recovered from stitches, and her advice for new LAMP users!