Talking With Tech AAC Podcast

This week, TWT presents the second half of the presentation “Tech Hacks that Support Team Collaboration, Productivity, and Efficiency.” This session was originally presented by Chris and Rachel as part of the AAC in the Cloud 2019 conference!

Key ideas this week include:

🔑 Rachel discusses how she uses TheraNest to help her schedule multiple clinicians at once.

🔑 Summer vacation gives some AAC users a chance to work with different communication partners. We can use this opportunity to see how AAC skills are generalizing outside of the therapy room. 

🔑  This week’s half of the “Productivity Hacks” presentation continues to share lots of ideas to help you become more productive and effective, including using Google for to do lists, sending screen captures with Loom, holding team meetings with Zoom, and more! Slides at bit.ly/AACproductivityhacks.

Before we present the second half of “Productivity Hacks”, Chris and Rachel talk about the end of extended school year services, using technology to schedule clinicians, assessing how skills learned in the therapy room are generalizing, and more!

This week, the TWT team presents the first half of their presentation “Tech Hacks that Support Team Collaboration, Productivity, and Efficiency.” This session was originally presented by Chris and Rachel as part of the AAC in the Cloud 2019 conference!

Before we present the first half of “Productivity Hacks”, Chris and Rachel talk about working with impulsive clients, using wait time and eye contact to distinguish communication attempts, doing therapy alongside communication partners, and more!

Key ideas this week include:

🔑 Developing “care plans” for communication partners - e.g., “next week, we will practice expanding utterances by one word” - is a great way to think more about coaching.

🔑 Rachel uses her Core Word Bundle every week to explain core words, language expansion strategies, parts of speech, and more to parents. https://www.rachelmadel.com/shop/core-word-vocabulary-bundle

🔑  This week’s “Productivity Hacks” presentation shares lots of great ideas about how to become more efficient and effective in your AAC practice, including making QR codes and using bit.ly links. Slides for this presentation: bit.ly/aacproductivityhacks 

This week, the TWT team presents the second half of the “ABCs of AAC.” This session was originally presented by Chris and Rachel as part of the SLP2B 2019 conference!

Before we present the second half of the “ABCs”, Chris and Rachel talk about augmented reality in therapy, the “Do Not Touch” app, supporting literacy, and more!

Key ideas this week include:

🔑 Rachel loves to use some slang in therapy because shared use of slang fosters peer acceptance. We need to program and teach users how to communicate in the same way others are communicating.

🔑 It helps to get the community involved with AAC, so more people know more about how to connect and interact with AAC users.

🔑  Avoid repeating phrases too often for children who use scripts. instead, teach language concepts as individual units so kids can say whatever they want to say, whenever they want to say it. 

Listen to part 1 of the “ABCs of AAC” and this week’s episode, then head to bit.ly/techceu to earn CEU credit for listening!

This week, the TWT team presents the first half of the “ABCs of AAC.” This session was originally presented by Chris and Rachel as part of the SLP2B 2019 conference!

Before we present the first half of the “ABCs”, Chris and Rachel discuss using the power of core vocabulary, changes to their schedules from summer, celebrating an AAC user’s circle of support, and more!

Key ideas this week include:

🔑 Modeling looking for vocabulary (and using the search function) on a device is a great way to help everyone feel more comfortable looking for vocabulary.

🔑 “Think-alouds” can be used in combination with modeling on the device(e.g., “Hmmm…how do I search?”) to help clients think about solving the problem themselves.

🔑  The “ABCs of AAC” from Rachel and Chris is an excellent introduction into AAC and is intended for anyone interested in a better understanding of the fundamentals of AAC. 

Listen this week and to part 2 of the “ABCs of AAC” next week, then head to bit.ly/techceu to earn CEU credit for listening to these episodes!

This week, the TWT team is pleased to share the second half of the “Golden Rules of AAC Competency in a New Era of Communication.” This session was originally presented by Lucas, Chris, and Rachel as part of the #XedAAC18 conference!

Key ideas this week include:

🔑 Overlapping treatment with other professionals can teach you strategies you did not learn in your own professional training.

🔑 It is important to support an AAC user’s “operational competency” - the ability to turn on the device, change the volume, plug it in, etc.

🔑  The COLE (Continuum of Language Expression) is a free tool used by therapists and IEP teams to evaluate early language development. http://bit.ly/colegooglesheets

Before we present the second half of the “Golden Rules”, Chris and Rachel discuss accessible programming, learning from other professionals, operational competency, and more!

Listen to part 1 of the “Golden Rules of AAC Competency in a New Era of Communication” and this week’s episode, then head to bit.ly/techceu to earn CEU credit for listening!

This week, the TWT team is pleased to share the first half of the “Golden Rules of AAC Competency in a New Era of Communication.” This session was originally presented by Lucas, Chris, and Rachel as part of the #XedAAC18 conference!

Before we present the first half of this session, Chris and Rachel discuss several topics related to 3D printing, including creating 3D core word symbols using Project Core!

Key ideas this week include:

🔑 Teachers and SLPs can coordinate with students in “maker clubs” to print 3D core word symbols using Project Core.

🔑 The “AAC competencies” are a helpful framework for planning AAC intervention by providing a broader definition of communication competence and success with AAC.

🔑  Five domains of communication competence in AAC: social, operational, linguistic, strategic, and emotional competence. 

Listen this week and to part 2 of the “Golden Rules of AAC Competency in a New Era of Communication” next week, then head to bit.ly/techceu to earn CEU credit for listening to these episodes!

This week, Lucas Steuber of Tobii Dynavox returns to help Chris and Rachel answer questions from our listeners! 

Key ideas this week include:

🔑 Ideas for supporting an eye gaze user's as he enters a magnet high school for game and app development.

🔑 Advice for a person whose client uses AAC and appears to display block-like disfluencies.

🔑 Strategies for promoting literacy, including incorporating the use of bluetooth keyboards.

For show notes, links to resources, past episodes, and more, visit bit.ly/twtpodcast. To earn CEU credits for listening to past episodes of TWT, head to bit.ly/techceu!

Listen to part 1 of the AAC Apps Update last week, then head to bit.ly/techceu to earn CEU credit for listening to both of these episodes!

This week, the TWT team is pleased to share the second half of the AAC Apps Update 2018! This conference session was originally presented by Lucas, Chris, and Rachel as part of the Special Apps Update Conference 2018. 

Before we present this week’s session, Chris and Rachel discuss Rachel's recent hand injury, ideas for improving aided language input, and more! 

Key ideas this week include:

🔑 Important features to look for in AAC applications.

🔑 Using  parallel-talk vs self-talk when working with adults over 60+

🔑 App ideas & strategies for challenging AAC assessments.

Listen to part 2 of the AAC Apps Update next week, then head to bit.ly/techceu to earn CEU credit for listening to these episodes!

This week, the TWT team is pleased to share the first half of the AAC Apps Update 2018! This conference session was originally presented by Lucas, Chris, and Rachel as part of the Special Apps Update Conference 2018. 

Before we present this week’s session, Chris and Rachel discuss reading specialists, being aware of compensatory measures when assessing children with autism, and more!

Key ideas this week include:

🔑 AAC users may benefit from working with a reading specialist and/or from including a reading specialist on their interdisciplinary team. 

🔑 When assessing receptive language, you must determine whether a child really understands the language and isn’t using compensatory measures, such as visuals or gestures.

🔑 School districts should consider teaching the basics of AAC to all students and staff!

This week, Rachel interviews educational therapists and co-hosts of the Learn Smarter podcast, Stephanie Pitts & Rachel Kapp! Stephanie and Rachel share what educational therapy is, why executive functioning is so important, and strategies they utilize to help learners improve task initiation, time management, and motivation!

Key ideas this week include:

🔑 Educational therapists teach learners how they learn and strategies they can use to learn better and improve executive functioning.

🔑 No child is actually "lazy" - it is often about meeting learners where they are.

🔑 How to help early communicators improve both sustained attention and task initiation.

For show notes, links to resources, past episodes, and more, visit bit.ly/twtpodcast!