Summer is finally here!

Seems like it has taken forever, but blue skies and sunshine are finally here.  Summer is a great time to relax and rejuvenate. If you have children who use speech generating devices, think about backing up their vocabulary just in case  the unspeakable happens and you have a system crash!  Don't know how?  Look at the manufacturer's website, they usually have instructions or call the tech support line.  Take opportunities to introduce fun words and phrases during kid-friendly activities like trips to the zoo, camping, museums, mini-golf; whatever your family does for fun. This can also be a good time to work on social skills for those students who have difficulty with conversations, peer-appropriate behavior, flexibility and compromise.  For information about social language skills, pragmatic language testing, and social skills groups, check out the services I provide at Children's Resource Group/CRG.  And don't forget your sunscreen when you are enjoying outdoor activities! 

Kids and Christmas lists...

What would Christmas be without a trip to see Santa when you are a child?  Many of my young friends who use speech generating devices enjoyed this time honored tradition in the weeks up until Christmas. One young girl told Santa "I want a iPad puzzle", "I want Dad", another young boy told Santa, "I want iPad", and yet another youngster told the jolly old elf to bring her "pizza".  One of my  teenagers asked for a DVD. What do all these requests have in common, besides being made by children?  They were all made by children using their speech generating devices, including the Vantage Lite by Prentke-Romich Company.  With these devices, the boys and girls were able to share their Christmas lists with Santa and their families, despite the inability to speak verbally the way that most of use do.  One young friend uses his Dynavox V device to sing Christmas carols and play video clips of Christmas cartoons- making him a big hit with his friends

 So, however you say it, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

International AAC Awareness Month is October

October is International AAC* Month:

Highest Performance Communication – Best Life Experience


The following information is taken directly from the website:http://www.aacawareness.org/ and highlights why honoring those who use augmentative alternative communication and the people who support them is so important.

Why is AAC Month important?

•8 to 12 people per 1,000 experience severe communication impairments that require AAC, but many of them do not have access to AAC (ASHA)

•“It appears there may be a serious shortage of knowledgeable professionals capable of assisting families with effective AAC use.” (Niemeijer, Donnellan and Robledo survey)

How will you celebrate?  I am going to highlight some of the written work created by my friends using AAC on my website. Also, I am working with some of the schools I consult with to have their AAC speakers recite school news for the building. At the highschool level, we have peers who are helping program and provide opportunity for our students year-round but will highlight some of them in the school paper.

The ISAAC AAC Month task force has some more ideas!

•Work together with people who use AAC to share information, to organize and conduct training and events (festival, fair, seminar, book or poetry reading, Silent Tea or Coffee Break, AAC quiz, communication technology expo)

•Link new AAC users with experienced AAC users for mentoring

•Invite a speaker who uses AAC, arrange a poetry reading or AAC-led singalong

•Host a film on AAC with discussion afterward including people who use AAC

•Sponsor a public reading of the Communication Bill of Rights (and film it to share)

•Plan a Power of Communication Relay and information fair to raise funds for communication devices – See Faye Warren’s video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ati_34FcEAs

•Visit, read, and share the online AAC Writing and Video Collections by people who use AAC to communicate in the “Sharings” at www.aacawareness.org.

•Participate in the 4th Annual 24-Hour AAC Chat on Skype, Facebook and Twitter (date and times to be determined); post, read, share on International AAC Month Facebook page; post, read, share tweets on Twitter (Twitter hashtag #AACchat)

•An invitation to the People Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication to submit stories

Contact info@aacawareness.org for more information

* AAC means Augmentative & Alternative Communication – other ways to speak, write and take in information and conversation for people with speech impairments or disabilities – like electronic talking aids, computers, touch screen devices, speech generating devices, boards and books with pictures, words and letters, Talking Mats, Communication Passports, eye-gaze systems, partner-assisted scanning, facilitated communication training, gesture and sign language.

On My Honor....

This week I was invited to a Girl Scout meeting.  It's been many years since I attended one of these.  The topic:  technology. So, with speech generating devices and an iPad in hand, I did a show-n-tell with augmentative communication devices.  Also shared video of some of my students using switch-adapted computers.  As a result, this group is going to make some PowerPoint slide shows for my students to "read" using a switch.  Topics like "A day in the life of my ferret" with photos and narration by the girls will make great stories for my students to read.  By setting a PowerPoint show to advance each slide and play recorded narration with a mouse click and using a switch interface and switch, kids will be able to "turn" the pages and listen to these stories.  Thanks, girls!

More Resources for iPad/iPod Apps

The people at AAC TechConnect have a great summary sheet on their website listing over 100 communication apps.  These are listed by pictures and text.  The challenge is separating out the good apps from the not so good ones.  Many app developers have created apps that let you take a photo and use a voice, or provide symbols for use with speech.  It takes a real evaluator with knowledge and experience in AAC techniques to wade through the many apps and find the ones that provide enough language and flow for communication use.  While  those at the basic choice-making or cause effect levels may benefit from any of the many apps that pair a photo with voice, individuals in need of a variety of language structures, lots of vocabulary options, and the ability to combine symbols for phrases need a more sophisticated system.   Keep this in mind as you consider apps for communication use.