At the beginning of this year, multiple people in my district began discussing communication for children with autism. The early childhood program is primarily using picture exchange communication with their students. However, once these same students enter elementary school, the elementary-high school SLPs begin using core vocabulary as our primary communication modality. At that… Read more
Viewing category: AAC
Low-tech AAC: Picture Exchange (Pros and Cons)
Please note before I begin this post that I am aware that PECS is a specific and trademarked system. I have been through the formal training, however, like most, I have adapted it and can no longer officially call it PECS. Over the years, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with picture exchange. I have gone… Read more
Low-tech AAC: Core Vocabulary (Pros and Cons)
Last year, several SLPs in my district attended a fantastic conference by Gail Van Tatenhove. By the end of the two days, we were ready to make some district-wide changes to AAC in our district. Although I have been using core boards and core vocabulary for years, this was going to be a radical collaborative… Read more
Low-tech AAC: PODD (Pros and Cons)
Seventeen years ago I was a brand new SLP graduate. I accepted the only mid-year job that I could find (overage for 2 SLPs with high caseloads) and began on a crazy adventure. One of the classrooms that I was to be serving contained students who were profoundly impacted by a variety of disabilities. I… Read more
How to use a mini core board
Have you ever considered attaching a core board to your body? Since we are often on the move with students, having one on you at all times would be amazing. But short of tattooing the board to your arm, how could one ensure constant access to core communication boards? This is the question I was… Read more
Engage AAC users with a manipulative core board!
Although picture exchange can be an effective communication system for some individuals (Tien, 2008), there are limitations to its use (Flippin et al, 2010). This includes the fact that comments are not introduced until phase IV of training, and protests and refusals are not directly taught. Core vocabulary, on the other hand, is… Read more
5 ways to teach the alphabet to early language learners
Ms. T walked into the class to observe and was a little shocked. She saw the speech pathologist singing and signing the alphabet to a group of students. The students were not singing back and only some were actively attending. A few were trying some of the signs. Ms. T wondered if this was the… Read more
What is LAMP? How does it help communication?
When my lovely Kindergarten student began school, she had an iPad and an app with 30 words on it. She was primarily using gestures, facial expressions, and a few ASL words to communicate her needs and wants. The problem was that she had receptive language skills within the average range. She understood nearly everything but was… Read more
Learning core words- one letter at a time
Have you ever had a student with almost no words but you knew that they had a lot to say? These are the students that fascinate me the most. I desperately want to know how to help them communicate something. But where do I start? There are thousands of words that I could try to… Read more
Modeling Language- A Free e-Course
When you work with a student who is non-verbal or minimally verbal, do you wonder what to do? During my first year out of grad school, I was completely lost. I had a class of severely impacted and medically fragile students, and I had no idea what to do with them. I felt so… Read more
eMerging SLPs: Merging into the self-contained classroom
As far as speech pathology jobs go, I have a tough population. I wear Kevlar sleeves as part of my uniform. I have developed wicked fast reflexes. I get drool, spit, and occasionally blood on me regularly. However, there is nothing about my job that I love more than my self-contained classrooms. Yes, I adore… Read more
Secrets for Modeling Language
The difficulty with verbal language for many children with language disorders is that it is fleeting and invisible. Communication boards make that language visual, permanent, and give clear delineations between different words. My students with low language skills need as many cues as possible. Modeling language with communication boards and books make understanding language an… Read more
Building Basic Sentences with AAC
I work with three classrooms of minimally/non-verbal students. My ultimate goal for all of these students is SNUG: spontaneous novel utterance generation. Novel utterance generation of and combinations of words will enable my students endless communication possibilities. To facilitate SNUG, the following teaching tools are important for all: Model. All language learners needs hundreds and even… Read more
Work Systems for Early Learners
I’ve been having a rough year with some of my early language learners in a self-contained classroom. Keeping them engaged for a 30 minute speech session was just not working. Instead they would protest by throwing all the materials, screaming, attacking themselves or others, or running away. Not great therapy conditions. Many data entries were… Read more
