Author: Heidi LoStracco, MS, CCC-SLP
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The History Feature in the Speak for Yourself AAC app
“If you don’t know history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree.” – Michael Crichton I don’t usually write a blog post when we release a Speak for Yourself update, but this 1.5 version update is special. Over the years, as we’ve worked with…
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AAC Implementation: Where Do I Start?
You have a nonverbal child who is depending on you to find him/her a way to communicate. Whether you are a parent or a speech-language pathologist (SLP), that’s a lot of pressure, and the stakes are high. You take the responsibility seriously. You have an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) app or device. If you’ve…
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ASHA Parallel Play Online Giveaway of Speak for Yourself
We are here at the American Speech Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) Conference in Chicago! We are giving away a code each day here at our ASHA booth, but we don’t want all of you who don’t happen to be in Chicago today to be left out! So, we are giving away a code a day online…
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ASHA 2013 Speak for Yourself Code Giveaway!
We are so excited to meet you!!!! Please enter here to win a free copy of Speak for Yourself! a Rafflecopter giveaway
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An iPad Is Not an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Device… Unless It Is!
When we write or say something about the iPad and AAC, we inevitably have someone respond that, “The iPad is not for everyone.” (Obviously. Nothing is for EVERYONE.) “An iPad is NOT a communication device,” is another popular statement. We’ve seen and heard this (or some derivative of it) quite a few times recently. We disagree, so we…
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Stimming on Autism
Sometimes….I “stim.” It’s true. It is interesting and comfortable inside of my own mind, and sometimes I curl up there and block out the rest of the world. Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is definitely one of my obsessions. I think about it all the time. Sometimes, when people talk, I listen to their rate…
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Finding Her Own Voice
You may remember the mom who was “Voiceless But Still Talking” earlier this month at the start of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Awareness Month. If you missed it, Mary used the Speak for Yourself (SfY) AAC app and her daughter’s back up iPad to communicate for the week. She provided us daily journal entries…
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Speech-Language Pathologists and Augmentative and Alternative Communication Evaluations: First Do No Harm
We have been writing this post for years in our heads. Every time we are asked to consult for a child who has already had an evaluation with a recommendation for an extremely limited mid tech device, we write it. Every time we go into a classroom for one child, and ask the speech- language pathologist…
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Journeys are Best When Shared
This post is a footnote to the Voiceless But Still Talking (With AAC) Challenge that Mary completed yesterday. For those of you who may have missed it, Mary is a curious and ambitious mom who used her daughter’s back up iPad Mini and Speak for Yourself Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) app to communicate for…
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The Final Day of the Voiceless But Still Talking (with AAC) Challenge
Well, today was the last day of Mary’s Voiceless Week. She is the mom of 21 year old Jess who uses the Speak for Yourself Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) app. Mary spent this last week using Jess’s back up iPad Mini to communicate. Thank you, Mary, for letting us into your life and sharing…