Tag: AAC
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Simon Says: Model One More Word
One of the more common, and important, Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) implementation strategies is Aided Language Input or modeling. It would be overwhelming to use your child’s/client’s device to model EVERY word you are saying verbally…for you and the child! Here’s the good news, you can successfully use Aided Language Input without overwhelming anyone! This blog topic was prompted by a discussion in the Speak…
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The AAC Detective: Try Observing These Five Behaviors for Clues
“I want you to know that today, in the brief moments when I was quiet, I was just enjoying being with you.” I want to say that more in 2014. The beginning of this post is more personal than most, but it’s a new year and a good time to reflect. I feel like my…
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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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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…
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Day 7 of the Voiceless But Still Talking (with AAC) Challenge
We continue to follow Mary, as she spends the week voiceless and using the iPad mini with the Speak for Yourself (SFY) Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) app to communicate. Her daughter, Jess, uses SFY to communicate. Here is Mary’s journal entry for her 7th voiceless day: “Husband is still trying to guess what I’m…