Talking With Tech AAC Podcast

This week, Rachel interviews the artist behind the Instagram account @drawntoaac, Jennifer Hyles! Along with being an amazing artist, Jennifer is also an SLP who specializes in supporting AAC users! Jennifer and Rachel talk all about Jennifer’s journey getting started creating Drawn to AAC, why Jennifer was motivated to create clip art that depicts diverse AAC users in a variety of settings, and more! Before the interview, Chris and Rachel discuss using our client/student’s highly specific interests to create more motivating activities and materials. Rachel shares about one of her clients who is very interested in ceiling fans, and all the ways that she has effectively incorporated ceiling fans into that client’s therapy! They also talk about moving clients beyond those restrictive interests by exposing them gradually to new things that may be of interest (e.g. clips of a new show they haven’t seen before). Key ideas this week: 🔑 Drawn to AAC’s art is a great way to incorporate images of AAC users from different cultures and backgrounds into our own therapy. Being able to depict a diverse array of AAC users allows therapists and practitioners to better reflect the users themselves when we create materials. 🔑 Based on feedback that Jennifer has received from SLPs and others, she has created art that was designed to be less cartoonish and more age-respectful for middle and high school students. 🔑 One benefit of working with Jennifer’s art is she is an SLP who understands AAC assessment and implementation. Her free resources are based on better AAC practices, and, if you ever decide that you want to commission some art from her related to AAC, she doesn’t need a lot of extra information to understand exactly what you need. Links from this week’s episode: Drawn to AAC on Instagram Drawn to AAC on TPT and Ko-Fi Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, Rachel interviews Dr. Laura Clarke, a special educator, teacher, and parent of a person with complex communication needs. Dr. Clarke who has created her own free website, Reading & Writing 4 All, that provides a variety of free resources to support literacy for emerging readers. Dr. Clarke shares about her journey as the parent of Dan, an emerging reader, and why she was motivated to provide literacy resources to special education teachers and parents of emerging readers. Before the interview, Chris and Rachel discuss ChatGPT (chat.openai.com), a free chat artificial intelligence that can create some of the most human-like responses to questions ever. They ask the ChatGPT some AAC related questions, and Chris notes some of the national discussion about students using ChatGPT to do their homework for them. Chris points out that we should probably be figuring out how to help students use AI rather than trying to ban it, since these kinds of AI resources are probably not going away. Key ideas this week: 🔑 Relationships and connection are essential to supporting emerging readers. Before we start coming up with content, we should have a knowledge of who the emerging reader is as a person and where their interests lie. This can lead to creating higher-interest content that is more engaging! 🔑 It is common to want emerging readers to show us they understand what we are showing them and that they are paying attention by asking them lots of "wh-" questions, etc. This can unknowingly put a lot of demands on our students and take away from our connection with them. 🔑 For emerging readers that may not want to look at text, find something they really love and put a picture of that thing on one side of a screen (e.g. a picture of Mario) and on the other side, you can put the text you want them to look at. Then, over time, you can make the picture of the preferred item smaller and smaller. Links from this weeks episode: Dr. Laura Clarke’s free website Reading & Writing 4 All: https://sites.google.com/view/emergingreaders/home Northern Kentucky Cooperative for Educational Resources has over 100 free online professional learning modules at https://sites.google.com/nkces.org/nkces-online-trainings/home You can reach Dr. Clarke by email at [email protected] Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, Rachel interviews Chloe Rothschild, an autistic advocate, author, teacher, and speaker who uses AAC to communicate part-time. Chloe currently serves on the Board of Directors for The Arc, a disability advocacy group, as well as working with the Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence. Chloe joins the podcast to share her amazing insights into using different communication modalities depending upon the demands of the situation, as well as a discussion of using her Apple Watch for AAC, working with nonspeaking children in an autistic classroom, why she like to use symbols to communicate even though she is a fast typer, and more! Key ideas this week: 🔑 There are many reasons why someone may not speak in some situations, such as their anxiety level or the demands of the situation. We should not assume that every person who uses verbal speech can use it all the time. 🔑 Chloe uses pre-programmed “quick fire” messages via Proloquo4Text on her Apple Watch to communicate in some situations, such as when she needs a break out in the community. 🔑 Chloe prefers to use her symbol-based AAC system, Proloquo2Go, instead of her text-based AAC system, Proloquo4Text. Chloe says she “thinks in pictures”, so when she looks at her grid of symbols, she instantly knows what the symbols mean. When there are no symbols, she has to read every word every time, which her takes longer. Links: Chloe’s website: chloerothschildasd.com My Interception Workbook: A Guide for Teens, Adolescents, and Adults by Kelly Mahler, Chloe Rothschild, and Jarvis Alma. Chloe is a Board Member of The Arc for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: thearc.org Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, Chris and Rachel host a lively session of Talking with Tech Live with members of Colorado’s State Wide Assistive Technology, Augmentative & Alternative Communication (SWAAAC) group! SWAAAC teams are interdisciplinary groups (e.g. SLPs, OTs, PTs) that provide Assistive Technology services in Colorado schools. As with previous episodes of Talking with Tech Live, Chris and Rachel facilitated a collaborative discussion with the audience based on questions submitted by the audience. Key questions this week include: ❓How do we keep up with AAC software and the features that are coming out? ❓What should we do if the AAC Specialist in our district is using the candidacy model and doesn’t believe that a student is “ready” for a robust language system? ❓What is the best way to help educators embrace a functional communication system in a classroom? ❓How can we convince SLPs and Behavior Interventionists we work with that a student needs a robust vocabulary and not just a few nouns for requesting? ❓What is the best way to support English Language Learners who use AAC when we don’t speak their primary language? Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we present Chris’s interview with Brian Schobel, a District Resource Teacher for Transition in Albuquerque, NM. Brian has worked for years supporting transition and employment for people with special needs. Brian reached out to interview Chris about inclusion and how technology can help students of different abilities gain meaningful employment. During the interview, Brian and Chris discuss assistive technology tools that can be used to support students as they transition to employment, as well as areas where we can improve in our support. Brian also shares about using Read & Write by TextHelp himself at work, and why being an assistive technology user inspires Brian to support others who use assistive technology. Before the interview, Rachel and Chris have an actual in-person banter session at an airport in Minnesota! Rachel and Chris were recently presenting at the PATINS Access to Education conference in Indiana, and they jumped at the opportunity to record a podcast banter while waiting for their next flight. Rachel had two presentations at the PATINS conference. The first presentation was with Elisa Wern and covered using screen recording tools to support students. Elisa compared the tools Screencastify, Screencast-o-matic , and Loom, while Rachel discussed how she uses screen recording for asynchronous learning and coaching. Rachel’s second presentation was about on taking a team-based approach to AAC assessment through an abbreviated version of her AAC Ally course (https://rachelmadelslp.thinkific.com/courses/AAC-ally). Chris presented four time at PATINS, including presentations on inclusive coding for robots, ways to enhance AAC implementation, and combining core words with morphemes (e.g. “corephemes”). Chris also did a Wonderfully Inclusive Scavenger Hunt and ran a session where they played Cards against Exclusivity at the conference. Key ideas this week: 🔑 Locking students into a particular browser for testing that doesn’t allow extensions related to assistive technology can be a significant issue. Even if we include voice to text and text to voice software on the test, if it isn’t the same buttons and voices that the student is used to, which can put them at a disadvantage. 🔑 You can provide both a traditional and more accessible option when assigning work in the classroom. For example, you can give a traditional paper-and-pencil worksheet to some students while also providing a digital copy to students who need it for text-to-speech. Even better, you can avoid giving a worksheet at all and provide something more interesting and meaningful while also being inclusive. 🔑 Saying “laptops closed and phones away” in a classroom can be ableist, because not everyone who is using technology is using it as a distraction. Everyone loses attention at times, even if you are looking at someone, your mind can wander. We want to give students the chance to make mistakes and to deal with distractions appropriately rather than taking all technology away from them. 🔑 How can we help places of employment adopt the same inclusive tools we are encouraging in the classroom? Companies are becoming more flexible with working remotely - we should help companies see the benefits of also being flexible supporting technological accommodations. Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, Chris and Rachel have asked the amazing Chris Klein and Lance McLemore to “take over” the Talking with Tech podcast! Chris and Lance are experienced AAC users and board members of the nonprofit, ImpAACt Voices (https://www.impaactvoices.org/). Lance and Chris share some of the goals and objectives for ImpAACt Voices, and also relate some of their takeaways from the recent First Annual ImpAACt Voices conference, which focused on helping adult AAC users finding employment and educating the business world at large about AAC! Key ideas this week: 🔑 ImpAACt Voices helps combat social isolation by doing virtual hangouts with AAC users of different skills and abilities across the country. Lance didn’t meet another AAC user until he was an adult - Lance and Chris want to help to help other AAC Users connect at a younger age. 🔑 ImpAACt Voices is creating a program, ImpAACtful Hiring, that aims to help achieve AAC Users gain meaningful employment. Over the next 3-5 years, ImpAACtful Hiring plans to partner with businesses for provide paid internship opportunities for AAC Users! 🔑 The unemployment rate for AAC users is very high, and at their recent conference, the ImpAACt Voices team focused on helping adult AAC users find employment to help meet this important need. Lance and Chris both believe that employment is critical to how we feel about ourselves, and too often, employment is an afterthought for AAC users. To donate to ImpAACt Voices for free (with purchase) via Amazon Smile, go to https://smile.amazon.com/ch/85-3947506 Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we present Part 2 of Chris and Rachel's interview with Marge Blanc and Alexandria Zachos, two SLPs who have written and presented about the Natural Language Acquisition framework (NLA) and Gestalt Language Processing. The NLA framework looks at the different ways that people, especially people with autism, develop language. One important aspect of this is “gestalts”which are strings of language that can be long or short, and are often tied to an emotional, meaningful, or dramatic experience. This portion of the interview focuses on Stage 2, 3, and 4 of the NLA framework and how these stages can inform our practices with AAC. To learn more about Stage 1, listen to Part 1 of this episode here. Before the interview, Chris and Rachel discuss a listener question about putting “too many” symbols on a device versus not having enough symbols on the grid. They also discuss the reaction from some teachers when a student is “playing” with a device, and why it’s not a realistic expectation for a child learning language to completely avoid exploring and playing with their device. Key ideas this week: 🔑 Stage 2 of the Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) framework is “Mitigated Gestalts”, where the person takes a chunk from one gestalt and a chunk from another gestalt and puts them together. They might also trim down a gestalt to be shorter, for example reducing “Don’t worry, I’ll help you find your Mama” to “Don’t worry”. 🔑 Stage 3 of the NLA framework, “Isolation of the Single Word,” a person who is gestalt language processing is able to recognize words as units and pull the words out of their slots. They also become referential and will begin to reference or point to things. 🔑 According to Marge, there is an impulse when a student gets to Stage Three of the NLA framework to jump to teaching all different kinds of grammar, but at this stage it’s really more about combining words together. If we go too fast and jump ahead, the student may gain splinter skills while failing to develop the foundational skills necessary to move to Stage 4. 🔑 Stage 4 of the NLA framework is “Beginning Grammar”, which is when we begin to start to see more of the novel utterances and combinations of two to three words together. Stages Five and Six involve complex to advanced grammar. Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech

This week, we present Part 1 of Chris and Rachel’s interview with Marge Blanc and Alexandria Zachos. Alexandria and Marge are two SLPs who have written and presented nationally on the Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) framework and Gestalt Language Processing. The NLA framework looks at the different ways that people, especially people with autism, develop language. One important aspect of this is “gestalts”which are strings of language that can be long or short, and are often tied to an emotional, meaningful, or dramatic experience. This episode's half of the interview focuses primarily on "delayed echolalia," which is stage one of the Natural Language Acquisition framework. Before the interview, Chris shares about a previous experience being taught about “learning styles” in grad school (e.g. visual learner, auditory learner) and how "learning styles" were contradicted by later evidence. Chris discusses ASHA’s triangle of evidence-based practice (e.g. what research says, what clients who got the intervention say, and what experts in that area say about the concept) and how he uses it to engage with new ideas and concepts with a balance of skepticism and openness to new ideas. Key ideas this week: 🔑 Gestalts involve episodic memory as opposed to semantic memory. A person who is gestalt language processing assigns meaning to a whole chunk of sound - it’s the soundtrack from an experience. For example, a child may pick up the script “To infinity and beyond” watching a movie they really enjoy. Later, when they do another activity they enjoy, they might say “To infinity and beyond!” again. 🔑 According to Marge and Alexandria, we shouldn’t jump stages and start teaching individual words and morphemes to someone in stage one of the NLAF. Because the NLA framework is a developmental process, we wouldn’t want to jump ahead to teaching Step 4 before going to Step 2 and 3. If we do, they may develop splinter skills in some areas without developing important foundational skills and understanding. 🔑 When older children and adults say a shortcut phrase or idiom (e.g. “Autobots roll out” to leave the house), it is probably not a “gestalt”. Gestalts are primarily used by younger children in Stage 1 of the Natural Language Acquisition framework, and are usually tied to emotional, meaningful, or dramatic experiences. To listen to the previous episode with Alexandria Zachos, go to https://www.talkingwithtech.org/episodes/alexandria-zachos Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week on TWT, Rachel interviews SLP and AAC Specialist Becca Eisenberg about her work with older AAC users, including why she created her own YouTube Channel for video modeling called Life Skills to Learn! Becca shares ideas for motivating AAC users, including giving AAC users the freedom to direct therapy in new, more directions that are more interesting to the AAC user. Before the interview, Chris and Rachel talk about one of Rachel’s older students who is still frequently using the word “potty” to ask to use the bathroom. The AAC user’s therapist asked Rachel about using more “mature” words, like “bathroom”, and she wondered if they should change the word on the device from “potty” to “bathroom”. Chris shares why he wouldn’t change the word “potty” to “bathroom” or anything else, and strategies we can use instead to encourage an AAC users to use a new word. Rachel shares her ideas for helping the student, including adding a bathroom “quick fire” pre-stored phrase that uses “bathroom”. Key ideas this week: Chris wondered about using the Frayer model to teach new words to AAC users. The Frayer Model is typically a graphical organizer divided into four quadrants. In the first quadrant, students list the definition of a word, the second contains examples (or pictures of examples) of the word, the third quadrant contains non-examples of the word, and the fourth contains characteristics of the word. If we want an AAC user to use a new synonym to ask for something we need to explicitly teach the word we would like them to use and, when talking with the AAC user, we should change to use the same word ourselves. We can use video modeling of functional tasks, like those on Becca’s YouTube channel Life Skills to Learn (https://www.youtube.com/@Lifeskills2learnwithBecca), to teach language concepts and functional skills at the same time. We can better facilitate communication for AAC users when we give them choices during therapy and build trust. In Becca’s experience, when AAC users realize they have the freedom to direct where therapy goes next, they often communicate more. Becca sometimes has activities planned that she doesn’t get to on because the student wanted to communicate about something else. Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we share Chris’s interview with Dr. Cheri Dodge Chin, an AAC researcher, blogger, and professor who recently has done research into the effectiveness of caregiver AAC training via online video chat. She shares valuable strategies for Her results showed that many caregivers were able to learn modeling strategies for shared reading during online video chat in as little as an hour! Before the interview, Chris shares with Rachel about his trip to the about the ImpAACt Voices Conference (https://www.impaactvoices.org/)! Chris touches on creating opportunities for adult AAC users to gain employment through community training, the need to evaluate how we can better prepare AAC users for employment, and the value in bringing the community and AAC users together to learn from each other. Key ideas this week: 🔑 Being a good shared reader and communication partner is something that takes practice; it’s not a talent that people are just born with. 🔑 Some parents need to be taught not to turn reading into an interrogation. We want the AAC user to relax and have fun, not just answer a series of questions. 🔑 Dr. Dodge Chin taught the “WISE” strategy parents to use when modeling AAC, which stands for: Wait five (or more) seconds, Invite (don’t quiz), Show (i.e., model), and Expand. 🔑 Dr. Dodge Chin used the “Read Ask Answer Prompt” strategy for building communication skill during storybook reading by Drs. Cathy Binger and Jennifer Kent Walsh. You can learn more from Carole Zangari here https://praacticalaac.org/praactical/building-communication-skills-during-storybook-reading/ Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we present Part 2 of Chris and Rachels’ discussion with Joanna Holmes (@mummyvsaac), the mother of Lucy, an AAC user with Emanuel Syndrome. Emanuel Syndrome is a chromosomal disorder that disrupts normal development and affects many parts of the body, including the speech mechanism. In Part 2, Chris, Rachel, and Joanna share ideas surrounding the Open AAC movement (openaac.org), including making symbols that are free for everyone to use and allowing “open exports” of vocabulary sets between different AAC software applications. Before the interview, Chris and Rachel discuss Chris’s frustration with some presenters doing things in a way that are not very accessible to people with special needs. He wants to connect with these presenters to share strategies for making their presentations better, but he is afraid that doing so would make him “that guy” who seems like he is overly critical. 🔑 The words Joanna’s daughter Lucy knows best are the ones that have been modeled for her and repeated many times over the years. Many of these are words she started out with on her earliest layouts. Even if Joanna isn’t sure if her daughter will use a word sometime soon, it’s important we continue to repeatedly expose AAC users to a variety of vocabulary words. 🔑 Sometimes, people in society will look at tools like AAC as a magical way to make someone more “normal.” Instead of looking at AAC as a way to make AAC users more like a speaking person, we should look at AAC as a way for people with complex communication needs to be themselves and speak their truth in their own way, even if it requires us to be patient and supportive of their communication attempts. 🔑 One thing that would be nice for AAC systems would be the opportunity to take a vocabulary set that you are using on one device and move it to a new one. This would allow AAC users more freedom to update their systems while not interfering with the symbols and motor plan they already have. Now, if you want to upgrade your system, you are often forced to learn an entirely new symbol set, which can be a big factor in choosing whether or not to upgrade. Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech! Links: Mummy vs AAC Blog: mummyvsaac.blog Hannah Foley, Sarah Gregory, & Joanna Holmes: Home Grown- Planting Seed for AAC Growth

This week, Chris and Rachel interview Joanna Holmes (@mummyvsaac on Instagram), the parent of an AAC user with Emanuel Syndrome. Emanuel Syndrome is a chromosomal disorder that disrupts normal development and affects many parts of the body, including the speech mechanism. Joanna has lots to share about her experience as the parent of an AAC user, including the journey to find the right access method, and having to work with team members who had limiting beliefs about her daughter. Before the interview, Rachel and Chris ask the question: how often are we asking “wh-“ questions to students who are still emerging in their ability to answer “wh-“ questions? If they aren’t answering “wh-“ questions yet, then try and find another way to ask the student the same thing e.g., providing choices. For example, instead of asking the student “where do you want to go?”, you can ask them a series of more concrete questions, like, “Do you want to go to the park? Do you want to go to Target?” and so on. Key ideas this week: 🔑 When writing goals, remember that not all “wh-“ questions are the same level of difficulty. Often, students will have an easier time learning “what”, “where,” “when”, and “who” then they will “why” or “how”. Being specific with the “wh-“ words you want to target in a goal is typically a better practice so everyone will know which ones to teach. 🔑 It doesn’t make sense to gather data for a goal week after week if you are not first teaching the underlying skill the goal is measuring. According to the “80/20” rule, we should be teaching 80% of the time and assessing 20% of the time. For example, if you write a goal that a student will answer “where” questions, we should be teaching how to answer “where” questions 80% of the time and measuring how they are doing on the goal only 20% of the time. 🔑 One idea for teaching how to answer “wh-“ questions is to have a sorting activity where they student places different objects in the correct “wh-“ question folder, depending on if it is a person, place, or thing. 🔑 As a parent, you should feel you’re on good ground if you’re basing your statements on information about AAC from high-quality sources like https://praacticalaac.org. If you’re getting pushback from members of your child’s team and you have good information, you can share that information with them to help them understand your perspective. As a parent, you shouldn’t be afraid to be firm about what the next steps should be when you have good clinical evidence that supports your beliefs. Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we share the recording of Chris and Rachel’s recent webinar with aaccessible.org in which they answer questions related to AAC assessment, the benefits of a team-based approach to assessment, selecting motivating assessment materials, and more! Before the interview, Chris and Rachel discuss Chris’s recent discovery that a student he worked with who was very important for him professionally had passed away. They share about some of the challenges anyone can face working with people who have complex medical needs, including people passing sooner than we expect. They also highlight the importance of teaching students about their bodies and how to say they feel sick or pain and where things hurt. It can also be a difficult balance with encouraging communication when the family is struggling just to keep the child healthy. Key ideas this week: 🔑 There is little logic to the traditional “three trials” AAC assessment - if you choose only a low tech option, it is potentially wasting everyone’s time. If you choose to trial three robust AAC systems, how to you pick which one is first? How do you determine that the trial is long enough to make a justified decision? A team based considerations approach to assessment that bypasses the three trials can be much more effective. 🔑 When we are feature matching to determine if an AAC device is a good choice, a major consideration should be what AAC apps the team is already comfortable with. While we can always choose a different option, people are more likely to support a device they are already comfortable with. 🔑 A team-based approach to assessment is really helpful for building capacity with your team. If we have an expert model and don’t meet with the team to choose the device, then they will often not take ownership of implementation. If they are involved, often the team will be more likely to embrace the AAC tool and the implementation strategies. 🔑 When you find that a robust AAC system is not working for a student, it is most likely that you chose the correct device and the problem is related to issues related to modeling, training, and implementation. Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, Chris interviews Daniel Parker, Kathy White, and Stacy Duffy, individuals behind the creation of Assistive Technology Forward, a group that created a statewide “community of practice” to support Wisconsin assistive technology. ATF has recently begun a free program that provides “microcredentials” that are focused on a particular area of practice within assistive technology. Learn more here. These modules can be completed in a few hours and many can be taken by parents, administrators, and others who are not as familiar with assistive technology. Chris chats with Daniel, Kathy, and Stacy about Assistive Technology Forward, how they came to create microcredentials, some of the benefits of microcredentials, and a discussion of the virtual “community of practice” that ATF has created for assistive technology! Before the interview, Rachel shares some thoughts about an upcoming assessment report that she has been asked to write. Chris and Rachel discuss preparing for a student who has aggressive behaviors, dealing with the pressure to have standardized assessments as part of a report, and some of the questions that Rachels asks when she begins an AAC assessment. Key ideas this week: 🔑 Many people are frustrated with their jobs in education, and one reason is because they don’t feel supported or comfortable with what they are asked to do every day. Microcredentials can help people feel more confident in their jobs, which may increase overall job satisfaction. 🔑 It can be costly and very time prohibitive to go through a full, formal AAC certification program. While that may be a good choice for some people, micro transactions offer another way to learn about the technology thatAT specialists, educators, and others can use to become more effective in support assistive technology. 🔑 ATF created an virtual, assistive-technology-focused “community of practice” i.e. a group of people who interact regularly to develop their skills. They often have meetings where a subject-matter expert facilitates a cooperative discussion with the group on topics related to assistive technology, which they record and save for other members of the community of practice. Some of these sessions can be viewed on You Tube here 🔑 Assistive Technology Forward has a number of online free learning modules that provide lots of free information about assistive technology, including training for people who are not as familiar with AAC. Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we have the privilege of interviewing Hank Poore, an AAC user and Tobi Dynavox ambassador who has his own foundation, hankpoorefoundation.org. Hank shares about becoming a proficient AAC communicator, the AAC journey Hank took to come to his current eye gaze system, advice for looking for a job as an AAC user, work Hank does with his foundation, and more! Before the interview, Rachel and Chris discuss a breakthrough that Rachel had with one of her coaching clients. Her client’s Mom and Dad have been sending in videos of them working with their child, after which they watch the videos with Rachel and talk through how they can become more effective communication partners. Recently, when watching a video of a session, they noticed how anxious the AAC user was getting when asked a question that he doesn’t know the answer to. The family discussed with Rachel how they can switch from questions that have a “right” and “wrong” answer to questions that are more open ended to help their child feel less anxiety when asked a question. The family would never have noticed if it wasn’t recorded, so in this case, video was an excellent resource. Key ideas this week: 🔑 There is evidence to suggest that people with disabilities are asked more questions than people without disabilities - make sure that you are not turning a communication exchange into an interrogation. 🔑 When we are selecting an AAC device for a user, sometimes we can get caught up in picking the one “best” tool. We shouldn’t focus exclusively on selecting the one tool or the primary tool that they will use - in some cases, like Hank’s, it may be that a combination of tools will be successful for a user. 🔑 Technology is changing and growing at such a fast rate, in some cases a tool that didn’t work years ago may have been improved. For Hank, he tried eye gaze years ago, but it was too difficult to use. However, when he tried it again more recently, the technology had improved and it was much more effective for him. Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, Chris interviews Ken Hackbarth, Christine Baudin, and Micheal Dicpinigaitis about 3D printing custom items related to assistive technology, including keyguards! Ken, Christine, and Michael share about discuss Ken’s website volksswitch.org, which has resources for how to create files for 3D printers that tell it to build a keyguard that fits an iPad with AAC apps perfectly. Before the interview, Rachel and Chris talk about environmental core boards (e.g. “playground boards”) and some considerations to make before you install one, including making sure that the board is at the correct height for the students who will be using it. Key ideas this week: 🔑 Keyguards are applicable in many instances where you wouldn’t initially recommend them. They can help individuals with moderate motor control take advantage of larger language sets by helping them effectively select smaller buttons on an AAC device. Volksswitch provides free, ready-to-print keyguard designs for a collection of popular AAC apps and popular iPad cases! 🔑 One great thing about volksswitch.org is that they provide an app that lets you customize your keyguard based on several common combinations of iPads, cases, and the most common AAC apps (e.g. LAMP WFL, Proloquo2go, TouchChat). This allows someone with limited coding and engineering experience to create and print a keyguard effectively. 🔑 Michael sells 3D printed keyguards on his Etsy website, https://www.etsy.com/shop/AdaptedCreations. In addition to selling keyguards, he also sells cases that match the keyguards, switch adapted toys, and switch mounts. 🔑 One reason that keyguards were an obvious choice for 3D printing is the high cost of getting a keyguard professionally laser cut (approximately $80-$150). As as long as you have access to a 3D printer, you can make many keyguards for the price of one laser-cut keyguard. Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech! To listen to this episode, search "Talking with Tech" in your podcast player of choice or go to www.talkingwithtech.org/episodes/print-keyguards

This week, Rachel invites Gemma White back to TWT to talk about personal safety awareness and self advocacy for AAC users. Gemma recently gave a presentation at AAC in the Cloud, “Where is the Penis?: Equipping AAC Users to Discuss Personal Safety Awareness with Personal Safety Curriculum”. Gemma talks about this presentation, why words like “penis” and “vagina” should be in AAC users devices, ways that we can collaborate to support personal safety awareness, and other ways that we can empower AAC users to protect themselves from neglect and abuse. Before the interview, Rachel and Chris discuss some comments made by an SLP who works with one of Rachel’s clients and focuses only on verbal speech. This client has Childhood Apraxia of Speech and is highly unintelligible. He has been making good progress with his AAC and is now choosing to use it more often. Recently, the other SLP commented that “AAC is holding back verbal speech” because the client chose to use his AAC more than verbal speech to communicate. Rachel shares how she responded, the reasons why the other SLP may have believed this, and why following the student’s lead is so important when accepting communication modalities. Key ideas this week: 🔑 If your school or practice has a curriculum developed to teach children about personal safety awareness, then you can collaborate with the whole team to add language to AAC user’s devices that support what they’re learning about their bodies and safety. 🔑 A person’s gender does not always match the body parts they were born with - It’s important to separate words related to gender and labels for private parts to foster a more inclusive environment. 🔑 We need to focus on self-advocacy from the beginning, e.g. "no," "stop," and "all done." Often refusal and negation can be motivating, especially if we are asking a student to do something they don’t want to do. Links from this Episode: Gail van Tatenhove: The Power of Core: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqfVAPuGzpI Gemma White, AAC in the Cloud: “Where is the Penis?: Equipping AAC Users to Discuss Personal Safety Awareness with Personal Safety Curriculum” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-kw4_HH6FI Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, Chris interviews Tami Altschuler, a medical-based SLP and graduate instructor who focuses on supporting AAC and communication in the hospital setting. She shares about her journey helping the doctors and nurses understand that communication is a medical necessity, and the patient and employee satisfaction improvements that have come from better supporting communication and AAC access for every patient that needs it. Before the interview, Rachel and Chris discuss one of Rachel’s clients who has optical nerve damage that makes visual processing difficult. The family is concerned that he is not able to access his coursework and reading materials due to his visual difficulties. Rachel shares some of the assistive technology strategies she suggested, including voice typing in Google Docs, using Read & Write for Google Chrome, using text-to-voice using a camera, making text high contrast, and more! Key ideas this week: 🔑 It was difficult to get initial buy in from physicians at her hospital to order SLP services for AAC and communication.Tami needs a doctor’s order to work with the patients - she can’t just work with a patient on her own initative. When Tami started at her hospital, the doctors didn’t know an SLP could help with a patient who can’t communicate (e.g. they are intubated). 🔑 SLPs in the medical setting often focus more on feeding and swallowing than on AAC and communication. It took a lot of working through “barriers to participation” (Beukelman & Mirenda (2013)) - i.e. resources, attitude, skill, and knowledge. Had to break through those barriers to help the other medical SLPs understand the need to support AAC. 🔑 The “Great Resignation” impacted the medical field in several ways, including the amount of knowledge nurses in Tami’s hospital have about AAC and communication. There was a mass exodus of pediatric nurses who had a lot of communication training, and the newer nurses were not as familiar. Tami’s hospital now has a process that trains nurses right away during new hire orientation about communication and AAC. 🔑 Writing a patient’s communication tools and strategies on the door outside the patient’s room can help the nurses know how a patient communicates before the enter the room. You can reach Tami on Twitter @tami_altschuler Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we share Part 2 of TWT Live from Oregon! This week, Rachel and Chris talk with their audience about a range of topics, including getting buy in from teachers and staff and choosing which core words to start teaching! Before the interview, Chris and Rachel answer a listener question, “Is putting a big poster with AAC symbols on the wall a good idea?” They point out the benefits of putting up AAC light-tech boards, and Chris describes why it is better to put up a poster of the kid’s core board than changing the symbols or moving them around. Key ideas this week: 🔑 If an emergent communicator is struggling to learn how to use light-tech AAC, even with lots of modeling, you may want to try high-tech AAC. In some cases, using high-tech AAC can help him or her understand why and how we use AAC. 🔑 When dealing with a teacher or staff member who doesn’t want to use AAC, a “top down” approach that gets their administrator involved may cause push back in the long run and/or damage rapport. Try a “bottom up” approach first - ask probing questions to find out about that teacher’s challenges and point out where AAC can help (e.g. reducing difficult behaviors). 🔑 Celebrate the small wins for AAC users - if an emergent communicator make any progress towards independent communication, however small, make sure to celebrate and let everyone know! When someone makes a difference that impacts the life of another person, they are often inspired to do more! Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we share Part 1 of a previously recorded Talking with Tech Live show with listeners from Oregon. This week, the listeners ask several questions related to conducting language and AAC assessments virtually, including how to make them more effective. Before the interview, Chris and Rachel have a lively discussion about Gestalt Language Processing and how we can support AAC users who script. Rachel shares several ideas, including putting the student’s preferred scripts on their device as a way to make the device more interesting and motivating. 🔑 One tool that listeners suggested for virtual assessment is the Communication Matrix. https://communicationmatrix.org/ This assessment allows you to get input from caregivers through an online for. One benefit is it doesn’t require the chid to have to sit in front of a screen. 🔑 When we are trying to observe a person’s communication skills virtually, it may be better to have the caregivers video the student at hoome communicating in the ways they normally communicate. It can be difficult to truely observe a child during Zoom sessions - the child may not communicate the same way on Zoom because there is greater pressure to “perform.” 🔑 If we are considering a virtual assessment, it is important to consider training communication partners on how to optimize the virtual assessment. Is the student seated in their chair? What is the background noise situation? Preparing in this way can help the assessment go more smoothy. Emily Quinn’s webinar on the Communication Matrix from Echo Voices https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-S-rVgOrozwa36mGxaW0ZQcNob2brWTx/view Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we present Part 2 of Chris and Rachel’s interview with Sean Sweeney! Sean is a Speech-Language Pathologist and founder of SpeechTechie.com, a website that focuses on the intersection of speech therapy and technology. This week, he discusses his “FIVES” pneumonic to help evaluate if a resource (e.g. an app) is a worthwhile investment of time and money. Before the interview, Chris and Rachel share about their recent trip to Montana to do a presentation, and some of the highlights of the trip. They also answer an excellent listener question that asks “Regarding the least-to-most prompting hierarchy, if the student is new to the board/device and we jump to the last step and model without expectation, how long do we stay at that level?” Key ideas this week: 🔑 The least-to-most prompting hierarchy is related more to an individual words than to a particular student student. The amount of prompting that a student needs will depend on the word, so a student isn’t ever at a certain “level” of the hierarchy for every word. 🔑 The symbols or pictures on an AAC system give users way to recognize the word(s) they want to say. Without the visual, it can be harder for students to construct an effective spontaneous utterance. 🔑 Sean came up who the pneumonic “FIVES” to help evaluate resources that he is considering using for therapy. FIVES stands for Fairly priced, Interactive (decision making, create narrative), Visual, Educationally relevant, and “Speechie” (i.e., the app can be used to target specific clinical objectives) 🔑 Sean likes to take materials and items from a student’s hobbies and use them to target his clinical objectives. For example, he has a student who loves Pokemon, so he pulls story grammar and vocabulary from a Pokemon comic to make the lesson more engaging and interactive. Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we present Part 1 of Chris’s interview with Sean Sweeney! Sean is a Speech-Language Pathologist and founder of SpeechTechie.com, a website that focuses on the intersection of speech therapy and technology. In Part 1 of this interview, Sean discusses his recent appearance on the game show Jeopardy and some of the insider information he got as a contestant! Before the interview, Chris and Rachel make some connections between Sean’s appearance on Jeopardy, including the similarities between the Jeopardy committee that decides if a question was answered correctly and the need for a team based approach to assessment. Chris and Rachel also chat about the difference between an “AAC app” and an “AAC system”. Key ideas this week: 🔑 Giving a quiz that is put up on the board in front of a group of people (e.g. kahoot.com, baamboozle.com, quizizz.com) is as much a measure of reading ability and fluency as it is a measure of knowledge. Just like Jeopardy, you can read the question out loud to the contestants before giving them a chance to answer, giving slower readers a chance to succeed. 🔑 An “AAC system” is more than a particular app or tool. It is the combination of all the ways that a person communicates (e.g. low tech board, robust AAC app, and gestures) and often does not mean just one tool. There are circumstances (e.g. bath time) where a different tool, like a laminated core board, could be more effective than their primary app or tool. 🔑 It is common for people to not remember situations that required a lot of thinking, stress, and language analysis, such as going on a game show or giving a speech in public. This is, in part, because the brain is so focused on the immediate task that it isn’t committing things to memory in the way it normally would. Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we present Part 2 of Chris’s conversation with Kim Hurley and Jessica Conrad about the Specific Language System First Approach! Kim Hurley is an SLP and AAC Specialist who is considering moving her district to the Specific Language System First Approach. Jessica Conrad is an SLP and AAC Specialist who works for the Indiana PATINS project supporting AAC users and their circle of support. In Part 2, Chris, Kim, and Jessica continue to breakdown some of Kim and Jessica’s concerns with implementing the Specific Language System Approach, including failing to notice when a student needs a more individualized AAC system (i.e. a “Tier 3” AAC student), as well as and the need to include families in the process of selecting the “Tier 1/2” AAC system. Before the interview, Chris and Rachel chat about Rachel’s recent visit to a Jack Johnson concert in Hawaii and the importance of Jack’s music to Rachel when she was battling seasonal depression (i.e., Seasonal Affective Disorder) as a young woman. Key ideas this week: 🔑 One concern Kim had was that the “best” AAC system for younger students might not be as useful for middle or high school students. Chris pointed out that there are robust language systems, like TouchChat, that are appropriate for children all the way through adulthood, and that is something we can consider when selecting our Tier 1 system. 🔑 The earlier you can involve parents in the process of selecting AAC for their student, the better. This can mean involvement with overall selection of the Tier 1 AAC system, as well as involvement with the considerations meeting you hold to determine if the student should be given AAC. 🔑 If you make sure administrators, teachers, aides, and families are involved with the selection of your Tier 1 AAC system, then there will be better buy-in overall. Plus, it will help retain knowledge about the process and the Tier 1 AAC decision, even if the AAC Specialist (or another trained team member) leaves the district. Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we present Part 1 of Chris’s conversation with Kim Hurley and Jessica Conrad about the Specific Language System First Approach! Kim Hurley is an SLP and AAC Specialist who is considering moving her district to the Specific Language System First Approach. Jessica Conrad is an SLP and AAC Specialist who works for the Indiana PATINS project supporting AAC users and their circle of support. Chris, Kim, and Jessica explore some of Kim and Jessica’s concerns with moving towards a Specific Language System First Approach, and how those problems can be minimized or avoided. Before the interview, Chris and Rachel chat about a recent visit to Arizona to teach a course on AAC and some of Chris’s previous encounters with Indiana’s PATINS project. Key ideas this week: 🔑 One way to think about the Specific Language System First Approach is through Multi-Tiered Systems of Support. A Tier 1 support (i.e., support for almost everyone) would be the Specific Language System you give to almost everyone (e.g. a particular AAC app), while Tier 3 (individual support) would be for students that need a greater level of individual consideration for AAC (e.g. a student with CVI). 🔑 If you use the Specific Language System First Approach, it is important to remember that there will always be students who need individualized consideration (e.g. students with access issues). One idea is to train team members on the kinds of students that may not be well suited for Tier 1 and what to do if you think a Tier 3 support is needed. 🔑 When choosing the system that will become the Tier 1 support for most students, you can invite admins, teachers, and parents to participate in the discussion about the needs of students and some of the features that would be needed for students to be successful, as well as how those needs are met by particular AAC systems. This can help increase buy-in and lead to better understanding of the needs of teachers and students. Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we share Part 2 of Rachel's interview with Vicki Haddix and Janine Peca! Vicki Haddix is an AAC Specialist and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Memphis who teaches their course on AAC for the Communication Sciences and Disorders program. Janine Peca is an autistic adult who recently went through Memphis’s CSD program and is now an SLP. Janice shares about a recent presentation she made about neuroaffirming practices, including a fascinating portion on what it feels like to be overstimulated. Vicki shares about how she improved her class design by giving choices to students whenever possible. Before the interview, Rachel and Chris talk about Rachel’s recent two-week vacation to Spain and France and Chris’s Roadtrip to ISTE! Rachel and Chris discuss using Google Translate to translate between languages in real time, scanning pictures for text translation and text to speech, the Wonderfully Inclusive Scavenger Hunt at ISTE, and more! Key ideas this week: 🔑 Supporting sensory needs can be very motivating for AAC users, but are not always considered when deciding on motivating language for emergent communicators. Janine shares about the sensory strategy communication board she made for herself for when she feels overstimulated and has difficulty formulating language. 🔑 Labeling certain behaviors as a “meltdown” or “tantrum” carry the implicit meaning that it is done for attention. When an autistic person reacts to overstimulation with a particular behavior, we should consider that this behavior may be physically necessary for them at that moment. 🔑 During a period of overstimulation, we can connect with an autistic person in a neuroaffirming way to find out if there is something we can do to help, such as saying, “I notice you are doing a lot of hand flapping, and I wonder if you are feeling a lot of stimulation. Is there anything I can do to help?” Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we share Rachel's interview with Vicki Haddix and Janine Peca! Vicki Haddix is an AAC Specialist and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Memphis who teaches their course on AAC for the Communication Sciences and Disorders program. Janine Peca is an autistic adult who recently went through Memphis’s CSD program and is now an SLP. Vicki shares about making pre-service education more interesting and engaging, and the need for increasing mentorship for recent graduates. Janine shares some of her experiences as an autistic adult, including some of the ways neurodiversity was and was not supported during her undergraduate and graduate experience. Key ideas this week: 🔑 Even with with the best AAC pre-service prep for students, we will need mentors after graduate school for new SLPs to lean on, especially for initial AAC device selection and implementation. 🔑 One part of a being a good mentor is leading others to where the good resources are (e.g., podcasts, webinars, articles). One way we can do that is giving them a “curated” list of resources to review before you meet together. Once they have gone through those resources, you can discuss them in-person. This can reduce the time spent going over basic information and increase the value of your discussion together. 🔑 New SLPs may also feel lost on how to evaluate and treat non-symbolic communicators who may only have emergent intentionality. They may write goals and use materials for more advanced communicators that are not appropriate yet. We can direct them to focus instead on establishing foundational communication skills, including initiation and understanding symbolic representation. 🔑 When someone asks Vicki to explain AAC to them, she will point them to praacticalaac.com, AAC in the Cloud (aacconference.com), and the Talking with Tech podcast (talkingwithtech.org - thanks Vicki ☺️). This gives people something to read, something to watch, and something to listen to, depending upon how they learn best. Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, Chris interviews Shelley Anderson! Shelley is a music therapist who works for a private practice in Ft Wayne, IN and runs a business, Notes 2 Live By, that teaches basic communication through sign language and, more recently, through assistive technology. Shelley shares about the ways that music can be used to teach language to everyone, including AAC users, including how music can be used in unique ways to teach core language concepts. Before the interview, Chris chats with his son Tucker and daughter Maggie about current slang that you may want to consider adding to AAC devices. They talk about slang such as “slay”, “queen”, “give me the tea”, “fit”, “choogie”, and more! Key ideas this week: 🔑 It can be very motivating to start singing a song and to then stop it at a point that makes the listener want to keep singing. An AAC user can add a word from their device to the song you are singing in the same way, such as us singing “Because I’m” and having them say “happy” to the tune of “Happy” by Pharrell. 🔑 When using music to teach language, it is better if you sing acapella or play an instrument. That way, we can slow down the pace to meet their needs, which is more effective than pausing the music on a pre-recorded track. 🔑 We can use music to teach a particular core word, such as playing “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” by WHAM! to teach “Go”. You can also contrast the different meanings of a core word using different songs (e.g. “Can’t Stop This Feeling” by Justin Timberlake and “This Train Don't Stop There Anymore” by Elton John). 🔑 If you are using music in therapy, make sure not to overuse a particular song (e.g. play the same song they like every week for months), as this can effect how motivating it is. Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we present Part 2 of Rachel’s interview with Alma Partida (@aacforyouandme on Insta), Sarah Lee (@aac_together), Melissa Tapia (@hablame_de_language), and Maria De Leon (@code.switch.slp) about Bilingüe AAC, a platform that supports evidence-based, culturally affirming Spanish AAC. In this segment of the interview, the Bilingüe AAC team provides lots of useful information, including research that supporst bilingualism for AAC users, some of the myths of bilingual AAC, and information you can share with families who are hesitant to teach an AAC user two languages. To listen to Part 1 of this interview, click here. Before the interview, Rachel and Chris answer a question posed by Patreon member Anna, who has a 15-year-old autistic son who is a complex communicator and AAC user. He has a verbal vocabulary of around 200 words, and a more limited AAC vocabulary. Her son went to a well-regarded ABA school, where they they used AAC to only teach only fringe words and as a backup to verbal speech when they couldn’t understand him. His mother learned more about AAC implementation and moved him to a new school. Now, the new SLP wants her son to use a different vocabulary template (in his case, Crescendo for Proloquo2go) that better supports core language, and Anna wanted to know how best to transition her son from his old vocabulary template to his new one. Key ideas this week: 🔑 When teaching AAC to a student in two different languages, we can take a “Cross Linguistic” or a Bilingual approach. The Cross-Linguistic approach has the SLP or teacher doing one day of AAC implementation/language therapy in Spanish and another in English. The Bilingual approach, which is recommended for monolingual therapists, teaches both languages at the same time (e.g. teaching “water” and "agua" at the same time). 🔑 Monolingual (e.g. English-speaking only) therapists and teachers should try to teach vocabulary to bilingual students in both their languages. This sends the message “Your culture is OK,” even if we can only teach one word at a time. If you aren’t as strong in their first language, tell the student “Let’s learn this together,” or “You can teach me”. It goes a long way to build trust and rapport with the student and their family. 🔑 If you are hearing that a student is “not motivated by anything,” it is better to say “they aren’t motivated by anything yet.” One idea is to consider their sensory needs and interests. If we are able to do a deep dive into those interests, we may find something to help a student regulate their sensory needs, or find something that they simply enjoy (e.g. touching shaving cream) that will motivate them to communicate. Links this week: King, M., Lim, R., Romski, M. (2021). Language experience, cognitive skills, and English and Spanish semantic abilities in bilingual children with typical development and language impairments. McNamara, E. (2018). Bilingualism, Augmentative and Alternative Communication, and Equity: Making a Case for People With Complex Communication Needs Bilingüe AAC has pages with freebies in both English and Spanish, including a “Common Bilingualism Myths” visual. Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, Rachel interviews Alma Partida (@aacforyouandme on Insta), Sarah Lee (@aac_together), Melissa Tapia (@hablame_de_language), and Maria De Leon (@code.switch.slp) about Bilingüe AAC (www.bilingueaac.com), a platform that supports evidence-based, culturally affirming Spanish AAC. They discuss many aspects of bilingualism and AAC, including core word considerations and strategies for family-based AAC assessment. Before the interview, Chris and Rachel talk about the difference between “progress” and “success” when we are talking about an AAC user’s communication journey. For some, making progress with using AAC demonstrates success. However, if we are not making progress fast enough or are using a tool that doesn’t promote language development (e.g. a 4 icon core board) then we aren’t really working towards true success, which includes independent, spontaneous communication. 🔑 When assessing a bilingual student for AAC, take a family centered approach to assessment. Try and get an interpreter involved (if necessary) and talk to the family about how they communicate in the home. If we get a bilingual word inventory of the student and discuss vocabulary with the family, we can get a better picture of what words will be most useful for that student. 🔑 Generally, we don’t want to directly translate core word lists between two languages. Depending on the languages in question, the core words may be somewhat different (e.g. English and Spanish) or completely different (e.g. English and Chinese). In either case, shouldn’t assume that the core words are exactly the same. 🔑 When assessing a bilingual student, do a home language survey that includes the amount the family uses each language. In some cases, they may speak 90% english with only little bit of Spanish, or vice versa. Links this week: Diverse AAC YouTube channel AAC App Crosswalk- table with different AAC app features, including languages offered Soto and Cooper (2021): An early Spanish vocabulary for children who use AAC: Developmental and linguistic considerations. AAC in the Cloud Presentation on diverse AAC implementation Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, Chris interviews Ceci Fetterolf, a high school senior who created core word videos and linked them using QR codes for her school capstone project. Ceci shares about how she came up with her project and decided on the core words to make videos about, and also how she created books for students that simplified math concepts, like shapes. Before the interview, Chris gathers with Karen Janowski, Mike Marotta, and Beth Poss to discuss their upcoming “Inclusive Road Trip to ISTE”! This road trip starts at TextHelp headquarters in Massachusetts and ends at the ISTE conference in New Orleans, LA. During the road trip, Chris, Karen, Beth, and Mike will pull out their favorite inclusive tools and use them to enhance their roadtrip experience! Follow them on social media with #inclusiveroadtoISTE. Key Ideas this Week: 🔑Learn more about the Inclusive Road Trip at inclusive365.com/inclusiveroadtoISTE, including the Wonderfully Inclusive Scavenger Hunt (WISH), an event which you can join at home! 🔑You can add to the playlist Chris, Karen, Mike, and Beth’s will listen to on their trip by going to their Spotify #InclusiveRoadToISTE Playlist 🔑 If you want to learn more about the Road Trip and WISH live, you can Register for the June 22nd #ATchat #InclusiveRoadToISTE Kick off Event Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, Chris has an amazing interview with Benjamin Bennett, an AAC Specialist for the Escondido Union School District near San Diego, CA. Benjamin has a wealth of information to share, including his school’s move from doing traditional AAC evaluations to a model that is more focused on the considerations of the whole team. Benjamin has lots of questions about the strengths and drawbacks of the Specific Language System First Approach (SLSFA) - his district is strongly considering moving more towards the SLSFA and he wanted to think through possible issues before rolling it out. To learn more about about the SLSFA from Chris, click here. Before the interview, Chris and Rachel have a great discussion about writing effective goals for AAC users, including tracking spontaneous language and independent initiation. According to Rachel, independent initiation has to be a foundational skill if we want everything else, because “we see a lot of kids who can do a lot with support, and not a lot without it.” She thinks that we need to be open to all the ways students are communicating with us - if they aren’t using the word we are working on but they are communicating, that is still growth and should be recognized. Key ideas this week: 🔑 Students in school should not be required to respond - they aren’t getting paid to be there and it isn’t their choice. We shouldn’t put all of the communication responsibility on the student - instead, let’s ask, what can we do to make communication more tempting? 🔑 Benjamin shares about a school site that has a variety of students who are nonspeaking, minimally verbal, and verbal all using the same systems in the moderate/severe classrooms. This helps get everyone involved with AAC and no longer isolates the nonspeaking students. It just becomes “how we teach” instead of a tier 3 support that only a few students have access to. 🔑 One thing to consider if someone comes in with an AAC system that is different than what is typically used at a new school site - are they independently using the device to communicate? If the device is being used effectively, there is a very strong argument for keeping them on that system and not disrupting their motor plan by moving them to a different one. 🔑 People often think about putting everyone on the same tool, but what about strategies? Is there consistency of communication partners between sites? Do people focus on the same things and model the same way across the district? That is often a bigger concern than the particular system. Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we present Rachel’s interview with Laura Taylor, a Special Education Teacher and AAC Specialist with a years of experience teaching language and literacy to people with complex communication needs. Laura has done amazing work utilizing the Pragmatic Organization of Dynamic Displays (PODD), a form of AAC that, at least in the early stages, focuses on teaching communication functions along with vocabulary. Before the interview, Rachel shares about a client of hers with Childhood Apraxia of Speech. This client was strongly averse to AAC - he would even protest against looking at an iPad with AAC on it. Rachel describes how she got him to start using AAC by giving him a “Please don’t take off my sweater” button! Rachel and Chris then discuss the value in teaching students to protest and to direct the actions of others. Key ideas this week: 🔑 PODD is a low-tech or high-tech AAC solution that allows for direct access or partner-assisted scanning. PODD starts out organized by communication function and moves on to organization by category later. It also focuses more on suffixes/morphology as time goes on. 🔑 One advantage of PODD is its organization by pragmatic function. Having vocabulary organized this way may help demonstrate to the student what they can communicate about more frequently than other organization methods. Many students are used to the pragmatic functions of answering questions or requesting but not much else. Using PODD may give these students a head start with extra exposure to these other communication functions. 🔑 If you are trying to figure out how to get started with teaching literacy and communication, Laura recommends to “just start.” Do what you can manage. Start small and it can build to big things - modeling, communication opportunities, etc. Get strategic with yourself on one thing that will make an impact - then you can get good at that and build off that! You can find out more about Laura and PODD at Tayloreducationalconsultants.com and can reach Laura via email at [email protected] Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we hear Part 2 of Dr. Meredith Gohsman's interview with Chris and Rachel! Meredith, Chris, and Rachel reflect on the meeting they attended at the last ASHA convention about ASHA AAC Certification. While previous meetings they attended were more concerned regarding ASHA AAC certification, at ASHA the crowd was more in favor of the certification. Meredith, Chris, and Rachel remain concerned about ASHA AAC certification and discuss some possible negative consequences, including possible impacts on device funding and reducing personal ownership of AAC for some communication partners. Key ideas this week: 🔑 Parents should always be the most important “expert” on their child. The leader of the AAC team should be the caregiver or the AAC user themselves. AAC Certification may lead people to think that the AAC Specialist needs to be leading the AAC team in decision making. 🔑 An ASHA AAC Certification could potentially make communication partners feel more intimidated by AAC. It could be a reason that caregivers and communication partners to say “I don’t do AAC, I’m not an expert” We don’t need anything to take away from the idea that AAC is for all, and it’s everyone’s responsibility. 🔑 It is possible that insurance companies may make it harder for non-AAC Specialists to get funding for a device. Insurance companies might even require someone to be a certified AAC Specialist before they will fund a device. 🔑 One of the most important aspects of supporting AAC users is coaching their communication partners. It isn’t clear if the AAC Certification process will focus on coaching as much as it should; they may focus more on individual expertise in areas like AAC devices or 1:1 treatment. Links: stopaaccertification.org - website with resources and information about the effort to stop ASHA AAC certification. If you are interested in advocating for a stop or pause in the AAC Certification process, there are links on this site to templates and contacts where you can send your letter. aacspecialist.org - home of the American Board of Augmentative and Alternative Communication; the website includes information in support of the potential ASHA AAC certification. Committee on Specialty Certification: [email protected] Feedback for ASHA Executive Board: https://www.asha.org/Form/Board-of-Directors-Feedback/ Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, Chris and Rachel interview Dr. Meredith Gohsman about her research into how much progress using their device AAC users made during a 4 week AAC camp. Each AAC user received aided language stimulation and was prompted using the least-to-most prompting hierarchy. Meredith’s results indicate that, after 9 sessions of AAC Camp, there was no change in the students receiving language instruction or the parents participating in sessions. The only change they saw was growth in therapy skills of the student clinicians who engaged in the interventions. Meredith says this may indicate that we need to be looking at a longer period than 4 weeks for making progress with AAC users. It may also suggest that we can make greater progress with graduate clinicians by giving them more hands-on experiences. Before the interview, Chris and Rachel discuss Chris’s recent experience as a substitute teacher (due to staffing shortages in his district) in a co-taught general & special education class. Chris talks about some of the things he learned in that role, including the need for more flexible seating options and the general slow speed that public education can move - even when we know something is a better choice for the students. Chris also shares about how the students were all required to write in a composition book, and he wonders if there would be a way to honor other modalities for writing in a journal (e.g. Chromebook, speech to text, etc). Key ideas this week: 🔑 When we are thinking about family-centered therapy, we should think about giving the families more hands-on training. In this study, the families didn’t get hands on opportunities, and they made little progress. 🔑 We have a responsibility to provide models and scaffolding for AAC users for a really long time. Some AAC stakeholders may approach modeling saying “A few weeks of modeling s is enough to see if they can use the device,” but in this case, nothing changed in 4 weeks. 🔑 Caregiver perceptions relate to both the child and the caregiver themselves - after training, the communication partner reports they feel more confident with using the device. When caregivers feel more confident, that will pave the way for better downstream outcomes for AAC users. Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we present Small Talks VI! “Small Talks” are short clips recorded with a previous guest that highlights one strategy or one idea in seven minutes or less. In this episode of Small Talks, we hear from Andy Smidt, India Ochs, Lory Chrane, Mark Nichols, and Tali Kellerstein! Before the interviews, Chris and Rachel discuss Chris’s “design challenge” he helped create for some 5th graders to help figure out how to attach 3D printed AAC keyguards (i.e. overlays) to AAC devices without needing to remove the case (for warranty reasons). Chris talks about how this authentic problem got the students really excited, and he shares lots of great online resources for getting started with 3D printing keyguards (see links section below). On this episode: 🗣️ Andy Smidt shares about universal design for learning, and how she is helping people see how UDL is something they already do in the classroom and there are benefits for educators as well as students in making the learning environment more universal. 🗣️ India Ochs talks about “tone policing”, a practice of criticizing the emotional manner in which a person has expressed a point of view, rather than addressing the substance of the point itself. Tone policing can occur when people are having a discussion about disability and ableism - by criticizing the person’s “tone”, they can avoid discussing any important changes. 🗣️Lory Chrane discusses Symbol-It, (https://symbolspeak.co/symbol-it/) a paid app that will translate verbal speech directly into symbols that correspond to the person’s AAC. 🗣️ Mark Nichols shares three of his favorite AT solutions right now, including enabling live captions for all videos, using “accessibility checkers” like Grackle (or ones embedded in Office) to make sure our files are as accessible, and converting the text files we assign to students into audio files for them. 🗣️Talk Kellerstein describes how she uses set up and clean up of games to introduce more opportunities to practice using speech or language. She also describes why she avoids games with batteries. Links from this week’s episode: Volksswitch.org - 3D printing resource for AT, including keyguards Jennifer Schubring (@jjschubring on Twitter) has lots of great info about 3D printing keyguards here: https://www.buildingaac.com/post/3d-printing-keyguards-an-epic-journey Tinkercad.com - create digital 3D printing designs “No, We Won’t Calm Down: Tone Policing is Just Another Way to Protect Privilege”, an informative comic on Tone Policing shared by India Ochs Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, Rachel interviews Dr. Jeffrey Ebin, an inventor and ER doctor at the University of Houston who created a FREE eye-tracking communication board (communicatonboard.io) that requires no more equipment than a camera (e.g. on a phone/tablet) and a web browser! Jeffrey shares all about his interest in creating Assistive Technology solutions, and how helping a man who was paralyzed from the neck down started him thinking about a free eye gaze website. One great thing about his communication board, particularly in the hospital setting, is the user can pick it up and learn it quickly without needing a lot of training for themselves or communication partners. Before the interview, Chris and Rachel discuss a scenario that may be familiar to people who support AAC users - when we see someone with their AAC device in public, is it appropriate to go and talk to them (and/or their family) about it? Chris saw an AAC user at his daughter’s play and wanted to go and talk to them, but he hesitated and decided not to say anything. Rachel shares similar situations she has experienced, and the uncertainty that many SLPs feel when they are deciding whether to talk about communication outside of the clinical or school setting. Key ideas this week: 🔑 Some of the vocabulary on the communication board is more specific to a hospital setting (e.g. suction), but there are plans for making the vocabulary customizable in the future. 🔑 The communication board (communicationboard.io) can be combined with an inexpensive receiver to operate things like light switches. 🔑 According to Dr. Ebin, a lot of the tech we are using in the field of assistive technology is outdated by 10-15 years, and in many cases much more expensive than similar technology in other fields. He believes we need to better incorporate the advances we are making in other areas of technology into assistive technlogy. Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we hear from Dr. Andy Smidt, a professor at the University of Sydney who teaches a number of courses related to communication and supporting people with severe intellectual disabilities. Andy shares about teaching pre-service professionals in unique ways, her “TEAM” taxonomy that can help write goals for emergent (presymbolic) communicators, and more! Before the interview, Rachel and Chris talk about playing “The Mind”, a card game where you only use observation and nonverbal communication to sequence a set of cards together. They reflect on what they learned playing this game, including how essential nonverbal communication is to our everyday lives and how we can learn to observe very subtle signals. They also share about how we can observe nonverbal communication and then attach language to it in a therapeutic setting. Key ideas this week: 🔑How do we support someone with severe intellectual disabilities who is presymbolic and may never become symbolic? We can presume their potential, but becoming a symbolic communicator may take a long time. How do we write goals to be worked on right now? Andy came up with the TEAM taxonomy for goal writing that is useful when working with pre-symbolic communicators: T = Train, e.g. train communication partners E = Expand, e.g. expanding what the AAC use already does. Expand the people they interact with, the activities they participate in, the situation in which the person uses potential communicative acts, expand the people who can interpret these communicative acts. A= Augment, e.g. add something new. Allow the person to make choices in their daily routine. Add in new object symbols, community request cards, etc. M= Move, e.g. for the person to move to become intentional or symbolic. 🔑In some cases, we need to regroup when we have hit a roadblock and look back at the TEAM framework. You might want to give it a few months and not add anything new - the AAC user may need a break to get comfortable with what they have already learned. 🔑Most clinicians feel they are doing family centered practice, but research indicates most families would say their therapy is not family centered. Family centered practice means going at the speed of the family, which may be slow if that is what they need. Links from this Episode: Full Text of Andy's article on the TEAM process The Mind Card Game Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we share Part 2 of Rachel’s interview with SLP and host of the SLP Happy Hour podcast, Sarah Lockhart! They continue their discussion of Sarah’s clients, including a nonverbal client who uses lots of scripts to communicate. Rachel shares ideas for how to choose targets for therapy, why we should be modeling language that is important to the AAC user, and how motivating materials during AAC assessment can help get a better picture of his or her true ability. Before the interview, Chris and Rachel finish answering the question from last week about a student with a complex medical history that includes cortical visual impairment (CVI). Chris and Rachel discuss ideas for using books and TV shows the student loves to make therapy more fun, including watching YouTube and eliciting language from the video. They also talk about what to look at when the student isn’t making progress, including whether or not the activity they are doing is fun. Key ideas this week: 🔑 When modeling, are you showing them language they might want to use? For example, it may be better to model “I don’t want to wake up” for a teenager than “Good Morning Mom”. Both are important, but, in this case, a modeled protest may be used spontaneously more readily than a greeting. 🔑 The most valid assessment is one in which the AAC user is motivated to engage - if we are assessing but forcing the student to label something uninteresting, they may not demonstrate their true skills. 🔑 How can we figure out where to start teaching language? One idea is to look at how AAC users are communicating nonverbally. If a child is already demonstrating non-verbal communication, it is an easy transition to giving them language to use instead of that gesture or action. 🔑 What are other ideas for choosing targets? Ask the communication partners - what does the student do all the time when no one is around? It can give us insight into what they are motivated by, such as sensory seeking behavior or refusal, which can then give you insight into targets and activities. Links from this week’s episode: Talking with Tech Episodes related to CVI: https://www.talkingwithtech.org/search?q=CVI For resources related to coding, go to Code.org

This week, Rachel interviews Sarah Lockhart, an SLP and host of the SLP Happy Hour podcast. Sarah had questions about providing AAC to a student who has limited spontaneous communication but used lots of scripts. Rachel and Sarah discuss the importance of supporting independent communication for echolalic students, how AAC benefits these students by providing visual word choices with auditory feedback, and more! Before the interview, Chris and Rachel discuss a listener question about a student with a complex medical history, including CVI, who uses an eye gaze system. Rachel and Chris touch on how they would approach the case and some specific things that come to mind, including the challenges of directly prompting an eye gaze user, ideas for using games to teach language, and how they could use Canva in therapy to make something useful for the student’s school. Key ideas this week: 🔑 If a student relies on us to open a folder on their device, how can it generalize to independence? It’s especially tempting to help an eye tracking user, but If we aren’t training from a motor plan approach, it may not generalize. If we start with supports, we need to fade them as soon as possible so they get the full motor plan. 🔑 It doesn’t move the needle for spontaneous autonomous speech to verbally say what we think they want to say and have them repeat that over and over again. In many cases this hasn’t worked for years. 🔑 You can support independent communication with AAC in ways you can’t with verbal speech alone, such as gesturing at the device with an expectant gaze Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech! Links from this weeks episode: Episode 147: Kaylie Gustafson: Supporting Eye Gaze Users Through Telepractice https://www.talkingwithtech.org/episodes/kaylie-gustafson?rq=Eye Pepi's Wonder World: https://www.pepiplay.com/wonderworld/

This week, Chris interviews Rebecca, a guest who requested to keep her last name anonymous. Rebecca is an assistive technology professional who supports a K-12 school district and was interested in putting together some information for her school board asking to increase the number of assistive technology specialists in her district. She and Chris break down some arguments for increasing the quality of AT in the schools, as well as topics like providing direct service minutes vs. coaching, how to calculate the impact you are having on the entire student body (not just students with IEPs), working together with staff development professionals for trainings, and more! Before the interview, Rachel and Chris have a lively discussion about a hypothetical classroom with one AAC user who has some sensory seeking behaviors. Rachel and Chris go through their thoughts about the case, including how to approach the teacher, how to support language while also keeping the kids and the staff safe, and providing alternative sensory experiences for the student that may help avoid some of the sensory seeking behaviors. Key ideas this week: 🔑 One argument for increasing the number of AT/AAC Specialists - there is a lot of time spent selecting the tool, but not much follow through on how to implement that tool. if you need better AAC implementation across the district, you may need to have a dedicated person for coaching. 🔑 Another argument for increasing the number of AAC Specialists - look at the numbers over the previous few years regarding the number of AT and AAC requests you are getting. In many districts, the numbers are growing rapidly. 🔑 There is a huge overlap between accommodations and assistive technology on an IEP - it may make sense to approach the IEP by writing “accommodations reflect AT considerations” under AT considerations, then exploring AT with the team as part of the accommodations discussion. Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech! Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

This week, we share Chris’s conversation with Mai Ling Chan and Jeanette Washington on making our presentations and trainings more engaging and effective! Chris, Mai Ling, and Jeanette are seasoned presenters, and they have a ton of useful tips that you can use to improve your presentations right away! Before the interview, Rachel shares about a client who was moved to tears by a sad video that he saw, but was confused about what was happening when he was crying - he wondered if someone was cutting onions. Chris and Rachel talk about engaging kids with experiences that teach them to anchor abstract emotional concepts with something that is real for them, like how it makes their bodies feel or how they feel when grandma leaves. Key ideas this week: 🔑 It is more important to engage with your audience well rather than focusing on having “pretty” slides. Also, from an accessibility standpoint, it can be more difficult to follow slides that have lots of animations and graphics that don’t really add to the experience. 🔑 Instead of putting several bullet points on a slide, you can just take each bullet and make it its own slide. This makes it less distracting and allows the audience to follow along with you at the same speed. 🔑 Most presentations are three act plays - the first act is a problem we are working to solve, the second act is strategies we can put together to solve the problem, and third act is the action plan and takeaways. Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech! Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

This week, Chris interviews Stacey Maijala, an SLP who recently started a new AT Specialist position in Michigan that supports 13 school districts and five transition programs. Stacey had lots of questions for Chris about creating a lending library for technology, providing AT and AAC to everyone through Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), informing teachers about Tier 1 resources (i.e. resources available to everyone without the need for an evaluation or special education eligibility), and more! Before the interview, Chris and Rachel discuss a patreon users question - is it OK to choose one particular AAC software application (eg. LAMP WFL, Proloquo2Go) as your “go-to” choice for new AAC users? Chris and Rachel describe the “system first approach” and why that is a valid reason for choosing one system over others. Chris and Rachel also touch upon making one AAC app your “Tier 1” option if you are using a Multi-Tiered Systems of Support model. Key ideas this week: 🔑 You can inform teachers and staff about some of the AT solutions available in your district through a monthly or weekly “tech tips” blog or newsletter that shares some of the strategies and supports that are available to everyone (i.e. Tier 1). You can also send an automatic email reply when they ask for an AAC evaluation that reminds them of all of the resources available without an evaluation. 🔑 AT Specialists and SLPs are “are not Amazon” - they don’t just fill orders for technology. Rather, AT Specialists can help the team come to a consensus decision about what strategies and tools to employ for a potential AAC user. Act as a facilitator and ask questions to help draw out answers from the team. 🔑 If you are creating a lending library, start with technology and tools that are very specialized to one person (e.g. Tier 3 tools), like switch activated toys or braille materials. Trialing AAC devices for a short period makes less sense, because proper implementation takes much longer than a couple weeks. If we have chosen the tool carefully as a team, we need to give the student enough time to learn to use it before we decide if we need to change the tool. Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech! Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

This week, we share Part 2 of Chris’s interview with Tracy Kovach! Tracy is an SLP and AAC specialist who has over 30 years of experience with AAC. She shares about helping Bruce Baker organize the Pittsburgh Augmentative and Alternative Language Seminar Series (PALSS), changes we should make to pre-service education (e.g. university classes), how implementation might change with brain-interface systems, and more! Before the interview, Chris and Rachel answer a Patreon member’s questions about working with students who use AAC in a rural district. This listener had questions about creating a tool to help highlight symbols they want AAC users to focus on. She also had questions about choosing a core board to use as a universal support for everyone, and if she should limit the number of icons to make the layout less distracting for students. Key ideas this week: 🔑 When teaching about AAC at the pre-service education level, we should be focusing on teaching students that AAC intervention is, to a large extent, language intervention. Previously, a large amount of effort was focused on teaching how to operate and program AAC systems, which may not be the most effective approach. The devices might change, but the need to teach language skills stays the same. 🔑 If you are working at a school campus, consider creating a “communication club” for students that meets regularly to support AAC users on campus. This is an authentic problem that some students could really get interested in helping out with. Club members could create and distribute core boards for the school, learn how to be a good communication partner, and practice modeling. 🔑 If Tracy could share one thing about AAC with everyone, she would share “AAC is not magic.” Just because you get the system, doesn’t mean it works right out of the box. Getting the device is only the beginning. AAC implementation is a lot of work and it doesn’t happen without lots of dedication and effort from both the AAC user and the user’s circle of support. Links from this Episode Minspeak’s Successful AAC Outcomes Seminars: https://minspeak.com/outcomes/

This week, Chris interviews the Tracy Kovach, an SLP and AAC specialist with a wealth of experience working as an SLP supporting complex communication needs. She shares about working with AAC when it was in its early years, the important of training communication partners, how SLPs and other professionals can advocate for changes in their profession, and more! Before the interview, Chris and Rachel have a fascinating discussion about Lego Braille Bricks (legobraillebricks.com), a service that provides free Lego Braille sets to help teach Braille to people with visual impairments. Chris shares about how the free lessons on the website make learning Braille fun, keeping this set in mind as we support people with visual impairments, and the importance of learning through play! Key Ideas this Week: 🔑 There is such high turnover in staff, someone working on language development might have 7-10 therapists or more. If we can train the communication partners, then there can be a consistent source of support and implementation despite staff turnover. 🔑 Professionals who work with AAC need to think carefully about how their role is defined as it relates to communication partner training. There needs to have some kind of position statement saying that these professional’s role is, in part, to instruct communication partners and is not just direct contact. 🔑 If SLPs and AAC Specialists can point to something that they are using systematically coach communication partners, it can help administrators understand that the SLPs and AAC Specialists are not making up with something new every week off the top of their head. Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech! Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

This week, Chris interviews Tali Kellerstein, an SLP and owner of The Speech Boutique (https://thespeakboutique.com/) who recently presented at ASHA with Chris on incorporating games and communication! Tali shares about strategies she uses to incorporate games with literacy, letting the child’s targets drive what game you choose, and more! Before the interview, Rachel shares about working with a client who uses AAC and how she got him motivated using games related to his specific interest, elevators. Chris shares some ideas for incorporating elevators into a home-made game and other ways we can hone in on someone’s interest in therapy! Key ideas this week: 🔑 You can incorporate games and books together in therapy - if you know what words you want to target, you can choose a book that connects to that theme and a game that will help evoke your target. Manipulate both the story and book to get the child to communicate as much as possible. 🔑 When choosing what game you want to play in therapy, choose the game that will best targets the words you want to target. Avoid choosing a game simply because it matches a particular theme, holiday, or season. 🔑 Buying books and games for therapy does not need to be cost-prohibitive. if you find the right books and games to target particular words, you can those materials over and over again. Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech! Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

This week, we present part 2 of Rachel and Chris’s discussion of their experiences at ATIA 2022! This episode includes discussion of Rachel’s first experience with “AT Chat”; the benefits of learning in small groups during “Ed Camp”, the success of Chris’s “Cards Against Exclusivity” session, new strategies for using Canva in therapy, AT Maker Day, and more! Links from this weeks episode: Search #ATChat on Twitter Ashley Larisey TWT Episode Canva.com

This week, Chris and Rachel discuss their recent trip to ATIA 2022 and some of their favorite takeaways. Rachel shares about being a ATIA first timer and how much she enjoyed learning from sessions with previous podcast guests Chris Klein, India Ochs, and Lance McLemore. Chris shares about his session learning about preparing people for transitioning out of school and into the workforce using the VOISS virtual reality app, as well as the tribute to Joy Zabala. Rachel and Chris also talk about a topic that got a lot of buzz at ATIA this year, “gestalt language processing”. For more on this topic, check out the TWT episode with Alexandria Zachos! Links this week: Alexandria Zachos: Supporting Spontaneous Speech in People Who Script https://www.talkingwithtech.org/episodes/alexandria-zachos India Ochs Lawyer, Social Justice Advocate, Mother, and AAC User https://www.talkingwithtech.org/episodes/india-ochs Chris Klein: Why Does Motor Planning Matter in AAC? https://www.talkingwithtech.org/episodes/chris-klein Lance McLemore: Learning to Become a Proficient AAC User https://www.talkingwithtech.org/episodes/lance-mclemore Voissadvisor.org

This week, we present part 2 of Chris’s interview with Dr. Kris Brock, an Assistant Professor at Idaho State University who shares his experience researching using animated AAC symbols to teach and represent verbs and prepositions. Before the interview, Chris and Rachel share some of the resources that are being shared each week on the Talking with Tech Patreon page, including www.wombo.ai, mytalkingpet.com, biteable.com and more! If you are a TWT listener and would like to support the podcast while getting access to bonus resources and content each week, join our patreon at patreon.com/talkingwithtech! Key ideas this week: 🔑 If you are searching for GIFs to teach verbs & prepositions, use caution in choosing GIFs that don’t move too fast and represent the concept you want to represent exactly. 🔑 Pairing the static symbol on an AAC user’s device with the animation they are watching can be more effective than trying to teach the meaning of the animation alone. 🔑 Pairing audio with animation can be a better choice than pairing text with animation because audio uses a different input modality. By using different channels, you can allow for more effective processing. 🔑 Studies have indicated that animated visual scene displays may help some AAC users (e.g. people with aphasia) to generate more complex communication than using a grid, which requires more internal processing to interpret. Links this week: www.wombo.ai mytalkingpet.com biteable.com S. Berney, Mireille Bétrancourt (2016) Does Animation Enhance Learning? A Meta Analysis Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech! Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

This week, Chris interviews Dr. Kris Brock, an Assistant Professor at Idaho State University, and President-Elect of Idaho Speech Hearing Association. Dr. Brock shares about his fascinating research into using animated AAC symbols for verbs and prepositions to improve symbol comprehension and reduce the time it takes to teach abstract words. Dr. Brock shares why using animations can be so powerful, why verbs and prepositions are the most important to animate, and why teaching verbs can happen naturally by simply showing the animations. Before the interview, Chris and Rachel talk about animated GIFs and how they can be used in therapy. Rachel likes to use them to build literacy and to work on verbs in a way that is fun and motivating. Rachel finds GIFs with her client that the client loves, and they work on core words and literacy using that favorite character. Rachel shares about collections of GIFs for sale at her site at rachelmadel.com/shop Note - be careful searching for GIFs in real time with kids, as some content on sites like giphy.com are not appropriate for them. Choosing GIFs ahead of time may be a better choice in some circumstances. Key ideas this week: 🔑 Animated graphic line drawings are powerful tools, because they attract the kid’s attention, convey information about a process from beginning to end, and portray completion of a procedure. 🔑 Verbs and prepositions are the most important to animate, since they are more abstract and cannot be fully captured from beginning to end with only one static image. 🔑 If you target the verbs, you get the nouns for free. If you teach syntax and you teach verbs, then you don’t have to specifically target the nouns, that will happen naturally. 🔑 Dr. Brock’s research, which studied typically developing children, showed there was a 20 - 30% increase in successful interpretation of a 5 symbol sequence when the verb and preposition were animated. Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech! Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

This week, we present Part 2 of Rachel’s interview Jenifer Eaton & Marya Hoff, two BCBAs who own Rooted in Play (rootedinplay.co), an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) practice in Orange County, California. This week, Rachel, Jenifer, and Marya discuss dealing with rigid ABA therapists, why Jenifer and Marya’s ABA practice is different than some older methods, their thoughts on anti-ABA sentiments from some Autistic adults, and more! Before the interview, Chris and Rachel discuss the recent release of the Matrix Revolutions movie, and some of the things from the movie that reminded Chris of AAC implementation. This includes the idea that we don’t need to “ask permission” to pursue better practices around AAC, (e.g., providing robust language systems), in many cases we can start putting them into our own practice right away. Key ideas this week: 🔑 Response effort - the harder something is, the more response effort it requires. The easier it is, the less response effort required. Once we have learned a skill, it takes less response effort. When teaching something new to a child, you want to minimize the response effort. If we put too much response effort into a task, the person won’t want to continue doing the task. 🔑 While there are rigid ABA practitioners out there, there is a newer, more naturalistic, and more collaborative approach for ABA. Under the old approach, there is less room for generalization and socialization. We aren’t teaching kids just to respond, we need them to be more spontaneous. 🔑 If you are dealing with a less collaborative BCBA who has a much different perspective on how to approach working with a student, you can always say “Lets do it your way for 2 weeks and then my way for 2 weeks and then look at the numbers.” You can also approach the parent for help - show them different approaches for ABA, they may not know the different approaches out there. BCBAs should be able to figure out how to make their program BA in nature while also accommodating the needs of speech and OT. 🔑 If you experience a BCBA engaging in unethical practices, you can report them to their governing board. Find out more at https://www.bacb.com/ethics-information/reporting-to-ethics-department/ Links this week: Sign up for 7-day free trial from Vooks: www.vooks.com Vooks on Apple App Store Vooks on Google Play Store Vooks Mentioned by Rachel & Chris: Stop & Go - https://watch.vooks.com/videos/stop-and-go Benji, the Bad Day, and Me: https://watch.vooks.com/videos/benji-the-bad-day-and-me Rachel Dorsey Podcast: https://www.talkingwithtech.org/episodes/rachel-dorsey-2