Talking With Tech AAC Podcast

Jeanette Washington & Mai Ling Chan - Creating Effective and Engaging Presentations

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!

Stacy Maijala - Streamlining AAC Evaluations with Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS)

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!

Tracy Kovach: Re-Defining the Role of AAC Specialist (Part 2)

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/

Tracy Kovach: Re-Defining the Role of AAC Professionals (Part 1)

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!

Tali Kellerstein - Using Games to Engage Students and Motivate Communication

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!

Key Takeaways from ATIA 2022 (Part 2)

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

Key Takeaways from ATIA 2022 (Part 1)

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

Kris Brock: Using Animated Symbols to Improve AAC Instruction & Comprehension (Part 2)

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!

Kris Brock (Part 1): Using Animated Symbols to Improve AAC Instruction & Comprehension

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!

Jenifer Eaton & Marya Haff (Part 2): Collaborating Effectively with ABA Providers

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