Talking With Tech AAC Podcast

Codi & Jennifer Mendenhall: Using Social Media and Making Videos as a Teen AAC User

This week, TWT presents Chris and Rachel’s interview with Codi Mendenhall, a 14-year-old who has been using AAC since she was 5, and her mother Jennifer Mendenhall. Jennifer and Codi recently shared their story on a TEDx talk - you can watch here. Codi and Jennifer share about Codi’s journey learning to use AAC, the ways that Codi uses texting and social media to communicate with her peers, how to facilitate more communication opportunities for AAC users, and more!
 
Before the interview, Rachel and Chris discuss some of their upcoming trainings on coaching and virtual AAC assessment. Chris shares about a recent multi-series event he hosted with both live and asynchronous components, and how the pandemic has made new ways of learning possible.
 
Key ideas this week:
 
🔑 When selecting AAC, it’s important to consider the input of those who will be communicating most with the AAC user, e.g., the family may find one app easier to program and use than others.
 
🔑 Communication partners need to be very patient with AAC users and should try hard not to finish their sentences for them. 
 
🔑 One way we can help motivate AAC users is by demonstrating that AAC is a way to connect more closely with the people in their life.
 
Check out Codi’s YouTube Channel, Codi’s Life
 
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!

Stephen Kneece: Making Core Word & Speech Therapy Music Videos

This week, TWT presents Chris’s interview with SLP, AT Specialist, and founder of Speech and Language Songs, Stephen Kneece! During the interview, Chris and Stephen discuss his work as a professor teaching AAC, as President-Elect of SCSHA, and how he founded a Youtube channel playing his original songs, including many songs targeting core words.
 
Before the interview, Rachel and Chris talk about how they are promoting AAC during AAC Awareness Month. Check out Chris’s Inclusive Technology Spotlight here: http://bit.ly/lcpsaac.  Rachel also shares about the new packet of resources she created to help learn more about an AAC user’s vocabulary needs (find out more at rachelmadel.com). Finally, Rachel and Chris discuss their hope that we all can continue to coach families via Zoom after SLPs are back working in person.
 
Key ideas this week:
 
🔑 Coaching parents and team members has been more important than ever during COVID. Hopefully after COVID is less of a concern we can continue to reach out and coach an AAC user’s circle of support as part of our normal practice.
 
🔑 We can often get more bang for our buck helping families and staff support an AAC user than only working with the AAC user one-on-one.
 
🔑 Steven is the creator of Speech and Language Songs, a great resource with lots of songs about language concepts and using core words. You can learn more at https://speechandlanguagesongs.com
 
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!

Erin Sheldon & Karen Erickson: Why Literacy Matters for People with Significant Disabilities - Part II

This week, we share Part II of Erin Sheldon’s interview with Karen Erickson! In this fascinating second half, Erin and Karen talk about emergent vs conventional literacy, and four indicators that maximize the likelihood of success with conventional literacy instruction (e.g., phonics, decoding, spelling):
 
Does this child know most of the letters most of the time?
Does the child have a means of communication and interaction?
Are they interested and engaged during shared reading (when not given a reinforcer)?
Is there an understanding that writing is about letters and words?
 
Erin and Karen also discuss the benefits of inclusion for everyone in the classroom, and why Project Core is a universal, Tier 1 solution for teaching symbol-based communication. 
 
Before the interview, Rachel and Chris discuss one of Rachel’s clients whose family had no idea that the client had the ability to read and write. Rachel and Chris talk about the importance of doing foundational assessments to see what clients know, why incorporating books into therapy is so important, and the benefits of bringing in a reading specialist. They also touch upon dealing with a family who feels guilt that they did not understand how to help their child sooner.
 
Key ideas this week:
 
🔑 It’s important to let your client pick what to read in therapy. If we are to develop a love for reading, it’s better with a book that interests them. Epic books is one way to search for interesting books (and it's free for educators).
 
🔑 If we say a student “isn’t ready yet” for high-tech AAC, there needs to be a plan for how we will get there. If we only provide low-tech supports with no core words, there may be no pathway to robust AAC. 
 
🔑 If we are trialing a device with someone who has never learned core words, we can’t expect them to use their device right away.  If we teach core words to everyone with complex communication needs with or without a device, they are better prepared to use a device at a later point. 
 
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!

Erin Sheldon & Karen Erickson: Why Literacy Matters for People with Significant Disabilities - Part I

This week, TWT presents part 1 of special education specialist Erin Sheldon’s amazing interview with literacy expert Dr. Karen Erickson on promoting literacy for people with significant disabilities, including deaf/blindness and severe intellectual disability. They talk about supporting access to grade level standards for kids with complex needs, the problem of the candidacy model, why literacy is critical for everyone's well being, and more!
 
Before the interview, Rachel shares about meeting Hannah Foley virtually and how Rachel was able to connect Hannah with one of her clients. She shares about all of the ways that meeting a proficient AAC user motivated her client (and her client’s circle of support) to work even harder to achieve AAC proficiency. 
 
Key ideas this week: 
 
🔑 We can teach reading and writing every day to every person. It’s not easy and it may take longer, but it isn’t impossible. There are people with significant disabilities that read and write every day. 
 
🔑 Without literacy, a person with significant disabilities may lose the ability to connect with friends who have moved away after school. We want people to be engaged and happy when they are 25, not just when they are 10. Literacy is the way that we socially connect now. 
 
🔑 “Presume competence” doesn’t mean “presume there is no disability”. We don’t want to presume people with significant disabilities will learn the same way in the same amount of time. We should presume potential and that there is a path to success. 
 
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!
 
Smiles for Speech provides children with special needs living in impoverished communities with the therapeutic intervention and  resources they need to enhance their ability to reach their full potential. Contact them at sfsvirtual@smilesforspeech.org to sign up for their upcoming dyslexia workshop on October 10th!

Kaylie Gustafson: Supporting Eye Gaze Users Through Telepractice

This week, Rachel interviews Kaylie Gustafson, an SLP and AAC specialist in the schools who frequently works with AAC users who utilize eye tracking. Kaylie talks about remote modeling over Zoom using the “remote control” feature, which allows her to model on the user’s device and watch what the user does in response. Kaylie shares lots of tips and tricks for supporting eye gaze, including turning on visual/auditory selection feedback, using Boom Cards and Google Slides with eye gaze, positioning and calibration during telepractice, and more! 
 
Before the interview, Chris and Rachel talk about their recent presentation,“Talking With Tech Live.” During TWTL, they answered questions along with the participants and “crowdshared” the presentation, allowing the community to help each other learn! Rachel and Chris share their thoughts about this format and promise to air segments from this presentation in upcoming episodes of TWT!
 
Key ideas this episode:
 
🔑 You can model on an AAC user’s iPad during telepractice by using the “remote control” feature on Zoom. Learn more here.
 
🔑 Help Kidz Learn is membership service with lots of activities and games for a variety of access methods, including switch, eye gaze, mouse, and touch.
 
🔑 Ian Bean’s SENict Resources page has an excellent (free!) selection of online activities for switch, touch screen, mouse, and eye gaze that can be used in therapy and assessments. 
 
More Links:
 
Access to Education conference 
 
Gassy Gary Powerpoint on TpT
 
Assistive Touch 
 
How to Annotate in Zoom
 
Toy Theatre 
 
Crickweb 
 
Playlists on Rachel's YouTube Channel

Shawnda Saul: Telepractice AAC Coaching for Teachers, Parents, and Staff

This week, Chris interviews Shawnda Saul, an SLP and AAC Specialist who runs the Learning Language AAC Initiative for Arlington Public Schools. Chris and Shawnda discuss how she promotes modeling and language instruction in the classroom, her approach to coaching communication partners, the changes she has seen coaching families during distance learning, and more!
 
Before the interview, Chris and Rachel talk about rethinking how we educate students. Teaching is still thought of as presenting information to a class from the front of the classroom and having students spit that information back on a test. For example, math instruction often has students memorize formulas and complete worksheets, even if they have dyscalculia. Chris demonstrates how we can better ground learning in functional problems, like discussing planting lettuce as a way to understand the concept of perimeters. 
 
Key ideas this week: 
 
🔑 Accurate content about the world is widely available to students, making the concept of a teacher providing information to students from the front of a classroom less relevant. Instead, we should be teaching students strategies for absorbing and evaluating content more effectively on their own. 
 
🔑 Coaching communication partners about AAC and making them I feel comfortable using a device is the most important thing clinicians supporting AAC can do.
 
🔑 For many SLPs during distance learning, a much bigger part of therapy with AAC users takes place in the home. Hopefully we can continue to reach out to families to support them after school resumes in-person and move to more of a coaching model rater than just direct therapy.
 
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!

Lauren Kravetz Bonnet & Brittany Thomas: Short-Term, High-Intensity AAC Intervention in the Schools

This week on TWT, we share Chris’s interview with Lauren Kravetz Bonnet, an SLP & AT Specialist, and Brittany Thomas, who is also an SLP. Lauren and Brittany talk about their school-based communication program to support students with complex communication needs. This program is a short-term (i.e., less than two years), high-intensity intervention to teach young students to use their device more effectively. It is not a self-contained program; students get their support in an integrated, general education setting with in-class speech support for a large portion of the day. Lauren and Brittany share about their success with this program, the reduced need for this program as teachers embrace AAC more broadly, the importance of reflective listening with teachers and families, lessons learned training peers to become communication partners, and more!  
 
Before the interview, Rachel and Chris discuss one of Rachel’s new adult clients and the bittersweet experience of seeing the potential in the client but also seeing the time that was lost to poor AAC implementation. Rachel’s client uses some sign language and has had a device for many years, but he arrived without many skills using the device. The  device was difficult to navigate and was not optimized for motor planning, and parents said that when they started using the device “he didn’t want to use it.” Rachel shares about the many great signs that AAC will be successful, including that the client pays a lot of attention to communication and is a quick learner. Finally, Rachel shares about the changes she has made to his device template and how she has improved implementation at home.
 
Key ideas this week include:
 
🔑 Building rapport with school staff is a big part of Brittany and Lauren’s success. When teachers see that the device isn’t a barrier to progress in the classroom and the AT team is there to support them, they are more likely to embrace the device in the classroom.  
 
🔑 Lauren started having much greater success with teachers and staff by doing more job-embedded coaching and reflective listening to lead people to their own solutions rather than telling them what to do. This leads to greater motivation on the part of staff and less of a struggle to find success.
 
🔑 Getting school peers to engage in authentic communication with AAC users increases positive attitudes about AAC and can be really motivating to all the students involved.
 
Follow Lauren @aps_astech and Brittany @msbrittanyslp on Twitter to learn more about them and their awesome work!
 
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!

Alison Bono: Transitioning from Low Tech to High Tech AAC

This week, TWT shares Rachel and Chris’s coaching call with Alison Bono! Alison is an SLP who reached out to Rachel and Chris for help working with a young student with complex communication needs. On the call, Rachel and Chris explore moving from low-tech to high-tech supports, getting teachers on board with a core language approach, integrating core words into routines, motivating the circle of support, and more! 
 
Before the coaching session, Rachel and Chris dive into Rachel’s latest “intensive” approach to supporting clients. During this approach, Rachel had observation and coaching sessions at least once a day over a two week period with a client’s circle of support, including behavior therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, and parents. Rachel shares how this intensive approach gave her a new perspective on this client, provided lots of ideas for making faster progress, and gave everyone even more motivation to support the client’s use of AAC and language. 
 
Key ideas this week:
 
🔑 Until Rachel observed the whole circle of support during intensive coaching, she wasn’t aware of everything that was happening with communication partners. Partners may not see that they are prompting, or that the client is not actually responding spontaneously.
 
🔑 Asking reflective questions can be more helpful than giving advice. Allowing people to think through their problems and come up with their own solutions can lead to greater ownership and change.
 
🔑 A more intensive approach harnesses the collective energy of the team and promote greater change.  Positive change in the client can then motivate the circle of support to continue improving and growing.
 
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!

Alexis Martinez & Natalie Fry: Increasing Access to AAC for Grad Students

This week, Chris interviews recent SLP graduates Alexis Martinez and Natalie Fry about their experience focusing on AAC in grad school and their thoughts on how AAC instruction and mentorship can be more effective for graduate students in the future. 
 
Before the interview, Chris and Rachel answer a listener question from a parent who has multiple children who use AAC. This parent has one 3-year-old child who uses LAMP Words for Life (WFL), and another child who uses LAMP WFL - Visual Impairment. Chris and Rachel discuss integrating low tech supports into daily routines, placing those supports around the home, modeling for both kids using high-contrast symbols, and taking a few minutes to model with each child individually. 
 
Key ideas this week:
 
🔑 It may be better to have a required AAC course early in grad school, rather than later, to better prepare students for the clients they may see early in their clinical training. 
 
🔑 If an early AAC course isn’t an option, AAC and core language instruction can be embedded more into first-year graduate courses 
 
🔑 Guest speakers about AAC can include AAC specialists and local AAC product representatives.  Borrowing devices from lending libraries to be used in class is another great way to integrate AAC into graduate courses.
 
Links: 
 
Previous TWT Episodes with Parents of AAC Users: Caitlin Calder, Dana Nieder, and Erin Sheldon
 
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!

Kathy Howery: Making Modeling a Better, More Meaningful Experience

This week, Chris interviews Dr. Kathy Howery, an AAC specialist and educational consultant in Alberta, Canada. Chris and Kathy talk about modeling (aka aided language stimulation) and explore a question Kathy often gets from parents: “Is modeling getting in the way of my natural interaction with my child?” 
 
Before the interview, Chris and Rachel discuss a Spanish version of the AAC Agreements (habloconcaa.wordpress.com), using Microsoft Translate to communicate with someone who speaks another language, and ways that Rachel has been using Zoom to support her students in unique ways!
 
Key ideas this week:
 
🔑 We don’t want to focus so much on modeling that we don’t pay attention to what the student is doing. Modeling needs to be a child-focused interaction, not a performance activity.
 
🔑 Modeling without expectation doesn't mean that we don't pay attention to what the AAC user says or does in response. We should try and honor multi-modal communication and pay attention to what the AAC User is trying to communicate.
 
🔑 Videotaping yourself is a good way to learn about how you model with students and how much you engage in expectant pauses. It is important to inhibit our natural inclination to fill silence with talk.
 
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!