There is a wealth of information and materials for you on our website, so you may be asking yourself, "Where in the world do I start?" No worries, we've got you! This is the first stop in your training! In this unit we will be answering some primary questions to get you started!
Our specialized training hub dedicated to supporting communication success in Early Intervention in the home and our preschool classrooms
AAC Partner Strategy Kits are engaging posters/handouts, descriptions and short videos explaining and modeling techniques for you to use to help your student be willing, and able to communicate using their AAC system!
5 steps to move from training to talking, give you a clear path for you and your student learner. Learning to communicate is a shared journey between the learner and their partners, and that makes sense! Communication is a shared activity between two people. It is the means for us to make connections, meet our needs, engage socially, participate in shared experiences, and bridge the gap between our experiences and sharing these their partners.
Electronic Augmentative and Alternative Communication Systems with Dynamic Displays come in a wide variety of hardware options, with several different operating systems and a plethora of applications! These are the "high tech" systems you've heard of, typically offering thousands of words on hundreds of pages with many different means of organizing vocabulary. On this page we will consider both Tablet Based AAC applications and Dedicated Speech Generating devices, as well as the use of AAC applications on off-the-shelf technology.
AAC applications can now be loaded on a number of different pieces of equipment, which makes our options for talking with AAC much more flexible! Many of the AAC applications include both a Tablet options and a Windows option. That means if you have your own iPad or Windows tablet, a Smart Board or desktop computer, you can load your AAC application right onto your own equipment! Classroom Displays for AAC Apps are brilliant options for helping you "talk with tech" yourself, and provide an immersive AAC environment for your student to learn to communicate. If you like to "walk and talk" you might consider having a Teacher Modeling System, or a staff tablet so that teachers, paraprofessionals and therapists can move around the room talking with their voices and modeling with the AAC applications!
What's the difference? Basically the difference is durability, fundability and support. Tablets are a great solution for families looking for a familiar entry into the world of AAC. They can be bought off the shelf, and now are fundable through insurance and Medicaid through certain companies (Ablenet, Forbes Rehab Services). Speech generating devices (SGDs) are durable, medical grade devices, purpose built for communication. They typically have more alternative access options (like eye gaze, switch ports for scanning) than tablets. Because SGDs are more expensive, they often come with more technical supports, local representatives and add on features, like additional AAC applications you can put on your own iPads.
There are MANY options for AAC applications and they run on a variety of types of equipment. Dedicated Speech Generating Devices (on Windows devices) typically have a wider range of their AAC applications and software pagesets available on than the iPad versions. If you like a particular iPad app, you might want to check out the manufacturer's other options available when you choose their durable equipment!
This is a list of some of our favorite AAC applications!
AVAZ, Coughdrop, GoTalk Now, Grid for IPad, LAMP Words For Life, My First AAC, Proloquo2Go, TD Snap, TouchChat with Word Power, Snap Scene and Verbally
Dedicated Speech Generating Devices (SGDs) are durable, medical grade devices for the purpose of providing speech output to individuals whose speech does not meet their needs to communicate. Medicaid/Medicare and most insurance companies fund these dedicated systems at a higher rate than more "off the shelf" tablets with AAC applications.
Trying to decide which device is best for your student? We have a tool to help you! You can download our Communication Device Info and Summaries for a detailed description of the most commonly recommended systems, their features, options, support and warranties. Use this tool as you work with your families and IEP teams to make the right choice for your student!
File link below!
Did you know that many of the most popular Augmentative and Alternative Communication applications run on Windows computers? A few run on Macs too! AND, many are free to AAC users and professionals? Given that little piece of information, are you already thinking about your interactive Smart Boards? Well we certainly did! Having a student's AAC device displayed on a classroom sized display can be very powerful as a tool for teachers to model the use of the system in real time and at a size which is accessible to the entire classroom. We like that all students have access to visual language when the AAC system is on display at the front of the room.
AAC Application for Windows: TD Snap, NuVoice, Chat Editor with Word Power
AAC Application for Multiple Platforms: AVAZ, Coughdrop
Computer
Interactive Large Display Board
Each of our robust communication systems has it's own way of organizing the words and messages on the different pages. In this training we are looking at each of the more common AAC applications and exploring how the words and messages are categorized so you can easily find them!
Electronic Augmentative and Alternative Communication Systems with Dynamic Displays come in a wide variety of hardware options, with several different operating systems and a plethora of applications! These are the "high tech" systems you've heard of, typically offering thousands of words on hundreds of pages with many different means of organizing vocabulary.
Everyone needs to be able to talk about their favorite people, places, topics and activities. Our students using AAC are no exception! Let's talk about why and how we give them access to these favorites!
Each of the AAC applications has it's own unique way to customize the buttons and pages. In this section we will give you links and resources to help you understand the nuances of the different AAC systems!
Our students need access to their communication system at all times, and there are often multiple partners who need to make changes. In this training we are ensuring the communication device is backed up and shared with all relevant team members!
In this training, we will review the development of the AAC Implementation Plan which includes details about the student's AAC system, customization and training to help the team successfully implement a new AAC system.
Each of our robust communication systems has it's own way of organizing the words and messages on the different pages. In this training we are looking at each of the more common AAC applications and exploring how the words and messages are categorized so you can easily find them!
Electronic Augmentative and Alternative Communication Systems with Dynamic Displays come in a wide variety of hardware options, with several different operating systems and a plethora of applications! These are the "high tech" systems you've heard of, typically offering thousands of words on hundreds of pages with many different means of organizing vocabulary.
A robust AAC system is designed to facilitate effective communication for individuals with speech and language disabilities. An "effective" system is one in which the communicator can say anything they want to, to anyone at any time! Most often, a single button or a picture book just isn't enough. In this session we are discussing the key features of a robust AAC system and how you can ensure that your student has all of the language they need!
In the session we are going to be talking about what’s inside an AAC application, not which box we should pick! We’re taking a look at some of the most popular AAC apps and exploring the different ways they organize and present language to us.
On our AAC applications we have the choice of using single words for creative message generation and the use of complete phrases for quick communication. Generative language is the term we use to describe a person putting individual words together and adding word endings to say a novel sentence of their own. Pre-stored message are those messages, typically complete phrases or sentences, which require the person using AAC to simply access one button to speak an entire message.
This debate is has a lot of nuances which we will explore in our session. We are considering the question, is AAC more important for immediate participation in our environment or to allow our student to develop language skills to allow autonomous, unlimited communication over time, or do we need a little of both? (HINT: we need both!!)
Everyone needs to be able to talk about their favorite people, places, topics and activities. Our students using AAC are no exception! Let's talk about why and how we give them access to these favorites!
Each of the AAC applications has it's own unique way to customize the buttons and pages. In this section we will give you links and resources to help you understand the nuances of the different AAC systems!
You’ve undoubtedly heard us talk about multi-modal communication, and today we are investigating the tools that makeup the variety of AAC methods we use to supplement or replace speech!
Our students need access to their communication system at all times, and there are often multiple partners who need to make changes. In this training we are ensuring the communication device is backed up and shared with all relevant team members!
In this training, we will review the development of the AAC Implementation Plan which includes details about the student's AAC system, customization and training to help the team successfully implement a new AAC system.
