Classroom Toolbox Training

The Classroom Toolbox is a virtual toolbox of resources to help teachers provide adapted communication supports to students in their classrooms. In here you'll find the Classroom Communication Supports Checklist to help you determine what supports you already have in place, ones you have but aren't using, and ones you are interested in exploring. For every communication support, there's a learning module to explore, with photos, descriptions, components, links to comprehensive resources and curated YouTube videos. These modules will help you confidently increase the communication supports for your students!

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Building the Communication Classroom Series

  • Getting Oriented (3 lessons)​
  • Present Level of Performance: How do my students communicate? (3 lessons)​
  • Can You Hear Me Now?   Classroom Routines, Expectations & Visual Supports (7 lessons)​
  • Simple Communication Systems: Light Tech (5 lessons)​
  • Embedding Communication Into Your Classroom (5 lessons)​
  • IEP Time! Progress, Present Levels and Goals (2 lessons)​
  • AAC 101: Simple Steps for Student Communication​
  • The Core Word Classroom​

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!

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Starting Young: Communication in Early Intervention & the Preschool Classroom

Our specialized training hub dedicated to supporting communication success in Early Intervention in the home and our preschool classrooms

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Communication Systems Series

  • Getting Started with a New Communication System (3 lessons)​
  • Understanding Robust AAC Systems (3 lessons)​
  • AAC Feature Considerations (5 lessons)​
  • Speech Generating Devices & Applications (3 lessons) ​

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Partner Strategy Kits

  • Interaction Strategies (3 lessons)​
  • AAC Access (3 lessons)​
  • Engagement (3 lessons)​
  • Language Support Strategies (5 lessons)​

Partner Strategy Kits

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!

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AAC Assessment Series

  • Communication Matrix:  Forms & Functions​
  • Student Communication Goals Grid​
  • Every Move Counts, Clicks & Chats: Motivators, Sensory Needs, Forms & Functions​
  • Communication Sample & Analysis​
  • Dynamic AAC Goals Grid (DAGG)​
  • AAC Evaluation Genie Training​
  • AAC Communication Skills Assessment-2​
  • Dynamic AAC Advanced Consultation FORM​
  • Team & Family Involvement

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DTA Schools Evaluation and Funding

  • DTA Schools Process Introduction​
  • DTA Schools Referral & Records Review​
  • DTA Schools Dynamic AAC Assessment & Trials Process​
  • AAC Funding Sources​
  • SGD Evaluation Report Writing​
  • Working with SGD Manufacturers
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Empowering Families: AAC At Home

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High Frequency Core Words & Messages

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AAC 101

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.

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Communication Sampling and Analysis

Communication Sampling and Analysis online tool is available at https://csa.acts-at.com/. We are not associated with this organization, but we having been using this tool for years to impact our decision making!

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Dynamic AAC Goals Grid (DAGG)

Lesson

1

Communication Sampling and Analysis

The Communication Sampling and Analysis program, available on-line, which allows us to gather a communication sample for students who are non-speaking or minimally speaking, in a systematic way, and analyze it.

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Lesson

2

Dynamic AAC Goals Grid (DAGG)

The Dynamic AAC Goals Grid (DAGG), is an AAC assessment and planning tool which is the result of a collaborative effort between Vicki Clarke, and the team at Tobii Dynavox.  Holly Schneider and Vicki began this project with the goal of giving professionals and families, supporting students using AAC to communicate, an organized system of assessing their student’s current communication skills and determining goals to move them in a positive direction along a continuum of developing communication skills and competence. The DAGG has been through several iterations and continues to be studied and improved, even now, almost 15 years after it was initially introduced. Our agreement was that the DAGG would always be made freely available to anyone who needed it, and despite the improvements, the basic foundations are still there, and that is what we are discussing in this training. For our school teams, the DAGG gives us a means of evaluating an individual student's communicative competency and a means to move them toward independent communication skills.

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Lesson

3

AAC Evaluation Genie Training

This iPad application was developed to give you some starting information about your student's skills, language comprehension and access as it relates to the use of augmentative and alternative communication tools. We created a short slide show to get you started!

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Lesson

4

Dynamic AAC Communication Skills Assessment-2

The Dynamic AAC Communication Assessment is a DTA Original tool to help guide you in assessing your student’s skills in communicating using features in different AAC systems.  It is an observation guide to use as you are working with your student during typical communication situations.

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Lesson

5

Dynamic AAC Advanced Consultation Form

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Lesson

6

Test of Aided-Communication Symbol Performance

The Test of Aided-Communication Symbol Performance (TASP) is a formal assessment tool you can use to assess some of your student's skills which may impact your selection, development and instruction in AAC. This tool was developed by Joan Bruno. We've done multiple trainings on the TASP and will upload these soon. For now, take a look at the curated videos from YouTube as a place to get started!

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Lesson

7

Balancing Demands​ of AAC and Academics

In this lesson we are considering the cognitive demands of using an AAC system to communicate and the considerations you will need to make to support your student, depending on the complexity of your topic!

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Lesson

8

Team and Family Involvement​

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