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.
Communication is a dynamic process, between at least 2 people. It requires us to not only teach our students news skills, but also to learn new skills ourselves!
When a communication partner is speaking, the words are also "modeled" or shown using the AAC system.
Is it really as simple and being quiet and listening? Yes! Sometimes just waiting 10-15 seconds is all it takes to encourage our student to begin to use their AAC system to tell us something!
Keeping the AAC system available at all times is the very first step in making AAC work for your student!
When we are teaching students to communicate, we must ensure that they are interested and engaged so that they will attend, learn and remember how to say what they want to say, when they want to say it!
The easiest words and messages to learn, are ones you are already communicating in other ways! Let's look at how we can target meaningful messages by following our student's lead!
When we consider the process of teaching new skills and language to our AAC users, it is imperative that we remember the role of motivation and fun when teaching. If the student is motivated by a favorite activity, person or toy, they will be much more likely to learn and ENJOY learning! Effective and efficient with a side dish of FUN!
The expansion strategy is a way to help bridge the student's learning, from single word messages to multiple word messages.
How do you encourage spontaneous communication? Sometimes it’s as simple as setting up a situation that gives your student an interesting reason to communicate!
It’s very easy to get caught in the habit of asking questions that only require a “yes” or “no” response when you are talking to your student using AAC. Let's talk about that!
The Descriptive Teaching Model is a strategy that teaches students to use high-frequency, common words rather than more rarely used words.