Archived Webinars from AT Coalition

Accessible Technology Coalition presents live webinars periodically using Blackboard Collaborate. For Mac users this requires a 50 MB+ download (in advance!) in order to be ready. If you, like me, failed to plan ahead for their last one, Considering AT: From Marketing to SETT, you can listen and watch online HERE. (Note that the audio starts at 7 min or so).

Most recent webinars are listed first and most are archived in the Blackboard Collaborate environment. Blackboard Collaborate is a Java application, so there will be a download to your system. You may need to manually launch the download to get it to play. (i.e. double-click on it.)

AT Options for those with Dementia and Memory Loss

Core Vocabulary Across Everyday Settings

Great YouTube Video Clips on AAC

Tips and Tools for LD Students in Higher Ed.

Unusual Apps for Communication (on YouTube, rather than Blackboard)

AT Breakthroughs

Minspeak E-Newsletter, Issue 84

Send to Friend October 30, 2013 I Have A Question: "How can I submit something to the Minspeak website"?  If you have intervention plans or teaching materials, we welcome to you submit your materials for posting at the Minspeak website. Core in the Classroom: Use Geometry and Parts of a Circle to learn simple geometry concepts and express them using core vocabulary. The Pixon Project: Pixons can be used as teaching materials for picturing the metaphors behind Unity® icon sequences.  The word for this week is "again." Compare the Pixon for again to the Unity®84 icon sequence  of again. Teach the meaning of the words using props, such a kitchen pot and spoon.  Stir it again and again and again.   Spotlight: Thank you Laila from Illinois for reminding people of additional AAC resources that include Minspeak materials. "I've been using materials from Gail Van Tatenhove's website for years.  The website is great and all the free materials, workshop handouts, and other resources are fantastic!".   PALSS:  Go to the Minspeak website for the 2013- 2014 Pittsburgh AAC Language Seminar Series schedule and registration materials. Spots are filling up quickly!

IRSF AAC Webinar with Judy Lariviere, 11/7/13 (FREE)

November 7, 2013 (Thursday)

“Supporting Conversations with the use of AAC”

Presenter: Judy Lariviere, M.Ed, OTR/L

4:30 pm PST

To join webinars via your computer, CLICK HERE to register.

To call in and hear the audio only, join by phone:  (217) 258-5588 if your phone service includes unlimited long distance calling OR 800-409-5512 which is toll free
Code:  51739#

Mark your calendars for upcoming IRSF Educators Network Presentations related to AAC:

December 10, 2013 (Tuesday)

“Emergent Reading”
Presenter: Susan Norwell, M.A. SPED-Educational Specialist
5:30 pm PST

April 29, 2014 (Tuesday)
“Write On: Developing Writing Skills in Children with Rett Syndrome”
Presenter: Rose-Marie Gallagher, M.Ed

2:00 pm PST

Attend a FREE Web Conference on Dynavox Compass with Josh Witt - 10/24/13, 6:00 Pacific

It's a device, it's an app, it's ALIVE! That is to say that "it's LIVE"...instantaneous remote updates are one really cool feature of the new Dynavox Compass software . 

As a follow up to the recent showcase at the SCAAC-N Fall Quarterly meeting, this Thursday, 10/24/13, Josh Witt from Dynavox will present an hour-long introduction on the Compass from 6:00-7:00 pm PST.  

To join the meeting:
http://dynavox.adobeconnect.com/ecosystem/

Conference Number(s):  866-692-4541

Participant Code: 4728859

Thanks Josh!

10th Annual ATI Conference - Save the Date 2/1/14

FREE Live News-2-You Webinar, 10/22/13

FREE LIVE WEBINAR SPONSORED BY: News-2-You

 

n2y's Standards Based Curriculum from the Cloud for Students with Significant Needs

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

1:00 pm - 2:30 pm Central Daylight Time (11:00-12:30 Pacific)

N2Y moves learning to the cloud! N2Y is a champion for students with significant needs and our quality products prove that one size does not fit all. Our interactive lessons in News-2-You, our weekly newspaper, and Unique Learning System, our standards-based curriculum aligned to the common core, allow all students to participate in meaningful content across differentiated levels of instruction over six distinct grade bands. SymbolStix ONLINE allows for further engagement of students. Data collected from the comprehensive assessments foster quality decisions about educational planning for each student, while demonstrating progress and increased measurability.  N2Y's cloud-based learning is accessible and requires no software, resulting in fewer headaches for IT and Educational staff. 

 

PRESENTER: DARLENE BRODBECK,  Director of Training, N2Y, Inc. Huron, OH. 

Register Free of Charge! HERE

Participants must register to receive confirmation and login instructions.

IRSF Free Educators Network Webinars

From Jennifer Enders at the IRSF Educators Network:

Thank you to those who participated in the first presentation of the school year last week and a big thank you to our presenter, Aubrey Zaruba!  Please see the included Powerpoint and listen to Aubrey as she discusses the DIR Method – A Relationship Based Approach. 

• Click here to listen to the presentation
• Click here to access the powerpoint

Please be sure your calendar is marked for our next presentation, which will take place on Thursday, October 17, 2013.  Katie Busch will share with us her presentation titled, “Chicken Soup for the Educators Soul:  Fostering Friendships.”

Time:  6 pm EST, 5 pm CST, 4 pm MST, 3 pm PST

To join webinars via your computer, CLICK HERE to register.

To call in and hear the audio only, join by phone:  (217) 258-5588 if your phone service includes unlimited long distance calling OR 800-409-5512 which is toll free
Code:  51739#

Mark your calendars for upcoming IRSF Educators Network Presentations related to AAC:

November 7, 2013 (Thursday)

“Supporting Conversations with the use of AAC”

Presenter: Judy Lariviere, M.Ed, OTR/L

4:30 pm PST

December 10, 2013 (Tuesday)
“Emergent Reading”
Presenter: Susan Norwell, M.A. SPED-Educational Specialist
5:30 pm PST

April 29, 2014 (Tuesday)
“Write On: Developing Writing Skills in Children with Rett Syndrome”
Presenter: Rose-Marie Gallagher, M.Ed

2:00 pm PST

 www.rettsyndrome.org

Article: Family Friendly (Self-Anchored Rating Scale)

In the September 1 ASHA Leader, Lynn Fox describes the Self-Anchored Rating Scale, an approach to treatment that (read the entire article, HERE):

• Helps clients and their families see how their beliefs and strengths are critical elements for successful treatment.
• Avoids dissuading family members from their feelings and beliefs or persuading them that other strategies would be best.
• Helps identify reasonable treatment goals.
• Minimizes the family's frustration, uses their strengths and focuses on identifying solutions embedded in their story.
• Reveals positive change as it occurs and promotes further change.
• Uses evidence-based principles.

Introducing AAC may feel like a failure or an admission of defeat to families of nonverbal or minimally verbal communicators. Using the SARS as a starting place might be very helpful to temper the over-zealous SLP with big plans for the individual when introducing AAC to families who are not themselves pulling for it. I'll admit that it appears more aligned with the medical model (rather than a school setting), but the principals are solid!

Excerpt from Fox's article about working with a family after Mom's aphasia (50 years old):

"SARS links the clinician, the patient and the patient's family in a collaborative partnership focused on reaching the family's goals. It involves seven components.

• Invite the family to join in a partnership...participate in each session...so I could align my intervention with their resources and strengths. My role would be to plan intervention with [the patient's] family, not for them. At our first meeting, I began by asking family members to describe their understanding of the situation. I acknowledged differences among the family members and focused on where we found common ground.
• Introduce the SARS.
  At the first session, the family and I began creating a SARS scale. I drew a vertical line on an open manilla file folder with 10 at the apex, 0 at the base, and the numbers 1–9 spaced evenly in between. Using the family's language, we anchored the scale with a description of their status shortly after the onset of aphasia and recorded that information adjacent to a number they assigned. Sometimes a family assigns a 0 to the description, but often they use 1 or 2, indicating that communication was possible but very difficult. I guided [the patient's] family to include a description of how she communicated, the challenges family members experienced and how they managed those challenges.
• Identify the family's long and short-term goals.
  I began this step with a discussion of long-term goals by posing a question: "What will communication look like when Donna no longer needs treatment?" After the family described an ideal future outcome, we again wrote their descriptions on the SARS adjacent to numbers they selected. Each family member's assigned number became a visual shorthand for his or her expectations in relation to the other members of the family. For example, Donna's husband assigned a number slightly higher than Donna and their daughters, suggesting that he expected a more favorable outcome. I noted this difference in a neutral tone and encouraged the family to discuss their expectations openly. Such discussions help family members calibrate their hopes and accept that more than one outcome is possible.
• Discover solutions that link clinician and family expertise. (link to descriptions in the full article, HERE)
• Create change through small steps.
• Give assignments that build upon the family's successes.
• Recognize that change takes time.

Lynn Fox, PhD, CCC-SLP, is professor emerita in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences at Portland State University. She is an affiliate of ASHA Special Interest Groups 2, Neurophysiology and Neurogenic Speech Disorders; and 12, Augmentative and Alternative Communication. 

ASHA Live Online Chat, Thursday 10/10/13

Wow! What a great lineup!! I'm afraid you have to be an ASHA member for this one...

ASHA Special Interest Group 12, Augmentative and Alternative Communication, is sponsoring a Live Online Chat October 10, 2013, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. EDT (4:00-6:00 Pacific), titled “Assessment That Drives AAC Intervention.”

This live chat event will discuss assessment strategies that guide intervention for the changing needs of people who already have and are using AAC systems. The discussion will focus on four areas of AAC competence: operational, linguistic, social, and strategic. The following panelists will be available to answer questions:

• Tracy Kovach, PhD, CCC-SLP, private practice, Denver, CO
• Gail Van Tatenhove, MS, CCC-SLP, private practice, Orlando, FL
• Meher Banajee, PhD, CCC-SLP, Louisiana State University, New Orleans, LA

Live Online Chats are free for ASHA members, but are not available for CEUs.

Click HERE to set up a reminder email.

Autism & Communication: Screening & Discussion at CSUN 10/19

Take some time Saturday evening, 10/19, to travel to CSUN and hear from augmented communicators who have autism. This presentation on autism awareness, communication and inclusion will feature a screening of the film Wretches and Jabberers and a discussion following.

FREE Webinar from ATC, 10/24/13

Register with ATC for Free and tune in on 10/24/13 at 10:30

AT Consideration for Students: Driven by Marketing or SETT?

Thursday, October 24, 2013

10:30 AM Pacific, 1:30 PM Eastern

It's a fact that some fine AT products from Kurzweil, Don Johnston, AbleNet, and others may be what parents have heard of and are asking for, but if that is the starting point for discussion, the student may not receive the best AT.

The SETT process starts with the student, to identify functional limitations that are hindering their progress. It examines the resources and requirements of the student's environment and gets specific about the tasks the student needs to do. It focuses on tool features, and finding those features in the most immediately available tools possible. It advocates a search for tools, services, and supports needed to meet the identified areas of need, along with a prioritization process. The SETT process may be revisited every time there are significant changes in the student, the environment, and/or the tasks that need to be accomplished.

Jennifer McDonald-Peltier has been working with the disability community for 20 years. She has been an Assistive Technology Specialist with the Center for Accessible Technology in Berkeley, CA, for the past 13 years. She has a Masters in Special Education and is RESNA certified. She presents at industry conferences and is very creative in how she uses assistive technology.