Forever in Our Hearts as a Friend, Colleague, and Champion for the AAC Community Passionate. Joyful. Artistic. Fun. Caring. These are just some of the words that are consistently top of mind for Jane’s closest friends and colleagues as they reflect on her life and legacy. Words somehow don’t seem sufficie...
By Hannah Foley, PRC-Saltillo Blogger Life looks very different in the summer than it does during the academic year. Relaxation, no structure, and summer activities replace formal learning and structured activities, which can result in regression, especially for individuals with AAC needs. Goals and activities that have bu...
Experience PRC-Saltillo’s new AAC Learning Journey website and discover a great variety of resources including eLearning classes and live online instructor-led trainings. From parents looking for ways to help their augmentative communicator to clinicians, educators and other professionals committed to expanding their ...
Recess. Is there any other time at school that children like as much as time spent playing? Children who use AAC, however, face a unique challenge. When playing outside with their classmates, taking an AAC device with them means the device can get broken or lost. But without it, there is no way for the child to communicate...
By Leanne Husk, Educational Technology Instruction Specialist When new concepts, like coding, start to become more and more prevalent in curriculum all over the world, the folks at Bridges Canada only have one question: How do we make sure it’s accessible for ALL? That’s the question we asked ourselves a littl...
By Kirk Behnke, M.Ed, ATP It is with great sadness to convey that Joy Zabala passed away on July 1. If you attend to any social media around assistive or accessible technology, I’m sure you have seen the countless tributes to Joy as a person and a fierce friend and colleague to so many. I was fortunate to have worked...
Reviewed by Johana Schwartz - Ability Now Blogger An invitation for you to network on the frontlines of the field is yours to download, a click away, and currently occupying Amazon’s top selling slot in Hearing Sciences. The second volume of the series, Becoming an Exceptional AAC Leader, presents the state of the al...
By Jane Odom, M. Ed, AAC Language Lab Training & Implementation Specialist The AAC Language Lab has always tried to provide those supporting students using AAC with a variety of tools they can use to help their students be successful communicators. What we have found is that language is more than just used for si...
By Chris D. Yensan, MA, CCC-SLP If you’re a speech therapist, you’re probably creative. It seems that more often than not the SLPs I know and work with have come up with some incredible and original solutions to complex problems time after time, from making adaptive styli for an AAC device to creating ori...
By Shelby McCarthy, M.S. CCC-SLP & author I am Shelby McCarthy, M.S. CCC-SLP, and author of the newly released, Let's Go Play. I initially set off on this writing journey to create something to help my own daughter, Kennedy, transition into school. More specifically, I wanted her teachers to have a tool to ...
By Jane Odom, M.Ed - AAC Language Training & Implementation Specialist I was fortunate enough to go to the Florida Education Technology Conference (FETC) last week. This year it was in Miami, so - 80 degrees and sunny. I had no problem leaving the cold for the beach. I was on a mission. I...
By Jeremy Legaspi, CCC-SLP LAMP Words for Life VI evolved out of a need for a robust and consistent language system for the visually impaired population. Early intervention with this population typically utilizes real objects or large tactile cards to represent language. This is a great starting point and typically gets ch...
By Aaron Kramlich, author & illustrator and a super cool dad Hi! My name is Aaron Kramlich and I’d like to share with you a bit about me and my new children’s book, The Gray Day. I live in Lawrenceville, Georgia with my wife, Christine, and my two daughters Alison and Kyleigh. I used to work in managemen...
By Kaylee White, Ghergish & Co. For many people in this country, speaking English is like walking—it seems to come to them without effort. But for immigrants of all ages, mastering English means taking on a language that isn’t their native tongue. Young people especially can be affected by the resources availab...
By Danny Gonzalez, PRC Blogger I think this should come to the U.S. for all wheelchair and devices users, because this covers not only the person but the device as well!!! We as users need something like this system in the states so when it is raining we don’t get wet and our devices dose not either… Nobody like...
_ By Catherine Follestad, Children’s Author_ Catherine has written children’s books with stories that capture the imagination, and inspire one to grow up to be the best one can be, which is kind, confident and respectful. Her stories teach, through delightful characters, about being a good friend, believing in...
_ By Jane Odom, M.Ed, Director of Implementation Resources, PRC_ In Honor of National Special Education Day, and in the spirit of the season, the AAC Language Lab is offering a special Buy One, Gift One deal NOW through December 16th! Purchase a subscription for yourself, and receive an E-Gift Card with a FREE One-...
By Mike Moran - Illustrator Have you ever wanted something really badly and then once you got it, it wasn’t quite like you expected it to be? Well that’s kind of what happens to the main character Logan in the Project Droid series. This new group of stories is illustrated by me, Mike Moran, a guy who draws funny pic...
Sign up now for a free tour of the Lab. Learn about all the features such as lesson plans, games and resources to help your student on their journey to be an effective communicator. AAC Language Lab occurs several times. Please register for the date and time that works best for you: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/...
By Lori Holbrook What is a CHAT Bag? The CHAT Bag was inspired by our daughter, Hannah, who has Down Syndrome, Autism, Apraxia of Speech, and Hashimoto’s. In 2010, Hannah’s school decided to try out the Apple iPad 1 with her to see how she would do using it as a communication device. Hannah quickly took off ...
Beth Christensen, SLP My name is Beth Christensen and I am a Speech/Language Pathologist who has worked in the area of AAC (Augmentative and Alternate Communication) for over 22 years. This summer I signed on to be a Voice Bank Summer Ambassador for VocalID. VocalID and Rupal Patel have found a way to merge a donate...
By Russell T. Cross, Director of Clinical Applications, PRC As a parent and grandparent, I’m always keen to help my kids achieve their best. More specifically, I want to see them improve over time. Years ago, if my daughter started the swim season with a time of 2 minutes to swim 100m and ended at 1 minute and 30 sec...
By Kara Bidstrup, M.S., CCC-SLP Grade level core academic standards and engaging curriculum can be used as the foundation for meaningful language learning for children who use AAC. The online class,It’s Not Rocket Science: Learning to Talk with AAC in Science Class, outlines a process to make this concept a classroo...
_Wooster, Ohio, August 17, 2015 It takes a special person to teach in a special education classroom and Sarah Williams is just such a person. After working in music therapy for several years, Sarah returned to school to earn a Master’s in Special Education at Arizona State University. She now teaches in a self-con...
By Margo Edwards, Director of Content Development for SightWords.com, a free resource for teaching children to read Finding great educational activities is a challenge for teachers and parents alike. Teachers want classroom time to be fun but still substantive, and parents want to promote their child’s education with...
By Jo-Marie, children’s author, Adi’s World book series Life’s a journey. Live your dreams! Jo-Marie In my imagination all deciduous trees are hollow. Many of them have communities of tiny beings living inside of them. I hope you decide to visit this fantasy world. Book One: Adi’s World Have you ever...
By Russell Cross, Director of Clinical Applications, BSc (Hons) Psych; MRCSLT One of the gurus of modern management practice is Ken Blanchard. His classic book, The One-Minute Manager, has sold over 13 million copies and been translated into almost 40 different languages. His impact on the field of management science has b...
Jane Odom, M. Ed, Director of Implementation Resources A new unit on the alphabet is now available. Along with the lesson plan and Can Do card are a couple of books - one using fun graphics and one using fun Unity icons to represent the letter sounds. New Books Also available is a new set of alphabet flashcards. Fl...
Jane Odom, M. Ed, Director of Implementation Resources Counting Pumpkins A new unit on counting is now available on the Language Lab. New lesson plans for teachers and parents have been added as well as new books and games to help your student learn to count using their communication device. Students can count pumpkins ...
Jane Odom, M. Ed, Director of Implementation Resources This week, our lesson centers around the theme “All About Me”. The beginning lesson plan helps a device user fill in sentences that you can use to create their very own book. You can use the book “All About Me” to help. The lesson plan has lo...