By Ruth Morgan, M.S. CCC-SLP and Ashley Robinson, M.S. CCC-SLP
About a month ago, an esteemed colleague of mine, Ashley Robinson, and I
published a model for AAC device implementation. We stated that the high tech device often recommended for a student was only the tip of the iceberg in terms of developing successful communication in a natural environment. Many factors need to be in place.
Since that time, many of you have viewed this post. As with many blogs, ideas are presented but here there needed to be a more tangible document to accompany these stellar thoughts, so Ashley and I have developed a handy form to go with this iceberg model. It is basically a set of yes/no questions, with space for a short action plan to go with each 'no' answer. Helpful links are embedded in the form itself. Questions follow the same categories as those presented in the iceberg model. We have envisioned that the child's IEP team (with an AT professional) would meet and discuss these points, one by one, and problem-solve, assigning team members for different actions. The actual form is three pages. You can download it free at the link below.
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| screenshot--one of three pages |
The key is teamwork. No one person can successfully implement AAC whether that person is a parent, an SLP, or teacher. This form will help to guide a team to think about different parameters in AAC implementation and use. Please let us know if we need to add or edit questions. I'm sure we will be revising as time goes on with your help.
Author Bios:
Ashley Robinson splits her time between providing speech language pathology services at the secondary level and working as part of the district Assistive Technology team. She is the author of everydayaac.com.
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The past two weeks, I've suddenly become aware of Pokemon Go. I downloaded the app into my phone and stumbled around a park a bit, finding three of them, before deleting the whole thing. It made me look more like a zombie than I wanted, ha ha. However, I do recognize that lots of people are really enjoying this, so I perused some public domain photos and created an interactive book for the kids. Go play Pokemon Go outside with your students, then come back and read a book together! This is a free download. Picture symbols are from Smarty Symbols---I do have a professional license for using these. Please don't reuse them on another product. Photo credits are provided in the pdf document where needed. 
