Episodes

  • This week, we share Rachel’s interview with Breea Rosas! Breea is a school psychologist who works with educators on how they can implement neurodiversity affirming practices and neurodiversity affirming psychoeducation! Breea shares about the neurodiversity affirming approach and three key areas she works with educators and practitioners to address: 1) What assessments are we choosing; 2) How are we writing assessments; and 3) What are we communicating to the families in meetings?

    Before the interview, Chris shares his discomfort with using descriptions that label people as “typical” when the concept of “average” does not really capture the nuances that make up a person and could even be reductive.

    Key Ideas this Week:

    🔑 Breea always writes reports as if the child will read it in 10 years, and she asks herself “How would it make them feel?”

    🔑 We should be thoughtful about the assessments we are choosing. If you know, “Kids with ADHD, they are always bombing assessment X,” then consider giving a different assessment! You don’t always need to get the same tests to every student.

    🔑 Parents have a lot of voice in IEP meetings - if as a parent, you hear a goal that doesn’t align with your philosophy, you can say, “This doesn’t align with our goals as a family. We don’t agree with this, we want something more creative.” As a parent. if something feels wrong, you should say something!

    Links from This Week’s Episode

    “The Myth of Average” Tedx Talk: https://youtu.be/4eBmyttcfU4?si=XcuHQrYCTEznV0iR

    Neurodiversity Affirming School-Based & Consulting Practitioners Facebook Group

    Autism Level Up: https://www.autismlevelup.com

  • This week, Rachel interviews Kelley Coleman, speaker, author, and advocate! Kelley talks about her family’s AAC journey and her role as the mother of Aaron, a complex communicator in the 4th grade who uses AAC to communicate. She shares about her new book, Everything No One Tells You About Parenting a Disabled Child, as well as some of the high- and lowlights of her family’s AAC journey, including when Aaron’s school SLP suggested he go from high-tech AAC to a picture flip book!

    Before the interview, Rachel shares about turning a client's questions about her microphone into a naturally occurring communication opportunity about podcasting - that also supported his independence!

    Key ideas this week:

    🔑 The goal shouldn’t bet just be communication for an AAC user, it should be autonomous communication. Not every student can communicate independently, but every AAC user can learn to communicate autonomously (e.g. share what they want to say, when they want to say it). Rachel was against the flip book because, among other reasons, Aaron wasn't physically able to use it independently.

    🔑 Kelley was told by her school SLP, “The only way Aaron will learn to communicate is if you use this flip book with 100% fidelity.” Kelley had so many responsibilities at the time, she couldn’t be with Aaron at every moment, and it made her feel like she was going to fail before she started. You have to meet parents where they are at and make modeling sustainable - something small every day is better than being so overwhelmed that you don’t even start!

    🔑 People who support AAC users should always try and keep an open mind in areas where they are not familiar. Often, when a person can’t do something, it isn’t because they are incapable - it’s because we haven’t supported that skill well enough yet!

    🔑 Kelley says, as a parent, you should always be cognizant that the members of your IEP team may be providing services to your child for months (or even years) after that IEP meeting. It doesn't always make sense to yell at someone who is going to be providing services to your child for months (or even years) afterwards.

    Visit talkingwithtech.org to listen to previous episodes, find new resources, and more!

    Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

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  • This week, Rachel interviews Heidi Rabe, an SLP who specializes in supporting AAC users with complex bodies who use switches and scanning to communicate! Heidi shares a wealth of information about scanning and switches, including how to evaluate if a student needs a switch, working with PT/OT to find the right switch spot, using partner-assisted scanning, and more!

    Before the interview, Chris and Rachel discuss a question from a listener about a student who is “adding random words” (and how the least dangerous assumption is that it’s purposeful and meaningful, and we should get to the bottom of it)!

    Key ideas this week:

    🔑 When Heidi is considering scanning and switches for a client, she thinks about whether they can reliably select from the size array that they need in order to communicate. Also, are their motor skills reliable? Are they having difficulty selecting symbols, even with a keyguard or touch guide?

    🔑 Partner-Assisted Scanning is a scanning strategy where a partner verbally offers choices at a consistent rate, and the AAC user indicates what word they want. PAS allows for scanning without the time constraints that exist when presenting choices on a speech-generating device. There is usually a book that tells the partner what choices to say, and in what order. That way, the partners are consistent every time, which allows the AAC user to anticipate what words are coming. See a video on it here.

    🔑 When you are using auditory scanning on a speech-generating device, you want the preview voice to be very different from the speaker voice. Otherwise, communication partners get confused and respond to the wrong voice. Also, ideally you also want the preview voice to be quieter, and to be transmitted through a personal speaker.

    🔑 When doing Partner-Assisted Scanning, Heidi gives the option of “None of those” as the last option. Similarly, after they make a selection, you can offer “I have more to say” “That’s all I have to say” and “Oops, that was a mistake” as choices.

    Visit talkingwithtech.org to listen to previous episodes, find new resources, and more!

    Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

  • This week, Chris has a discussion with Caitlin Armstrong, an SLP in New Hampshire who contacted Chris asking about writing up an AAC Initiative proposal for her K-5 school district! Chris breaks down how she should approach the mission statement, ideas for making a more persuasive argument, and things to avoid (e.g. too much research up front).

    Before the interview, Chris and Rachel talk about the AI Reading Coach at coach.microsoft.com. It is similar to the Reading Coach that is part of the Immersive Reader tool embedded in Microsoft Word, and allows people to practice reading with someone analyzing their speech in real time!

    Key Ideas this week:

    🔑 If you are writing an AAC initiative for AAC in your district, start with a mission statement about robust language and what your district believes in. If you start with a statement everyone agrees with and lay out the steps from there, you can get more buy in from the start!

    🔑 Chris recommends breaking up AAC implementation into four prongs: Mindset, Training, Coaching, and Tools.

    🔱 Mindset - The mindset we need to have is everyone can learn language, and if we give them the right tools and time, they will learn it.

    🔱 Training - If training is going to happen, there may not be enough time in the instructional day to add on additional time for staff training. There might need to be substitutes or other resources included to help staff attend the training.

    🔱 Coaching - Once you have given your trainings, you need to follow up with more direct coaching on how to provide the services. Admins don’t always think of coaching as separate from training, but the distinction is essential. Coaching can be as brief as a few minutes to reflect after a lesson if you are already in the classroom.

    🔱 Tools - You can include a proposal for high tech robust AAC, with an alternate proposal for light tech (e.g. core boards) supports and/or a mix of the two. Ideally, you would have high-tech devices for teachers and staff as well as students who need AAC.

    🔑 You can include some links to research about AAC in your proposal, and you want to have that information your back pocket, but you don’t want to go too heavy with research up front. Focus more of your time first on, “We know this is good for kids, you can be assured there is thought behind this and it won’t just be thrown in room, and there will be training and coaching for the team.”

    Visit talkingwithtech.org to listen to previous episodes, find new resources, and more!

    Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

  • This week, Rachel and Chris continue their discussion about the highlights and takeaways from ATIA 2024! They share some of their favorite presentations and poster sessions from Lauren Enders, Brenda Del Monte, Bruce Alter, Tina & Mateo Moreno, Karanveer Singh, EdTech, and more!

    Key Ideas this Week:

    🔑 The Joy Zabala Fellowship is an organization that supports early career professionals working with students with disabilities by connecting them with a seasoned mentor. The mentee and mentor work together to strengthen the skills of the mentee and, afterwards, to share what they learned with the larger stakeholder community.

    🔑 At a session on AI, Chris asked Bruce Alter if we should still be teaching students to code or if we should only be teaching them to use AI to write the code for them. Bruce replied that “not an either/or question, it’s an ‘and’ question.” Students need to learn to code, and also to effectively use AI to write code. A student can’t understand what code the AI has given them or correct bugs if they have no idea how to code themselves.

    🔑 EdTech is a session where people ask questions and then the group splits up into different parts of the room to have breakout discussions on some of the topics posed. This year, Rachel really enjoyed discussing supporting creativity in education. Rachel utilizes a lot of creative arts in her therapy activities. It’s nice, because the client is motivated to be creative and the family gets to see what they made afterwards.

    🔑 One theme at ATIA this year was the Specific Language System First Approach, which was created by Chris himself! Chris has recently created an online class about the specific language system first approach - learn more here!

    Visit talkingwithtech.org to listen to previous episodes, find new resources, and more!

    Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

  • This week, we share Part 1 of Chris and Rachel’s recap of their recent trip to ATIA 2024! Chris and Rachel discuss a recent change to ATIA’s venue, share resources and takeaways from the conference, talk about what they covered in their own sessions, and more!

    Key Ideas this week:

    🔑 A lot of discussion at ATIA was about “Assistive Technology Myths and Facts” from the Office of Special Education Programs and the National Educational Technology Plan for 2024. They could be helpful as tools to demonstrate what you are sharing about AAC is supported by the federal government.

    🔑 At his presentation, Lance McLemore shared about fear and anxiety using his device with unfamiliar people. For an AAC User, they don’t always know if the other person will do things like provide sufficient wait time. If you support an AAC User, be cognizant that an unfamiliar communication partner could be a possible source of stress.

    🔑 Chris got to connect with Amanda Hartman, who is the author of two children’s books about AAC, “AAC Rhyme Time” and “I Talk in Different Ways”. It could be used, for example, to introduce a classroom to AAC, build phonological awareness, or support literacy!

    🔑 One thing to look into if you work with students - are the accessibility settings enabled or disabled by default on student computers and devices? Many students need things like text-to-speech, but enabling it requires several hurdles through the IT department (or they are totally locked out).

    Visit talkingwithtech.org to listen to previous episodes, find new resources, and more!

    Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

  • This week, we share our interview with Mercy Wolverton! Mercy is a student at George Mason University who learned how to use her 3D printer in high school during a senior project seeking to solve real world problems! Mercy shares some of the websites and resources that she used to learn how to print in 3D, and how you can get started as quickly and inexpensively as possible!

    Before the interview, Chris and Rachel briefly tease takeaways from their time at ATIA, and talk about a recent email from Brian Whitmer about a google form about the state of AAC in 2024.

    Key Ideas this Week:

    🔑 Mercy says, when you are learning 3D printing, don’t be afraid of mistakes! It can take several tries to figure out how to make something with a 3D printer, and approaching these mistakes with a growth mindset can help us think of it as a learning opportunity!

    🔑 There are 3D printers that are available to use for free at universities, schools, and libraries. If there is someone there who knows how to use the printer, they may be really helpful troubleshooting problems using it.

    🔑 Mercy created a website for the work she has done at mercywolverton.com. On her site, Mercy shares about her coding and 3D printing projects and some of her interests. Chris shares why he loves that idea, and why more people should create a website to showcase their interests and projects.

    Links from the Episode

    3D Printing Resources: Thingiverse (thingiverse.com), Tech Owl (techowlpa.org/3d-printing-at), & Makers Making Change (www.makersmakingchange.com)

    Brian Whitmer on TWT discussing Open AAC: https://www.talkingwithtech.org/episodes/brian-whitmer

    Open AAC’s State of AAC survey, collecting feedback on the state of AAC over the last year

  • Trigger Warning: This week’s banter includes some descriptions of trauma. If you would prefer to only listen to this week’s interview, please skip ahead to 27:19.

    This week, Chris interviews Aaron Marsters, an Assistive Technology Instructional Systems Specialist for Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA)! Aaron shares about his role supporting the assistive technology needs of students on military bases across Europe, in his case, particularly in Germany. He shares ideas about AI and AAC, ways they collaborate to share implementation across Europe, and how they have adopted the Specific Language System First approach on bases across Europe!

    Before the interview, Rachel tells a heartbreaking story about one of her clients who is currently in a child psychiatric ward. Her client is an AAC User, and Rachel shares about how the child has been mistreated despite the family’s best efforts to help. Chris and Rachel share their collective worry for Rachel’s client and their desire for his treatment to improve.

    Key Ideas this Week:

    🔑 We need to look at how we can better educate staff at medical facilities where people can be detained, like psychiatric wards, on how to work with people with complex communication needs and how to better support the needs of autistic people. We need to have an approach of curiosity instead of fear when someone is a multi-modal communicator, especially if they have a history of aggressive or self-injurious behavior.

    🔑 When a complex communicator arrives within Europe’s DoDEA schools on military bases, Aaron makes sure that there are licenses of LAMP:WFL and multiple licenses of AAC Language Lab for each student. Then, the AT and school teams look at what stage learner the AAC user is and they go over activities and lessons the school can use to support that student’s AAC and language development.

    🔑 If Aaron’s AT team tries something for one school, they take what worked and share it out with everyone else within the DoDEA European schools. There is a central website where best practices and implementation strategies are shared for every European DoDEA school!

    Visit talkingwithtech.org to listen to previous episodes, find new resources, and more!

    Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

  • This week, we share TWT's 300th Episode/1 Million Downloads Celebration! The whole TWT team (Rachel, Chris, Luke Padgett, Michaela Ball, and Monica Halchishick) gathered virtually with some of the coolest people we know (i.e. listeners and previous guests) to chat with us about AAC as we celebrate our our recent 1 millionth download! The TWT team and listeners share memories of making the podcast, stories of how the podcast has influenced their life, favorite strategies, possible future episode topics, and more!

  • This week, we hear Chris’s interview with Meredith Hankins, Morgan Payne, and Susan Lee! Morgan is the mother of an 11 year old girl, Sophie, with Cerebral Palsy who uses AAC. Susan has a daughter, Alyssa, with Rett Syndrome who also uses AAC. Meredith is an AAC Specialist with United Ability in Alabama who works with their daughters and helped to bring them together in new ways! These three share about how the idea for a “Girl Talk” group came up organically in community-based therapy and eventually grew to become a weekend camp at Dolphin Island Sea Lab organized by Susan!

    Before the interview, Rachel and Chris answer a Patreon user’s question about creating a “best buddies” club for general education and special education peers at a high school site! They discuss the importance of setting up an authentic peer interaction, ideas for fun activities that all the students can enjoy, making the project student led, and more!

    Key Ideas this week:

    🔑 Students will often communicate differently with peers compared to staff and teachers. Family and therapists don’t always think about the impact a peer communication partner can have on an AAC User’s motivation to communicate and have fun!

    🔑 Morgen and Susan say, if you want to find opportunities for your child like communication camps, check with therapists, doctors at children hospitals, and parents of children with similar needs to help expand your network and find new opportunities.

    🔑 Susan took all she has learned as a teacher and mother and helped to create Camp Speak, www.campspeak.org, an overnight camp in Georgia for AAC users 5-18!

    Visit talkingwithtech.org to listen to previous episodes, find new AAC resources, and more!

    Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

  • Kim Zajac is an SLP and audiologist is a Communication Specialist in Norton Public Schools in Massachusetts, working with grades 6-12. Kim is also an associated professor at Emerson and is a member of the board of MassCUE, the Massachusetts chapter of ISTE. Kim shares some of her strategies for making teaching and therapy sessions more inclusive, interactive, and engaging for all students!

    Before the interview, Chris and Rachel discuss some takeaways from ASHA 2023, including increased discussions about MTSS in school districts. Rachel shares about a session by Tiffanie Joseph (nigh.functioning.autism) that was a highlight, as well as some of her takeaways from that session!

    Key ideas this week:

    🔑 Kim takes a student-driven approach that addresses the student’s goals, but in a more experiential way, such as creating a board game with a group to work on things like grammar and higher order thinking.

    🔑 Students often are more motivated to work in class when they have an authentic problem to solve, and it often helps students to reflect on themselves and their future in ways they would not with a more abstract question.

    🔑 Kim uses self assessment rubrics to help students keep track of the goals they are working on. Sometimes, when they have the skill mastered, Kim will add a group mate for the student to track as well. She will also use rubrics to grade the projects the students create.

    Links from this week's episode:

    MassCue - masscue.org

    Vocaroo - https://vocaroo.com/

    Adobe Firefly - https://www.adobe.com/products/firefly.html

    MidJourney - https://www.midjourneyai.ai/

    BlueWIllow - https://www.bluewillow.ai/

    Dall-E 2: https://openai.com/dall-e-2

    Gimkit - gimkit.com

    Kahoot - kahoot.com

    Innovator’s Compass - innovatorscompass.org

    Mary Howard: ChatGPT Guide for Educators - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/200832186-the-chatgpt-guide-for-educators

    Donnie Pearce: Tips for Integrating AI in the Classroom - https://www.amazon.com/50-Strategies-Integrating-into-Classroom/dp/B0C5G74W4N

  • This week, Chris interviews Emma Fischer, a special education teacher in Culpeper County, Virginia who supports students in an adapted curriculum program. She enjoys supporting her student’s use of robust AAC, and she wanted to ask Chris about next steps in moving to a career in assistive technology, including possible Master’s Degree options and possible job roles!

    Before the interview, Chris and Rachel share an incredible Q&A session with a special guest who has a lot to say about on putting together a good presentation on coaching and AAC!

    Key Ideas This Week:

    🔑 If you want to transition into an assistive technology role, you may want to consider moving to another area of the country if a job opens up. Typically, there is limited turnover in most AT roles, and it is possible you could go get a Master’s Degree in Assistive Technology and not have a position open in your area.

    🔑 Consider Educational Technology as an alternative to assistive technology. There are more Ed Tech jobs than assistive technology jobs overall, and as an educational technology coach you can support all students, including students who have learning needs but are not in special education.

    🔑 School administrators can have a really big impact with students, especially if you come from a place of knowledge about AAC and inclusion. Many people say the issue with their admin is their admin’s mindset, not an issue related to mine. Having an admin that understands disability advocacy could be really good. Big trade off is you don’t get to work directly with students as much with.

    🔑 There is an artificial line with assistive technology and educational technology where someone has to be in special education to get assistive technology in many cases. As an educational technology coach, you can work with all the students, including people in special education and students who have unidentified learning problems.

    Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

    Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

  • This week, Chris and Rachel interview Otto Lana (@otto_types), an autistic advocate who uses multiple modalities, including AAC, to communicate. Otto is also an intern at Kindred Communication (gokindred.com), which specializes in providing speech, language, and AAC coaching services. Otto shares about his AAC journey, why he believes literacy and typing skills need to be more emphasized for AAC users, his preference for positive instead of neutral or negative terms (i.e. nonspeaking) to refer to people with complex communication needs, and more!

    Before the interview, Chris and Rachel banter (in the same room!) about how they try to keep an open mind when dealing with information that doesn’t agree with what they have heard before, and how that approach helps them stay current with many of the changes in the field over the years.

    Key ideas this week:

    🔑 If a person requires a wheelchair, are they called non walking? If a person has prosthetics, are they called non legged? Otto prefers “individuals with complex communication needs” or “multi-modality communicators.” Otto says the prefix “non” is negative. He wants to focus on positive or neutral terms, because “using deficit terms is derogatory and degrading.”

    🔑 Otto believes that AAC systems that do not include a keyboard are “electronic PECS” because they are typically used to request and the words are predetermined by the adults in the room.

    🔑 Otto says “Communication is a basic human right, and freedom of expression is a First Amendment right, but teaching civil rights or constitutional rights to special ed students doesn’t happen. If it did, there would be a whole new level of protesting” about how these students are treated.

    🔑 Otto says to AAC users everywhere, “Don’t give up, it is hard work. Find friends who also use AAC. Be patient, be positive, trust in the process - you can do it!”

    Links from this week’s episode:

    Otto’s website - ottosmottos.com

    Kindred Communication - gokindred.com

    Recent article about Otto: https://canvasrebel.com/meet-otto-lana/

  • This week, we share Chris and Rachel’s interview with Rémi Morin, father of a daughter who uses AAC user full time, a daughter who uses AAC part time, and a daughter who does not use AAC. He shares some of his many insights gained as the parent of an AAC user, including how he came across AAC as an option of this daughters, and, when he couldn’t find a Canadian French version of LAMP Words for Life, he created his own!

    Before the interview, Chris shares about a recent experience he had as moderator for a panel of students to talk about their disabilities for the State Educational Technology Director’s Association, including the standing ovation at the end for the students!

    Sometimes, Rémi’s daughter who uses AAC full time needs a lot of modeling of a word before she will use it, and she often needs to see it in multiple contexts. Rémi says he must be “tenacious” when teaching her words.

    Key ideas this week:

    🔑 If you go out in the world looking for a language resource and you can’t find it, that is a sign that you could potentially make that resource to help yourself and, in the future, share it with everyone else who may need the same resource.

    🔑 They will be rolling out Rémi’s French translation of LAMP to everyone in French Canada, with a possible rollout to other countries in the future!

    🔑 Rémi’s perfect AAC software would be web based, and would work with all the Android and iOS devices they use in the home, including phones.

    🔑 When we say someone’s “AAC system”, that should be the sum of the different means of communication for a person, not just one AAC app. A person’s system could include multiple high tech apps, low tech solutions like core boards, pen and paper, and more!

    Link’s from this week’s episode:

    CAST.org - the group that came up with universal design for learning and, more recently, worked with Chris to create his student-led panel.

    PRC Article on Rémi’s Canadian French LAMP Words for Life

    Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

    Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

  • This week, we share Chris’s interview with Emily Macklin, Neha Sharma, Amber Skerry, three SLPs working with the deafblind population at Perkins School for the Blind! They share a wealth of information about working with deafblind students, including how sensory impairment influences their incidental learning, the importance of trial and error in teaching language, the different ways deafblind students use AAC, and more!

    Before the episode, Rachel shares about a client who uses Read & Write for Chrome. Some school team members felt assistive technology was a “crutch”. until Rachel and the client made a story together using the Read & Write that convinced them was an important tool!

    Key ideas this week:

    🔑 Deafblindness doesn’t mean completely deaf and blind - it usually involves varying degrees of loss in both senses.

    🔑 Teachers of deaf blind children design learning experiences to teach students about things on a deeper, more experiential level, such as teaching about apples by climbing an apple tree, cutting an apple, and planting the seeds.

    🔑 You don’t want to be a “fairly godmother” for a deafblind student, where objects appear and disappear as you give them items and take them away. There needs to be a connection for the student between the object, where you get the item, and where you put it when done, e.g. a “finished” bucket.

    🔑 Some deafblind students use a ProxTalker midtech device that allows a user to place any photo, symbol, or object on a sound tag card. Users place the sound tag card on any one of the buttons and push to trigger voice output!

    Links from this episode:

    Project Core - 3D Symbols https://www.project-core.com/3d-symbols/

    Tactile Connections: Symbols for Communication

    https://www.aph.org/product/tactile-connections-symbols-for-communication/

    Tactile Symbol Library: https://www.tsbvi.edu/campus-resources/accessibility/tactile-symbols-library

    DeafBlind International: https://www.deafblindinternational.org/

    Active Learning Space: https://activelearningspace.org/

    Guest Email addresses: [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected]

  • This week, we share Part 2 of Chris’s interview with McKinzee Steve, Danielle (Dani) Welge, and Kendra Everette, three members of the AAC Team for a large school district in Texas! In the second half of this interview, they talk about interactive trainings they have created for their district; ideas for getting admin support for AAC programs, and their new project, a series of tier 2 supports for their self-contained early childhood special ed classrooms that includes AAC apps and iPads for every student and teacher!

    Before the interview, Chris shares a fantastic AI tool that will determine what the overall consensus view on a particular research question - consensus.app. It’s an AI search engine for research that allows you to ask a question and it will provide the academic field’s consensus siting research on that topic. This can be great resource for AAC myth busting!

    Key ideas this week:

    🔑 If you are creating an AAC newsletter, consider turning it into a blog post! This can make looking at previous newsletters more interesting, and is also a great way to catalog previous articles in a searchable way!

    🔑 The Texas AAC team has “collaboration tickets” for their SLPs where they go out to campuses and help the SLPs there build their skills. Their focus is on empowering the SLP to implement while the AAC team acts in a supportive role.

    🔑 Even though are AAC apps and iPads for every student in their self-contained early childhood classrooms, if a student looks like they are utilizing the AAC supports more often, that is a flag for the teacher and SLP to consider sending the student home with a dedicated device.

    Links from this episode:

    Consensus.app, an AI search engine for research that provides the academic research consensus on a question in understandable language.

    Continuum of Language Expression (COLE), a systematic tool for educators to assess language development that Chris helped develop! bit.ly/colegooglesheets

    Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

    Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

  • This week, we share Part 1 of Chris’s interview with McKinzee Steve, Danielle (Dani) Welge, and Kendra Everette, three members of the AAC Team for a large school district in Texas! In this half of the interview, McKinzee, Dani, and Kendra share about two projects they have been working on lately: 1:1 caregiver training sessions for parents and caregivers (with the help of grad students), and an "AAC Book Club" literacy enrichment program for AAC users!

    Before the interview, Rachel shares with Chris about one of her recent success stories with a client! Rachel talks this student's profile, and how he started making significant gains once he moved to a “core word of the month”. In this strategy, it that starts with explicit instruction about that month’s word, followed by lots of modeling from communication partners throughout the month!

    Key ideas this week:

    🔑 If an emergent AAC user is not making progress despite lots of high-quality modeling from communication partners, ask yourself - is there a need for more explicit instruction, (e.g., teaching what the words mean)? Sometimes a student immersed in AAC will pick up how to use a device right away, while other students may require exposure for longer periods combined with explicit instruction.

    🔑 Part of the services that McKinzee, Dani, and Kendra provide to parents and caregivers includes 1:1 training sessions with the help of local grad students over Zoom. Caregivers get six weeks of training with the grad students (with supervision). Afterward, parents and caregivers reported feeling more confident and capable of supporting their student’s use of the AAC device.

    🔑 Another service McKinzee, Dani, and Kendra provide is an AAC Book Club. They have created "bins" that can be checked out by SLPs for six weeks that correspond to a particular book and include a variety of materials and activities that are extensions of the book. These lessons are based on the PRC Literacy Planner series.

    Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

    Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

  • This week, Rachel interviews Emily Taylor (@emily.the.speechie)! Emily is a speech-language pathologist who supports AAC users in New Zealand and Fiji. Emily shares about Fiji, a country that has limited access to AAC support, and why she was inspired to help AAC users there. Then, Rachel shares some great social media tips to help Emily promote her upcoming AAC resources!

    Before the interview, Chris shares a heartwarming story about setting up an experience for a kindergarten class to use iPads and learn about AAC. In addition, Rachel shares about using an AI background tool (Skybox by Block Labs) to help create a story for one of her students!

    Key ideas this week:

    🔑 Many of the families Emily worked with in Fiji had limited financial resources, and she found it more effective to primarily focus on light tech AAC. Light tech AAC won’t break, doesn’t need electricity, is inexpensive, and (relatively) easy to produce, which were often important considerations for the families Emily was supporting.

    🔑 Emily found that primary school in Fiji was very heavy on rote memorization. When students had difficulty with sitting and learning in that way, they were sent to the special school. Families of students at the special school were really excited when she told them that their child could grow up, work, and be a positive member of the village.

    🔑 When evaluating your social media presence, understanding who your followers are (and who you want them to be) is really important, as well as being able to pivot if you find out that you have a different follower group than previously thought.

    🔑 When you’re choosing which social media platform to post on most, choose the one that you know the best and already use, if possible.

    Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

    Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

  • Join Chris and Rachel for an Interactive Pre-Conference Session at ATIA 2024!

    This week, we share Chris’s interview with April Wallace & Christina Stader! They are school-based SLPs and AAC Specialists with Aiken County Public Schools who are considering moving their district to a Specific Language System First Approach (SLSFA). They discuss the merit of pilot programs, whether starting with just preschool, research that supports the principles of the SLFSA, and more!

    Before the interview, Chris and Rachel discuss a listener question about a high school student only hovers over words and refuses to touch the device after using it to communicate for multiple years. Chris and Rachel share some strategies for teaching him it’s OK to touch the device, and how, in their experience, it may stem from a compliance-based element creating anxiety about choosing the “right” word.

    Key ideas this week:

    🔑 If you want to roll out a new program like SLFSA in your district, consider starting in a few classrooms first as a pilot. Then, you can measure their improvement to demonstrate your success to the rest of the district.

    🔑 In Chris’s district, they give teachers 6 coaching sessions that records teachers and measures how much modeling happens. Teachers watch the videos and reflect on how they could do better, and the AAC team uses this data to measure success.

    🔑 If you are moving to a SLSFA, there will be some students who received good implementation on a different system; often, these students should remain on those systems. If there wasn’t much success and/or implementation on the previous AAC app, it might be worth trying out the new AAC app.

    Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

    Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

  • This week, we share part 2 of Chris and Rachel’s interview with Dr. Barry Prizant! Dr. Prizant shares more about his thinking on the term "neurodivergent" and some of his experiences working on his podcast (uniquelyhuman.com) with an autistic adult co-host. Dr. Prizant also shares some of his perspectives on Spelling to Communicate, including why he believes it is an authentic communication method for some individuals.

    Key Ideas this Week:

    🔑 When considering whether the term “neurodivergent” is an accurate way to describe a person, we need to be cognizant of asking people how they identify with those terms. It is often better if we let people decide for themselves how we talk about them.

    🔑 Some autistic people have said that the way an autistic person talks and acts is part of autistic culture, and should not be seen as a deficiency or rudeness.

    🔑 Dr. Prizant believes that Spelling to Communicate is authentic communication for some individuals and a real phenomenon. He shares why he believes ASHA’s position statement against Spelling to Communicate is incorrect, and why Spelling to Communicate should not be looped in with Rapid Prompting Method.

    Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!

    Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!