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This week, we share Rachel’s interview with Amanda Diekman! Amanda (@lowdemandamanda)is an autistic adult and parent of three neurodivergent children who advocates for a shift away from traditional parenting models that prioritize control and demands. She suggests that accommodating children's needs and reducing expectations can foster better emotional connections. The interview underscores the significance of empathy, patience, and the need for adults to reflect on their own emotional responses to better support children in navigating their challenges!
Before the interview, Rachel and Chris discuss some recent work that Rachel is doing on a yet-to-be-released update of her course, AAC Ally! Rachel shares that, since the previous version of AAC Ally focused more on assessment, the new version of AAC Ally will focus more on implementation and treatment. Rachel suggests that you sign up for her newsletter at rachelmadel.com/optin to receive updates on when the updated AAC Ally releases!
Key Ideas this Episode:
Radical Acceptance and Safety: Amanda emphasizes the importance of creating a sense of safety in children by aligning expectations with their capabilities. This involves understanding and accepting children as they are, without imposing overwhelming demands that trigger stress and make them feel unsafe.
Non-Verbal Communication and Co-Regulation: Amanda explains that much of the communication with children, especially neurodivergent ones, can be non-verbal. Parents and caregivers should rely on their own nervous systems to co-regulate, recognizing distress signals and providing calm and connection to bring children back to a state of safety.
Letting Go of Control: A major aspect of low-demand parenting is learning to release control and lower demands when children are overwhelmed. Rather than doubling down on rules or consequences, Amanda advocates for letting go of unrealistic expectations in the moment to restore emotional safety and connection.
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, we interview Brianna Hughes and Tiffany Rezvani! Brianna and Tiffany are Speech-Language Pathologists and AAC Specialists based in Northern California. They share all about the free AAC screening tool they created, called AAC Screening, that helps educators and clinicians efficiently identify students who may benefit from AAC devices!
Before the interview, Chris shares some exciting news about going to Communication Matters in the UK this year! Chris will try and gather recordings while he is at the conference to share on a future podcast!
Key Ideas this Week:
Development of an AAC Screening Tool: Brianna and Tiffany created an AAC screening tool designed to streamline the assessment process for students in moderate and moderate-severe self-contained classrooms, particularly focusing on younger students (pre-K to kindergarten). This tool helps identify students who need AAC support more efficiently, allowing professionals to allocate more time to implementation rather than lengthy assessments.
Benefits of Screening and Implementation: The AAC screening tool has reduced the stress on staff by ensuring that students are identified early, speeding up the provision of AAC devices, and freeing up time for training and support. This approach aligns with the specific language system first model, emphasizing quicker access to AAC and increased focus on real-world application and modeling rather than exhaustive device trials.
Building a Supportive AAC Culture: By screening entire classrooms and often standardizing the systems used within them, the tool has helped foster a more confident and capable environment among teachers and staff. This approach has integrated AAC into daily routines and academic curricula, leading to improved communication and literacy outcomes for students, which benefits everyone involved in the education process.
Links from This Episode:
AAC Screening Tool: aacscreen ing.com
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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Saknas det avsnitt?
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This week, Chris interviews Marnina Ellis and Marisa Portanova, two speech-language pathologists at Blythedale Children’s Hospital, the only independent specialty children’s hospital in New York State! Marnina and Marisa share about their role on the core assistive technology (AT) team, ideas for supporting AAC users and their families outside the hospital, taking a team-based approach to treatment, and more!
Before the interview, Chris and Rachel share about starting the school year and how changing school teams often bring a certain amount of new energy to school sites. Chris also shares about one of his favorite things to start the school year - donning the costume of Shadow the Dog, the mascot for his wife’s elementary school!
Key Ideas This Week:
1. Collaborative Approach to AT and AAC: Marnina and Marisa emphasize the importance of a collaborative approach at Blythedale Children’s Hospital, involving a core AT team that includes speech therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and a rehab engineer. This team works together to provide comprehensive support to pediatric patients with complex needs, ensuring that assistive technology solutions are tailored to individual requirements and are integrated into the patients' everyday lives.
2. Focus on Family and Community Involvement: The interview highlights the hospital's commitment to involving families in the therapy process, empowering them to feel comfortable and capable of using assistive technology with their children. They aim to provide ongoing education and support to families, recognizing that successful communication strategies need to be practiced in all environments, including home and school.
3. Make Learning Language Fun: Marnina and Marisa discuss their implementation of group therapy sessions that focus on fun, engaging activities like games and themed literacy projects, which allow children to interact socially while working on communication goals. This creates a supportive, interactive environment that promotes skill development and community building among AAC users.
Links From This Episode:
TED Talk - Derek Shivers: How To Start a Movement
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, we share a series of “Small Talks,” e.g. short recordings (less than 15 minutes) about a single topic of interest with guests Amy Mayer, Judy Schoonover, Remi Moran, and Tiffany Zaugg!
Before the Small Talks, Rachel discusses presenting ant an online autism summit about some of the fundamentals of AAC. Meanwhile, Chris shares about recording some trainings on the “specific language system first approach” with some groups in Israel, including a presentation at the ISSAC Israel Conference where participants watched a prerecorded video, then did a live Q&A over Zoom.
Small Talks This Episode:
Amy Mayer: Question Slips - Sometimes, as a teacher, it gets overwhelming constantly being asked questions that are about trivial things, like using the bathroom or which color pen to use, and Question Strips are a strategy that can help! You put students in teams, and they are given slips that allow them to ask a question. The trick is, there are a limited number of slips, and all members of the group must sign off that this is what they want to ask. This dramatically reduces irrelevant question. Since students often want to save the slips for another time, they collaborate and solve their problems themselves!
Judy Schoonover - Favorite Purchases from the Dollar Store: Something as simple as a pool noodles can be used as a pencil grip, as adaptive seating, converted into a foot fidget, made into a whisper tube, and more! Similarly, the Dollar Store sells thin kitchen rugs (18 x 24) are velcro sensitive, so when you fasten velcro dots to something, it will stay and not move! Tips on uses for Dollar Store cookie sheets, plastic protectors, plastic plates, and push lightsare also shared!
Remi Moran: Creating a 50 Inch Touchscreen out of a TV - Remy bought an infrared frame that goes around his TV. The frame acts as a mouse pointer, essentially converting the TV into a large touchscreen. Remy shares how he puts videoes at the top and practices using AAC with his daughter at the bottom.
Tiffany Zaugg: DebriefScape - UCF has a tool called debrief scape that allows you take video you have and tag certain moments on the video. you want to discuss. You can also tag lots of different spots on the video. This tool can be really useful for providing coaching and feedback when teaching someone about AAC using video, as recommended in programs like SMORRES.
Links from This Episode::
Pool Noodles as Assistive Technology: https://blog.therapro.com/pool-noodle-as-assistive-technology/
Dollar Store Hacks for the Classroom https://www.weareteachers.com/50-dollar-store-hacks-for-the-classroom/
Writing Wizard: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/writing-wizard-school-ed/id631446426
Word Wizard: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/word-wizard-for-kids-school-ed/id447312716
DebriefScape: https://www.cs.ucf.edu/~ceh/EDGrants/DScape/
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This week, Rachel and Chris interview the superstar members of the “Stepping Into AAC” project - Carole Zangari, Tabi Jones-Wohleber, Rachel Langley, and Michaela Ball! The “Stepping Into AAC” team shares about the core mission of the project: to introduce people to AAC, to guide them through the early months of using these new communication tools and strategies, and to offer resources to engage school teams and other caregivers. The program is divided into 20 parts with the intention to complete one part a week, making it more manageable!
Before the interview, Chris and Rachel share about their experience over the summer meeting up in Virginia! Chris also shares about Jennifer Wexton, a congresswoman with progressive supranuclear palsy who recently became the first person to use AAC on the floor of the House of Representatives!
Key Ideas This Episode:
Family-Centered AAC Education and Support: The “Stepping Into AAC" project focuses on helping families understand and implement AAC through accessible training materials. These materials include videos, hands-on activities, and newsletters designed to empower families of individuals with Angelman syndrome and other AAC users by offering practical tools for communication development.
Habit Formation as Key to AAC Success: The “Stepping Into AAC” project emphasizes the importance of habit formation for long-term success with AAC. By breaking AAC learning into manageable steps and activities spread over 100 days, the program encourages families to develop habits that integrate AAC into daily life, making it more natural and sustainable over time.
Building Community Around AAC: The project recognizes the need for community, not just around the individual AAC learner but also for families. This includes support from other families on the AAC journey, professionals, and local communities, creating a sense of shared experience and providing much-needed encouragement and credibility to families advocating for their loved ones.
Links from This Episode:
Stepping Into AAC: https://www.angelman.org/stepping-into-aac/
Eleven Labs: https://elevenlabs.io/
Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!
Visit bit.ly/twtpod for access to previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!
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This week, we present a Recast episode of Rachel's interview with Rachel Dorsey, an amazing autistic SLP who teaches courses on neurodiversity and goal writing. Recast episodes are previous episodes of TWT that Chris and Rachel want to highlight. In this Recast, Rachel Dorsey shares her perspectives on neurodiversity, how to help shift the perspectives of others to better affirm neurodiversity, the importance of co-regulation for Autistic people, and more! Before the interview, Rachel and Chris sit down with Melissa Bugaj and Sara Gregory to have a quick roundtable banter about gestalt language processing (e.g. scripting) vs analytical language processing, and ways that all people may use both methods to learn language. Key ideas this week:
🔑 A “neurodiversty affirming approach to Autism” involves respecting everyones differences and seeing people through their strengths and not just their deficits. It Includes listening to people from that community to learn from them how to improve your affirming practices.
🔑 What can we do to help shift people’s perspective to better support neurodiversity? Rachel Dorsey says help these people to ask “why”. Why is this happening? Why are they being disruptive? Why did they go from not being able to do a skill to doing it? Is it environment? Then, shift what you do next time in response to what you learn.
🔑 "Co-regulating" can happen in therapy when both therapist and the student (or client) help each other regulate. This will look different for different people. Does the Autistic person like to be left alone to do their own thing? Do they enjoy physical presence, or do they want space? Co-regulation helps to build trust and rapport and may help improve progress in therapy down the road.
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, we present a Recast of Chris’s interview with Dr. Rebecca Moles! Recast episodes are previous episodes from the early days of TWT that Chris and Rachel want to highlight! In this Recast, Dr. Moles shares the importance of communication and AAC in preventing child abuse, the categorization of abuse types, the need for educators to equip children with the language necessary for self-advocacy, and more!
Before the interview, Chris, Rachel, and former host Lucas Stuber share some of their experiences with abuse and neglect, and highlight some of the strategies they have used to give children access to the language they need to report abuse and neglect.
Key Ideas this Episode:
🔑 There are several ways to identify signs of physical abuse, including the presence of bruises in unusual places on a child's body or bruises that resemble objects. Dr. Moles also discusses how the age and mobility of the child can help distinguish between normal childhood bruises and bruises that might indicate abuse.
🔑 Dr. Moles explains the concept of mandated reporting, which requires professionals working with children (such as teachers, medical providers, and coaches) to report any suspicions of child abuse or neglect to state agencies. She stresses that mandated reporters do not need to be certain of the abuse, they only to have a reasonable concern.
🔑 It is important that children be able to communicate effectively about abuse, especially children with complex communication needs who use AAC devices. Rebecca emphasizes the need for AAC users to have access to words for all body parts, feelings, and basic actions to support the accurate reporting of abuse and neglect.
Links:
Crimes Against Persons with Disabilities Report: bit.ly/abusestatistics2014
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, we present a Recast of a previous “roundtable discussion” between Rachel, Chris, and previous host Lucas Stuber on early intervention and AAC! (Note: Recast episodes are episodes from the early days of TWT that Chris and Rachel want to highlight again). In this episode, Rachel shares her experiences with using AAC with very young children and discusses the benefits and challenges with early AAC implementation. They explore the misconception that AAC might hinder verbal development, as well as parental concerns regarding AAC as “screen time”, the importance of multimodal communication options, and more!
Before the episode, Rachel shares that she no longer agrees with a position she shared on the podcast. In the roundtable, she shares that PECS can be a good option for learning initiation skills with AAC. Rachel no longer believes PECS is a good option for teaching language initiation to emergent communicators. Rachel clarifies that high-tech devices offer more robust and flexible communication options, which are usually more effective in supporting language development. She no longer suggests delaying the introduction of high-tech AAC if at all possible.
Key Ideas this Episode:
🔑 Rachel, Chris, and Lucas emphasized that introducing AAC early in a child's development does not hinder speech development, but rather supports and facilitates it. They advocate for starting AAC interventions as early as possible, even for very young children, to aid in their communication and language development.
🔑 Peers are a great option for modeling AAC. Involving peers, parents, paraprofessionals, and teachers provides lots of modeling opportunities, which helps integrate AAC into every interaction and makes it a more natural part of the child's communication.
🔑 The importance of multimodal communication is highlighted, where different methods such as signs, pictures, and high-tech AAC devices are used simultaneously to support both expressive and receptive language development. This approach ensures that children have multiple avenues to communicate their needs and wants
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, we share a “Recast” of Chris’s interview with Kathy Howery! “Recast” episodes are episodes from the early days of Talking with Tech (with improved audio) that share important ideas Chris and Rachel want to highlight! Kathy is an AAC specialist, researcher, and educational consultant from Alberta, Canada who emphasizes the importance of understanding the lived experiences of AAC users from their perspective. She also shares about how therapy practices can improve by focusing on the personal, emotional, and social aspects of AAC use, and why AAC users should be provided with multiple communication modalities to better demonstrate their intelligence and capability!
Before the interview, Chris, Rachel, and the previous host of TWT, Lucas Stuber discuss the lived experience of AAC users and the importance of being empathetic and supportive in our therapy.
Key Ideas This Episode:
🔑 It’s not just about knowing how AAC devices work cognitively or intellectually - we need to do everything we can to understand what it feels like to use these devices and how they impact social interactions.
🔑 Kathy highlights the importance of developing empathetic practices, including challenging our preconceptions and being open to AAC users' personal experiences and perspectives. The aim is to foster a more compassionate and understanding approach when interacting with AAC users.
🔑 AAC users often use multiple modalities to communicate, including gestures, facial expressions, and body language, just like non-AAC users do. She also notes that an AAC user’s delay in responding can affect some interactions, and she stresses the importance of providing AAC users with various means of communication to ensure they are perceived as capable and intelligent.
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, Chris interviews Caroline Woeber! Caroline is an SLP specializing in AAC at Children’s Hospital Colorado, including working at their Angelman/Chromosome 15 Disorder clinic. Caroline shares all about supporting communication and AAC in the hospital environment, training parents and caregivers about AAC, identifying next steps when teaching people with Angelman syndrome to use AAC, and more!
Before the interview, Chris and Rachel answer a fascinating listener question about a complex communicator at their school whose parents want the student to use sign language instead of AAC. However, the school is pushing for AAC only. Chris and Rachel unpack this question, noting that it is often best for complex communicators to have multiple familiar communication modalities available.
Key Ideas this Episode:
🔑Are we preparing students how to handle it when their preferred method of communication isn’t understood out in the community? If a student doesn’t want to use their AAC device unless there are communication breakdowns, you may want to role play dealing with intelligibility breakdowns and how to deal with that.
🔑People with Angelman syndrome often have problems with tremor, so be very thoughtful about things they may need, like keyguards. Some people with Angelman syndrome want to rip the keyguard off, so consider a fixed keyguard instead of magnetic or hinged keyguards.
🔑The Talking With Technology Camp (no connection with the TWT podcast) is an independent camp for AAC Users run by Children’s Hospital of Colorado and Easterseals for AAC users aged 6-21. It is an independent camp, and caregivers do not attend. Activities include inclusive fishing, hiking, swimming, talent shows, and more!
Links:
Talking with Technology Camp
First Steps Camp
Children’s Hospital of Colorado Chromosome 15 Disorders Clinic
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, Chris is interviewed by Benjamin Gibbs! Benjamin is a student at George Mason University studying Assistive Technology who is completing a school project interviewing Chris, and Chris asked if the conversation could go on the podcast! Ben has cerebral palsy that affects his walking gait and verbal speech. He uses a combination of verbal speech and AAC to communicate, depending on his communication partner and the context. Benjamin interviews Chris about evaluating students for AT, the importance of sharing AAC concepts with everyone at a young age, Benjamin’s lived experience as an AAC user, and more!
Before the interview, Chris and Rachel discuss a listener question about adding a student who is adding words to his device without much consideration for where those words should be long term. Chris and Rachel discuss why we usually don’t need to lock a student out of editing their device, and ways that we can teach and shape the desire to add words into something positive!
Key Ideas this Episode:
🔑 We shouldn’t password protect a device just because a student is adding words in an unexpected or “incorrect” way. Rather, we should shape and teach that the student should think through adding a symbol and where the word would best go. We shouldn’t treat a student adding buttons like a problem, we should be celebrating the student’s skills!
🔑 When we are evaluating a student for AT, it is really important to think about the environment, because the environment can be changed. You can change the instruction, furniture, etc to help support a student. For example, why give a student with dyslexia read pencil and paper when they could be given digital assignments that work better with text-to-speech apps. Let’s provide it digitally so everyone can benefit!
🔑 If you give an adolescent an AT tool that makes them stand out (e.g. a reader pen), they may abandon it to avoid standing out. However, if you provide technology tools to everyone (e.g., digital materials and built in text-to-speech), then the AT tools can be used by anyone without feeling different.
🔑 Chris believes “high-tech” and “low-tech” designations for AAC are not very helpful; whatever gets the job done is the tool, and it doesn’t need to be “high-tech” or “low-tech”. Many AAC users are forced to demonstrate low tech AAC skills before they are allowed access to high tech AAC, which has been a huge barrier to accessing the tools they need.
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, we share Chris’s interview with Amy Mayer! Amy is the founder and CEO of friEdTech (https://friedtechnology.com/), a company that provides educational technology (EdTech) professional development for educators. Amy talks about her recent book, Beyond Worksheets, which provides resources for teachers to utilize EdTech tools and to inclusively redesign education for everyone! She and Chris discuss the impact of AI on education and writing, ideas for creating meaningful professional learning experiences, and more!
Before the interview, Rachel updates Chris about one of her clients, including how a fun collaborative creative writing exercise led to improvements in both his writing and spoken language!
Key Ideas This Episode:
🔑 AI tools can be helpful for new writers trying to get feedback about their work, including reviewing for spelling and grammar. However, having a real person read and provide feedback about your writing may provide feedback from a broader view that current AI tools can’t provide.
🔑 Amy knows that educators often do not choose to come to a PD, but friEd Tech gets educators invested by designing learning experiences to solve problems that people actually have. Then, once people have talked about the problems they have, the group works together collaboratively to figure out how to solve those problems.
🔑 We need to have bigger conversations with students about the ethical use of AI tools. For example, some students never use AI tools because of ethical concerns, even though some AI tools could be used ethically to improve their learning.
Amy's recent book: Beyond Worksheets: Creative Ways to Engage Students
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, we share Rachel's interview with Karina Carter and Nicole Young! Karina Carter is a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) at Children’s TheraPlay, where horses are used therapeutically to support children with disabilities and/or unique needs, including complex communicators! Nicole is the mother of TY, an AAC User who is one of Karina’s clients. Karina shares all about equine speech therapy with AAC Users, and Nicole shares about her son’s journey becoming an AAC user and (eventual) horse lover with Karina’s help!
Before the interview, Chris shares about his wife's recent completion of a Doctorate in Educational Leadership, and his son, Tucker’s, quest to become a Veterinarian! Congrats Dr. Bugaj and good luck Tucker!
Key Ideas this Episode:
🔑 When AAC Users started bringing their devices onto the horses, the device would be knocked around and was difficult to use, so the Children’s TheraPlay team developed an adjustable AAC stand that is worn around the horse’s neck!
🔑 Occupational Therapists (OTs) and Physical Therapists (PTs) have been using horses for therapy at Children’s TheraPlay for 20 years at TheraPlay, but Karina was the first SLP they hired. She had a lot to learn from PTs and OTs about sensory input and the client’s experience so she could integrate teaching communication with horseback riding.
🔑 During speech therapy, Karina works on a variety of language skills (e.g. prepositions) using tools situated throughout the arena, including a mailbox, poles, and rings. This helps create tempting communication opportunities for her clients!
Links:
Becca Eisenberg’s TWT Episode
Becca Eisenberg’s book, All About Core
Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!
Visit talkingwithtech.org to listen to previous episodes, find new resources, and more!
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This week, we share Rachel’s interview with the amazing Occupational Therapist (OT) Elisa Wern! Along with being a school-based OT, Elisa speaks and writes about issues related to AAC and OT, including that OTs can have a critical role in the AAC consideration and implementation process! Elisa shares ideas for supporting students with sensory processing issues, the need for OTs to get involved earlier to support writing at an early age, the importance of teaching AAC Users how to type, and more!
Key ideas this week:
🔑 OTs are skilled with body and device positioning, environmental control, supporting executive function skills, and teaching students when and how to advocate for themselves. These are all skills that apply to AAC Users. OTs involved in the AAC process can provide greater perspective on many topics that are not as familiar to SLPs. There are things, like the glare from overhead lights, that SLPs may not consider, but OTs are often good at analyzing and making adjustments to positioning of the device and/or the student to reduce glare.
🔑 We need to think more about sensory processing concerns when we’re setting up and positioning an AAC device. Some sounds that come from an AAC device can cause sensory dysregulation for people with sensory processing issues, and if they don’t have the language to share their dysregulation, the situation is even more difficult to navigate. If possible, try and teach AAC Users (when they are ready to learn) how to navigate to a page where they can share these dysregulated feelings for themselves.
🔑 OTs should make sure they’re involved on the team when they are discussing writing at early IEP meetings. Providing acess to letters and literacy enables students have the ability to create any utterance, not just being forced to choose symbols and words that are not preferred by the AAC User, and it can take a lot of practice to develop alternative pencil or keyboard skills.
Links from This Week’s Episode:
ASHA, AOTA, and APTA Joint Statement on Interprofessional Collaborative Goals in School-Based Practice
Elisa Wern's AT & OT Coaching & Consulting Website
Fundamentals of AAC: A Case-Based Approach to Enhancing Communication
Visit bit.ly/twtpod for access to previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!
We need your help to keep Talking with Tech going! Please support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech
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This week, we present Chris’s interview with some of the Fairfax County Public Schools AT Team: Jeff Sisk, Meaghan Tracy, Jennifer Carr, Ashley Kiley, and Colleen Kalamajka! They gather to share about the life of AAC/AT Specialist Jeff Powers, who passed away in 2023. They celebrate some of the many things he brought to his work with AAC, including helping people feel OK even if they don’t know everything, early support for the Specific Language System First Approach, his work sharing AAC on platforms like Youtube, and more!
Before the interview, Chris and Rachel discuss the recent addition of automatic transcripts to Apple Podcasts, and some of the previous “behind the scenes” work that was done to provide transcripts for TWT episodes.
Key Ideas this Week:
🔑 If you are interested in watching Jeff share about AAC, they have some of his videos up at the Fairfax County Public Schools AAC Page: https://www.fcps.edu/academics/academic-overview/special-education-instruction/assistive-technology-services-ats-5
🔑 AAC can become more of a tier 1 or 2 support. The most accommodations related to AT are typically visual supports and audio supports, and AAC provides both of those things. Providing AAC to more people also gives us an opportunity to teach a wider group of the community to be communication partners.
🔑 Fairfax County Public Schools recently had an “AAC Integration Workshop” with teachers that was all about how to use descriptive teaching to teach about more concepts, with a focus on breaking down academic language into easier language.
Links from this week's Episode:
Thing Explainer: https://www.amazon.com/Thing-Explainer-Complicated-Stuff-Simple/dp/0544668251
Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!
Visit talkingwithtech.org to listen to previous episodes, find new resources, and more!
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This week, we share Chris’s interview with Dr. Yoosun Chung, former president of USSAAC, activist, professor at George Mason University, and AAC user! Dr. Chung shares about her journey from South Korea to the United States to learn English and pursue higher learning, her first introduction to high-tech AAC as a doctoral student in assistive technology, her work as co-chair of the 2023 ISSAAC conference in Cancun, and more!
Before the interview, Chris and Rachel have a fun discussion about suno.com, an AI song generator that creates some incredible songs about AAC - right on the spot! Chris and Rachel talk about how fun the tool is, and Rachel reflects on some of the motivating therapy lessons that she can create with this tool!
Key Ideas this Week:
🔑 To AAC users, Dr. Chung says: don’t shy away from becoming activists. It is more than about speaking up, it’s about sharing your lived experiences and pushing towards a world that is inclusive for all. Each story we share, every obstacle we tackle, it expands the realm of understanding and acceptance.
🔑 To family members of AAC Users, Dr. Chung says: be a voice for your loved ones, ensuring they are heard in every space. It’s about empowering AAC users and their right to communicate themselves and making their own decisions. It’s crucial to respect and support their preferred method of communicating - this is a deep form of respect that lets them know you see and support them.
🔑 To service providers, Dr. Chung says: please listen to AAC users. Implementing AAC for someone needs to be a collaborative journey you embark on together. Involving AAC users in every step of the process is essential. This partnership ensures that AAC solutions are tailored to meet the unique needs of each user, fostering a more effective and empowering communication experience.
Links from This Week’s Episode:
NAACA Communication Access Video
Suno.com: Online AI Song Generator
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This week, we share Rachel’s interview with Chantelle Hutchinson (@dysphagiacommunity)! Chantelle is a Speech-Language Pathologist who works with adults with acquired brain injury and progressive neurological conditions. She shares about some of the factors that make working with clients with acquired brain injuries, like traumatic brain injury (TBI) and stroke, unique, including: how AAC needs can be different, the impact of frequently changing communication partners, the value of getting to know the client before writing goals, and more!
Before the interview, Chris and Rachel chat about why podcasting should be considered and supported more often as a form of professional development. When we make education more engaging, it leads to better outcomes and retention!
Key Ideas This Week:
🔑 Some people who have a TBI or stroke may not understand that they are communicating differently or their communication partner is not understanding. This can impact buy-in, because the client may not see much need for the device if they are not aware of the communication breakdowns.
🔑 We don’t always target building awareness about communication breakdowns for a client with a TBI or stroke. It takes a balance, because if a client is totally unaware, it can impact their ability to know when to use strategies (like AAC), but being highly aware of communication difficulties may lead to lower mental health outcomes overall.
🔑 A therapist working with TBI and stroke needs to keep in mind the client’s cognitive profile - some may never get to the point where they can initiate a conversation, no matter how much you practice the skill. In that situation, try and consider if the client’s needs are being met naturally and how you can best support them given their cognitive profile.
Links from This Week’s Episode:
Talking Mats: https://www.talkingmats.com/
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, we share part two of Rachel’s interview with Tiffany Joseph! Tiffany is an autistic mother of three neurodivergent teens, as well as an educator, advocate, and a part-time AAC User with inconsistent verbal speech. She shares about her experience as a gestalt language processor, how she thinks AAC could help students mitigate their gestalts, her perspective on Spelling to Communicate, and more!
Before the interview, Chris and Rachel answer a listener question about “seasoned SLP‘s” in the listener’s school district who said that “high-tech AAC wasn’t appropriate for kids with lots of behaviors.” Chris and Rachel discuss the question, noting that behaviors are often reduced when a student has a device, and they wonder whether those “seasoned” SLPs should reconsider their openness to new ideas.
🔑 Chris’s motto is “education instead of restriction,” meaning we should teach people how to use new things (like AI, etc) rather than just try and restrict or block them in the schools. In his experience, you can restrict a particular app or website but it’s better to teach students to use the tool in a better way.
🔑 Tiffany said it would’ve been really helpful for her communication growing up if she could’ve had a device that displayed the first half one of her gestalts, followed by different logical alternative endings that she could choose from to help her mitigate her gestalts.
🔑 Tiffany believes that spelling to communicate is a valid form of communication and doesn’t believe it should be controversial. She feels that, similar to “body doubling,” where the presence of a familiar person can help us regulate and focus, having a familiar partner facilitate communication is really valuable. Tiffany says that having a person there for to help coach the motor plan doesn’t make S2C invalid.
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, we present Part 1 of Rachel’s interview with the amazing Tiffany Joseph (@nigh.functioning.autism)! Tiffany is an autistic mother of three neurodivergent teens, as well as an educator, advocate, and a part-time AAC User with inconsistent verbal speech. She explains more about situations when verbal speech becomes difficult, the ways that writing text out before hand helps her, strategies she uses when she has trouble with verbal speech, and more!
Before the interview, Chris and Rachel discuss a listener question from a parent of a teen who wants more authentic inclusion for her child, but she feels like encouraging more authentic inclusion is not very achievable. Chris and Rachel discuss the difficulty living in a world that isn’t universally designed, how we can use IEP accommodations to support UDL, cultivating belonging through inclusion, and more!
Key ideas this week:
🔑 People will point out when someone doesn’t talk as much, and it often feels uncomfortable for that person. Not everyone talks all the time, but there is often an unspoken judgement when people are described as “not talking as much.” Sometimes it feels to Tiffany that she always has to be doing something extra, like talking, for others to feel happy.
🔑 Tiffany is a dyspraxic multi modal communicator with inconsistent motor plans, including with inconsistent verbal speech. Difficulty with motor plans can include routine activities, like brushing her teeth. Some people have entire bodies like this, while other people have only parts of their bodies with these kinds of motor difficulties. You can get really anxious in social situations when your speech and motor plans work inconsistently.
🔑 Be thoughtful about saving a student’s energy for learning & communicating, and try not to overdo repetitive daily tasks you know they can do. There isn’t an unlimited well of energy available, so we should be thoughtful with what we are asking someone to do. For example, don’t want to focus on handwriting so much that it limits progress on spontaneous communication.
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, Chris and Rachel interview Bob Sagoo! Bob is the father of Harchie, an 18-year-old young man with cerebral palsy who uses an AAC device with eye tracking to communicate (along with other modalities). Bob shares about Harchie’s AAC journey, Bob’s work to get Harchie mainstreamed in school, Harchie going to college, and more!
Before the interview, Chris and Rachel talk about delivering fun experiences while teaching about language with AAC! They share about why we need to bring playfulness and a playful energy, and some ideas for ways we can bring the fun, like humor, music, dressing up, painting, and modifying games!
Key ideas This Week:
🔑 Parents need to feel empowered - in any situation, parents are the expert when it comes to their child. It’s Ok to respect specialists for their experience and knowledge, but when it comes to your child, you are the expert. You are their advocate and speak on their behalf until they are able.
🔑 It’s for OK not to be OK. There is often a lot behind the scenes going on within families that we don’t see, especially for families of children with complex bodies. We need to give parents grace when working with them - if they don’t do something we recommend, there is probably a reason other than “they don’t care.”
🔑 Bob says the feeling he gets when he wakes up at three in the morning, of “I don’t know what my kid is going to do after I’m gone,” doesn’t really go away, but it can be helped a lot by taking the time to reach out and find out as much as you can. That will help you become as informed as possible as you learn about what your child needs.
🔑 If parents are feeling overwhelmed by information about their child’s needs and don’t know where to start, one good place is to connect with other parents of children with special needs, They can help you get started moving in the right direction, and anytime you’re going through something difficult, knowing you’re not alone can be very powerful!
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!
- Visa fler
