Category Archives: Augmentative and Alternative Communication

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AAC: Creating Systems for Individual Success. RICAA Conference 2023

Jun 5, 2023

In May, I was honoured to present the opening Keynote address at Rencontres Internationales des Communications Alternatives et Améliorées (RICAA) in Toulouse. I wanted to start by saying a huge thank-you to the conference organisers for inviting me! Merci beaucoup!! The focus for my presentation was communication autonomy – and the importance of using the

The Problems with Hand-Over-Hand v2.0

Jan 7, 20239 Comments

Hand-over-hand as a teaching strategy is increasingly being defined as restrictive practice. However, I still find that many people working in this area use hand-over-hand as a teaching strategy without being aware of the problems around it – or the fact that there are other, more effective, teaching strategies. In 2021, I published an Infographic

Writing with All Tools Continuum v1.1

Dec 18, 20224 Comments

Summer is here – and the schools in all our Australian states are either on their summer break or about to finish the school year. For me, this means I get a little more time to go through notes and pull together all the comments and feedback people have given me. And, some time to

Writing with All Tools Continuum Webinar

Oct 21, 20226 Comments

Today I had the pleasure of running a webinar about the Writing with All Tools Continuum. The session included a run through of the continuum, a discussion of some of the documents supporting the continuum and a short moderation at the end. I’m delighted to share the video of the webinar, as well as the

Writing with Adults: Predictable Chart Writing

Oct 14, 2022

One of the different types of writing that we want to do every day with every emergent student is Writing with Adults. This is where literacy learners and educators write together as a team to successfully publish a text, which can then be shared with others. One form of Writing with Adults is known as

Writing with All Tools Continuum – free online event

Oct 9, 202216 Comments

On Friday the 21st of October I will be running a free webinar on the Writing with All Tools Continuum: Teaching to the next level. There are 100 seats available at the webinar. If you’re interested in attending please sign up at https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/writing-with-all-tools-continuum-teaching-to-the-next-level-tickets-438462552297 Many of you will need to convert the times of the webinar

Core Vocabulary & Tangible Symbols: A Case Study

Sep 9, 20227 Comments

As requested, I am sharing the presentation I did with Lee Murray at #AGOSCI2022. I have been very fortunate to work with Lee and the other staff at Salisbury Park Primary School for the last 8 years. I was also lucky enough to spend time with Ryder both at Salisbury Park Primary School and at

Writing with All Tools Continuum: A writing continuum for all people using all writing tools

Sep 6, 202210 Comments

This blog post has been over a year in the making. It started as a result of the work I do with multiple schools and teaching literacy in AAC. Assessment is an important component of our literacy teaching – and writing assessment, as I have said many times, is a really important piece to help

2022 Literacy Intensives

Feb 28, 2022

Waaaay back in 2019 I posted about the upcoming 2020 literacy intensives. It was going to be the first year that we were running two – one in Tamworth and one in Melbourne. Since then, we have had to postpone these events more than once – for reasons we’re all very aware of. However, we’re

Somebody’s Land: Shared Reading

Jan 25, 20224 Comments

Tomorrow in my home country, it is a National Holiday. It’s called Australia Day – and is supposed to be a day where we can come together and celebrate all the good things in this wonderful country of ours. Unfortunately, however, the date for this holiday makes it difficult for many of us to celebrate.