Category Archives: Augmentative and Alternative Communication

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AAC Awareness Month: What’s the current state of AAC in English Speaking Countries?

Oct 16, 2015

Many of you will be aware of the survey conducted in 2012 by AssistiveWare, in conjunction with professors at the University of San Diego and the California State University. I know I see and hear this survey referenced frequently when people are presenting or writing about using AAC Apps on mobile technology solutions such as

What is “Beginning AAC”?

Oct 12, 201520 Comments

In May this year David Niemeijer from AssistiveWare and I did a presentation at the AGOSCI Conference on the Do’s and Don’ts of Implementing Real Communication Through AAC. We created a poster to accompany that blog post – and this is one of the follow ups to the poster. One of the things I

Aim for language development: Don’t create custom pages for specific activities

Oct 4, 201532 Comments

My last blog post was about a Do’s and Don’ts of AAC Poster that we made up for International AAC Awareness Month. (The “we” in there is myself and David Niemeijer from AssistiveWare). There’s been a few comments and questions about one of the “Don’t” statements. So I wanted to clarify what we meant when

International AAC Awareness Month: Do’s and Don’ts of AAC Poster

Oct 3, 20157 Comments

October is International AAC Awareness Month! People all over the world are working to raise awareness of AAC and underline the importance of communication – for everyone. Back in May, David Niemeijer from AssistiveWare and I did a presentation at the AGOSCI Conference on the Do’s and Don’ts of Implementing Real Communication Through AAC. As

Teaching the Use of Inner Voice in Reading

Jul 18, 201511 Comments

Reading silently WITH comprehension is the goal of all reading instruction. Every literacy learner and every literacy teacher is aiming towards this goal. Many students go through a process at school where they learn first to read “out loud” and then move to using their inner voice. But for students with complex communication needs (CCN),

Implementation of iPads for AAC in a Specialist School

Jun 28, 20155 Comments

I recently had an article published in Perspectives on AAC that I wanted to share here as I thought it could be useful for others who are on the same journey. You can access the original article at http://sig12perspectives.pubs.asha.org/article.aspx?articleid=2322984. And to give you a visual to go with the article – the video below

Shared Reading: Focus on Interaction

Jun 7, 20158 Comments

Shared reading is a collaborative learning activity that emulates and builds on the bedtime book experiences that many children and parents have together. The focus during shared reading is on the interaction. Shared reading is appropriate for any emergent reader, no matter their age and can be done individually or in small groups. Focus on

Leading to Literacy

Jun 5, 20156 Comments

I was very privileged to be invited to do a plenary presentation at the Queensland Association of Special Education Leaders‘ annual conference. Below is the presentation I gave on “Leading to Literacy” where I got to talk about the fabulous Willans Hill School and the four years of our journey implementing balanced literacy instruction

Literacy Through Curriculum: Using the Australian Curriculum as a Springboard for Literacy

May 16, 20151 Comment

It’s the final day of #AGOSCI2015 – I’m always sad when a fabulous conference ends! But I love all the great ideas and tips I’ve learned that I get to go back and try! And AGOSCI is always so practical – which is one of the reasons it’s one of my favourite conferences 🙂 My

AAC and Literacy in Partnership to Develop Language

May 15, 2015

Today I was lucky enough to present at the AGOSCI 2015 National Conference with the amazing Helen Tainsh on using literacy and AAC intervention to develop language. Helen works in both early intervention at the Cerebral Palsy Education Centre and in private practice, where she supports a number of students in mainstream schools. Currently, I’m