Category Archives: Augmentative and Alternative Communication

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ISAAC 2014 Handouts

Aug 6, 2014

The ISAAC 2014 Conference in Lisbon was fabulous! Big congratulations to the Conference Co-Chairs, Luis Azevedo, Margarida Nunes da Ponte, Pedro Encarnação and Isabel Amaral. Also a big thanks and congratulations to ISAAC, the organisers and everyone involved, including the amazing volunteers who were such good hosts. For those of you who attended my sessions

Brain Computer Interface at ISAAC 2014

Jul 29, 20142 Comments

Last week I was very fortunate to attend the ISAAC Conference in Portugal. One of the highlights for me was learning more about Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) and even getting to try one. Dr Melanie Fried-Oken, who is a really fabulous and practical researcher in the area of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) presented about

AGOSCI Big Mouth Literacy Camp

Jul 27, 2014

This is a belated post about the 2014 Big Mouth Literacy Camp – but I headed off to the ISAAC Conference straight after camp and didn’t get a chance to write this until today. Big Mouth Camp was a different event this year as it had a literacy AND AAC theme for the first time.

AAC: Systemic Change for Individual Success

Jun 2, 20148 Comments

The attitudes, beliefs and knowledge of communication partners are pivotal in the success story of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). The people around every individual with complex communication needs must believe that everyone has a right to communicate. We must provide them with a communication system that enables that right. We must believe in their

Balanced Literacy for all: Guided Reading Resources

May 13, 20141 Comment

This is a very quick blog post to let you know that I have recently added a bunch of new resources about Guided Reading onto a new Guided Reading page on my website. (Edited: This is now renamed comprehension instruction) Guided Reading at Adelaide West Special Education Centre Guided Reading Resources Guided Reading: Learners with

Word families and Onset Rime: early literacy instruction with learners with CCN

Mar 27, 20148 Comments

As we learn to read, word recognition plays an important part in our literacy journey. Automatic word recognition is essential for fluent reading. We need to be able to recognise words quickly to be able to read quickly. However, word recognition isn’t just taught via whole words. One of the ways we learn to automatically

Too late to learn to read & write? No!

Dec 16, 20138 Comments

Last week I had a wonderful experience. I’ve been smiling ever since. Then yesterday I read a blog post by David Koppenhaver and decided that I needed to write about my experience. One of my favourite quotes is from Dr David Yoder. “No student is too anything to be able to read and write.” I

Big Mouth Camp 2013 – The Pirate Edition

Oct 3, 201314 Comments

Big Mouth Camp is a camp for school aged students who use speech generating devices and their families. I started Big Mouth Camp in 2003 and this year was the 8th camp (we have had a couple of years off). I am very lucky to have a fabulous committee who help with the organisation –

Predictable Chart Writing: Group Writing for All

Jun 6, 201315 Comments

Recently I have been talking a lot to teachers about doing group writing in their classroom. As teachers implement a balanced literacy program in their classrooms, it is important that writing happens daily – and that writing happens for real reasons. Writing is one of the most complex tasks that we ask students to do.

Literacy and AAC Presentations from AGOSCI 2013

May 4, 20136 Comments

Yesterday I was very lucky to present three papers around the topic of literacy instruction for students with complex communication needs (CCN) at the 2013 AGOSCI Conference. The first presentation was with the awesome Dr Sally Clendon. Sally and I both do similar consulting roles – although Sally is based in Auckland, New Zealand. We