01 Foundational Ideas
The Implications of Adopting a Holistic and Multimodal Approach to CommunicationArchived webinar from October 09, 2019 with Dr. Nicola Grove
As professionals planning and delivering interventions with children with disabilities, we all surely subscribe to the philosophy of Total Communication – the value of all modalities and resources harnessed to support communication development. But what does this mean in practice? Are all modalities regarded as important? Do we really take account of children’s skills and preferences when we allocate resources? What do we know about the affordances of particular modalities for functional communication purposes? Manual signing is used worldwide by millions of Deaf people for whom it is a first or preferred language and with hundreds of thousands of individuals who have communication disabilities. The last half of the 20th century saw numerous research papers and practical resources dedicated to issues of how to teach, use and develop signing within the framework of Augmentative and Alternative Communication, but currently, these have been superseded by an almost exclusive focus on aided systems and devices. There are still remarkably few studies of signing development over time, or of everyday use. As a result, speech /pathologists and educators have limited resources on which they can draw to support the evidence- based practice to which they are committed. A second critical issue is that there is increasing evidenceof deaf children who have additional needs and disabilities, whose signing is delayed or disordered. For these children, even with the support of cochlear implants, sign remains the primary communication system. There are also many hearing children with disabilities born to native signing Deaf parents. Teachers and therapists are in need of information about how best to plan intervention for these children. The webinar will be based on the research and practice drawn together in the first-ever text dedicated to this topic – Manual Sign Acquisition in Children with Developmental Disabilities, edited by Nicola Grove and Kaisa Launonen (Nova, 2019). This book integrates findings from both sign language and Key Word Sign; considers practical issues of ntelligibility, vocabulary and semantics, grammar and pragmatics; and provides evidence of sign development in different clinical populations. You are invited to participate in this webinar by bringing your own experiences and questions for discussion. Here are a few reoccurring questions that will be addressed in this webinar. -What is the role of manual sign and gesture in AAC? – Is there really any evidence that the effort involved in teaching signs to children with disabilities is worth it? – Are aided systems or signs the best way to promote communication for children with various disabilities (eg. utism, cerebral palsy)? – Are there prerequisite skills that should be taught before introducing children to manual sign? – How can we encourage children to generalize their use of taught signs? – Do signs increase stigma for children with disabilities by making them more conspicuous? – Should we be promoting sign language or keyword sign systems with deaf children who have additional disabilities? -Do children have a human right to use signs? Length: 1:18:41 |
|
Communication is more than exchanging messages: Social Closeness in AAC InterventionArchived Webinar with Dr.Erna Alant
This presentation will focus on the benefits and importance of a meaning-making approach to AAC intervention. The approach acknowledges the importance of students’ participation in activities, but emphasizes the role of engagement and social closeness in interacting with others. The development of friendships between peers in a classroom can only thrive when teachers and therapist facilitate an environment conducive to meaning-making in interactions. Length: 55:06 |
|
Communication Bill of Rights – Reboot!Archived webinar with Amy Goldman from April 20, 2017.
Length: 57:06 |
|
Core Vocabulary Resources with Kathy HoweryCore vocabulary contains all parts of speech- nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections and serves as a great medium for teaching language.
Did you know? 85% of what we say is communicated with only 200 basic words. We call these our “core” words. Core is consistent across place, topic, and cognitive ability. |
|
The SETT Framework & AAC with Joy ZabalaArchived Webinar from October 24, 2017.
Alberta CNN PLC Length: 59:29 |
|
Issues and Trends in AAC Interventions for People with ASD – In Conversation with Dr. GanzHow we can use naturalistic aided AAC instruction and parent and peer-mediated interventions to support communication and language development for children and youth with Austism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who also have complex communication needs. Potential topics of discussion include the necessity of involvement of family members in AAC intervention, a focus on functional language in natural contexts, and using multiple modes of communication in developing communication in this population.
Length: 1:05:09 |
|