IWK Health Assistive Technology Service

12/08/2023

This is an amazing resource for targeting core words on AAC devices from our friends at Renfrew Educational Services.

We are especially thinking of our homeschool families looking for modeling and literacy ideas to incorporate into the day! It's a full 10 month curriculum with each month focusing on 4 words. Every word has books, songs, videos, and activities that all relate to that core word, providing TONS of modeling opportunities! Make sure to bookmark this one 🤩

Core Words Curriculum created by the Complex Communication Needs (CCN) team at Renfrew Educational Services. Free online resource: 12/6/23 new link: https://sites.google.com/view/renfreweducationalservicescwc/home?authuser=1

https://sites.google.com/view/corewordcurriculum/home?authuser=0

09/08/2023

Any fellow podcast listeners out there? This one is a favourite! Check it out for a deep dive into AAC. It has AAC user perspectives, parent perspectives, and lots of discussion from other clinicians/researchers.

Join speech-language pathologists Rachel Madel M.A., CCC-SLP and Chris Bugaj M.A., CCC-SLP every week as they discuss all things related to using technology for communication. Subscribe to the Podcast All Podcast Episodes Latest Episodes Featured Episode 285: Tiffanie Zaugg: Creating an AAC Facilita...

09/01/2023

Do you ever feel stuck on what words to model on AAC devices? Here's a calendar made by Rachael Langley for September to get you started on some core vocabulary! "Core" words are the words we use most often to communicate so they are excellent words to teach young AAC learners.

08/18/2023

Have you heard of a communication passport or profile? It's a great way to let the people on your child's therapy team how your child communicates, what strategies are helpful, as well as your expectations and hopes. It can be an especially useful tool during times of transition (e.g., back to school!). This is a template to give you ideas, but there are lots of other templates out there to choose from. Here are some others:
https://www.communicationpassports.org.uk/creating-passports/
https://mycommpass.com/downloads/
https://www.studentswithnospeech.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Scope-communication-passport-compressed.pdf

'Back to school' time means there is a transition to plan for!

Whether your child is starting at a new school, a new classroom in a familiar school, or will be returning to the same classroom, sharing updated information about their communication system is important.

We have created this 'Communication Profile' template to get you started!

Anyone can use this design as a template (by following the link below). Signing in to Canva is required (you can create an account for free). You will be able to make a private copy of the template that you can modify (we will not be able to see who has made copies of it).

Check it out here: https://bit.ly/NWACSprofileTemplate

For more information on transition planning, read more on the NWACS blog here: https://nwacs.info/blog/2023/4/aac-and-transition-planning-it-starts-earlier-than-you-think

06/27/2023

Helpful new AAC infographic and blog post by NWACS: What to Expect When You Get Your AAC Device Home, https://nwacs.info/blog/2023/4/what-to-expect-when-you-get-your-aac-device-home

Image Description: The infographic from their post. All of the info is available in text only format on the blog post.

06/26/2023

We all use multiple forms of communication- no one way is better than any other. We pick our tool depending on the environment, what we have available, and our communication partner. For example, you might use GIFs with a good friend over text message, but avoid it in a professional email. You might wait to share some exciting news for an in-person conversation, but send a mass Facebook message to plan a family member's baby shower.

Kids make these decisions too! They might use a sign with a familiar person to let them know they want "more", point to flavor of yogurt they want during snack at daycare, and use their AAC device to tell a new friend their favourite Paw Patrol character is also Chase.

In the world of AAC, this is often described as multi-modal communication. The different tools can be called "modes". What are some of the modes you use to communicate?

06/06/2023

We saw these presenters talk about pretend play and literacy at the ATIA conference this spring. It was a highlight! Check out this completely free webinar about incorporating early literacy into pretend play.

WATCH IT NOW!!!⁠
This FREE pre-conference session of AAC in the Cloud is available now. Grab your favorite snacks and your favorite blanket and buckle in for some fabulous AAC content.⁠

https://presenters.aacconference.com/videos/UVRGQk1qTT0=

12/22/2022

Our hearts are overflowing with gratitude as we share these switch adapted toys with the children and families we get to work with. Thank you so much to McInnes Cooper, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and Assistive Technology Support Workers from across the province who got together and made play more accessible for children in Nova Scotia! Another big thank you to Courtney and Aidan from Makers Making Change for coordinating it all and last but not least, THANK YOU to all the folks who donated to the Hacking for the Holidays campaign.
https://makersmakingchange.com/

We can’t wait to see all our clients blowing bubbles, racing cars, walking their pet unicorn, and playing with Peppa in the New Year! Play is for everyone!

11/03/2022

Tobii Dynavox is introducing a motor planning based AAC option. If you are not familiar with the concept of motor planning, they do a good job of describing it in this video.

Meet the new Motor Plan 30 and Motor Plan 66 pagesets. These exciting new pagesets for TD Snap aim to develop automaticity of navigation and word selection ...