5 Steps to Improve Your AAC Skills

Until recently, my biggest regret since finishing graduate school in 2015 was not being proactive enough in learning more about augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). If you’re still reading this, you probably understand the challenges we as speech-language pathologists face with AAC assessment and treatment—not to mention actively engaging other professionals, accessing funding, finding opportunities for training and dealing with bureaucratic barriers. You most likely also experienced some other obstacles to success, including time constraints, attitudes, access limitations and student/patient cognitive-motor-sensory deficits. During those early weeks of working as a school-based SLP, I often felt I needed to know more about how best to serve students with the complex communication needs. I quickly found out most schools didn’t offer many resources for high-tech communication devices, so I spent hours creating low-tech systems for my students. I wondered if I was using appropriate clinical judgement and evidence-based approaches in supporting my students and their communication partners. What I did know was that not knowing is not an excuse. More on AAC: Social Media: A Powerful Tool for AAC Learning and Networking AAC With Energy—Earlier Tapping Into the ‘Augmentative’ of AAC   Taking these steps helped me feel confident in my work with students—and their families—in using AAC: Deconstruct the stigma. Negative attitudes toward AAC systems may...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Tags: Speech-Language Pathology Augmentative Alternative Communication Professional Development Schools Source Type: blogs