The AAC Learning Center has moved to AAC-Learning-Center.org

AAC and Communication in the Workplace

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Webcast Description
For many adults with complex communication needs, employment plays an important role in life-satisfaction.

In this free webcast, David Chapple and David McNaughton use a series of case examples, with video illustrations, to demonstrate that individuals who require AAC can achieve positive employment outcomes.

Chapple and McNaughton also discuss challenges to workforce participation, and key strategies that support employment success.

Improving literacy outcomes for individuals with ASD

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Janice Light & David McNaughton

This free webcast provides information on effective instructional procedures to teach literacy skills to individuals with ASD and limited speech.

The webcast includes both detailed instructional procedures, as well as case examples (including videoclips) of  reading and writing instruction with children and adolescents with ASD.The webcast provides information on how to teach key literacy skills, including

  • phonological awareness skills,
  • letter-sound correspondences,
  • decoding skills,
  • shared reading skills
  • sight word recognition skills,
  • reading and understanding books,
  •  early writing skills

The instructional procedures are based on the recommendations of the National Reading Panel (2000), with adaptations to support the participation of individuals with ASD who have limited speech. These evidence-based procedures were developed as part of a federally funded research grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), as part of the AAC-RERC, under grant #H133E030018; and the Augmentative Communication Fund, supported by the Forklifts Annual Golf Tournament/Joe Strada Sr. Memorial Fund. Development of this wecast was supported by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services under grant #H325K080333.

Mobile devices and communication apps: Current trends and future directions

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Webcast Description

Drs. Howard Shane, Jessica Gosnell, David McNaughton, and Sam Sennot discuss the use of mobile communication technologies (e.g., the iPad) by children with complex communication needs. The discussion includes: Benefits of Mobile Communication Technology (1:00); the Assessment Process (4:00); Learning about New Apps (12:20); Intervention (15:25); Building Vocabulary and Language Skills (21:20); What’s Next? (25:20); Additional Resources (29:50)

Introduction to AAC

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Kathy Drager, Janice Light, & David McNaughton

Webcast Description

This introductory level webcast on “AAC and Children” by Kathy Drager, Janice Light, and David McNaughton (Penn State University) is designed as an introduction to the use of AAC. It focuses on ways to provide communication opportunities, model the use of AAC, pause, respond to the child, and most of all, to have fun!

This webcast was produced as part of the work of the AAC-RERC under grant #H133E080011 from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)in the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS). The production of this webcast also was funded by U.S. Department of Education grant H325K080333

The contents of this website are a joint offering of Penn State University and the RERC on AAC. They were developed, in part, under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant number 90REGE0014) to the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (RERC on AAC). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this website do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, or HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.