webcast

AAC & technology: What’s communication equity got to do with it? (Williams, 2024)

Bob Williams

Bob Williams is the Policy Director of CommunicationFIRST, and has advanced the rights and opportunities of children, working age persons and older adults with disabilities for over 40 years by creating community living services, helping to pass the ADA, and administering the federally funded developmental disabilities and independent living networks.

Webcast Description

This presentation was first made at the Future of AAC Research Summit on May 13, 2024.

Please cite as

Williams, B. (2024, May 13). AAC & technology: What’s communication equity got to do with it?. [Conference session]. Future of AAC Research Summit, Arlington, VA. https://tinyurl.com/AAC-Williams-equity-2024

Video production by Rylie Mueller (Penn State University)

Additional Resources

Williams, B. (2025). AAC and technology: what’s communication equity got to do with it? Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1080/07434618.2025.2504495

Williams, B. (2024). See us – Hear us. [YouTube video].

Williams, B. (2021). Spelling it out: The ADA and the right to community. [Blogpost]

Williams, B. (2023). Unjustly isolated, silenced, and deprived of literacy and freedom of expression… Remarks to the Office for Civil Rights, US Department of Education by CommunicationFIRST Policy Director Bob Williams.

To include us in our own worlds, AAC is not optional (Koloni, 2024)

Ren Koloni

Ren Koloni, pronouns they/them, is a justice worker and Program Associate at CommunicationFIRST. As a multiply disabled and chronically ill autistic person with some access to speech, they’ve been doing justice work from the sickbed for over a decade. They earned a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Gender Studies from the University of Mary Washington and a master’s in English from George Washington University, where they focused on disability and racial justice through the lens of trauma studies and narrative.

Webcast Description

Ren Koloni provides their perspective on priorities for the field of AAC. This presentation was first made at the Future of AAC Research Summit on May 13, 2024.

Cite as

Koloni, R. (2024, May 13). To include us in our own worlds, AAC is NOT optional [Conference session]. Future of AAC Research Summit, Arlington, VA. https://tinyurl.com/AAC-Koloni-2024

(Transcript as pdf)

Video production by Ren Koloni and CommunicationFIRST

Additional Resources

Koloni, R. (2021, November 15). Getting to know assistive technology. The RAISE Center.

AAC Interventions to Maximize Language

Dr. Janice Light (Penn State University)

Webcast Description
Young children who have significant communication disabilities are at risk in all aspects of their development. Early AAC intervention is essential to maximize outcomes. This session will report on the results of a research project, funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research as part of the AAC-RERC.The session will discuss:
(1) effective designs for AAC systems to better meet the needs and skills of young children, and
(2) effective techniques to implement AAC with young children who have significant communication disabilities (ages 0-3) and their families.Implications for effective evidence-based practice will be discussed using case studies to illustrate the effects of these interventions on language and communication development. With early access to appropriate AAC technologies and services, young children with significant communication disabilities will be better able to build the language and communication skills that they require to achieve their full potential and maximize outcomes.

Additional Resources
The AAC and Early Intervention Website provides guidelines for supporting the development of language skills for learners with special needs, especially learners with complex communication needs.
A 10-item quiz based on the content of this webcast, is available at the AAC Learning Center Moodle. You will need to register at the AAC Learning Center Moodle in order to complete the quiz. Upon successful completion of the quiz, you will be able to download a Certificate of Completion.

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)

Maximizing Literacy Skills

Dr. Janice Light & Dr. David McNaughton (Penn State University)

Webcast Description

Literacy skills are critical for individuals who require AAC. Unfortunately, many individuals who require AAC experience significant difficulties in acquiring literacy skills.

This session will discuss effective evidence-based practices to maximize the literacy skills of individuals who require AAC. Case studies (including video) will be used to illustrate effective interventions to help student who require AAC:
(a) acquire phonological awareness skills,
(b) learn to read words,
(c) participate in shared reading activities with personalized books, and
(d) write their own stories.
With appropriate instruction, individuals who require AAC can achieve improved literacy skills and will be able to maximize their educational and vocational outcomes.

Additional Resources

The AAC Literacy website provides guidelines for teaching literacy skills to learners with special needs, especially learners with complex communication needs

A 10-item quiz based on the content of this webcast, is available at the AAC Learning Center Moodle. You will need to register at the AAC Learning Center Moodle in order to complete the quiz. Upon successful completion of the quiz, you will be able to download a Certificate of Completion.

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)

Supporting Communication of Individuals with Minimal Movement

Susan Fager, Ph.D. CCC/SLP Institute for Rehabilitation Science and Engineering at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, Lincoln, Nebraska

David Beukelman,Ph.D. CCC/SLP University of Nebraska, Lincoln Institute for Rehabilitation Science and Engineering at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, Lincoln, Nebraska Munroe-Meyer Institute, University of Nebraska Medical Center

Webcast Description For many years we have provided AAC services to people with minimal movement capability. Their medical conditions include brainstem stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Guillan Barre’ Syndrome, and chronic myasthenia gravis. As with others who rely on AAC, these people are multi-modal communicators in that they use high and low technology options depending upon the situation and the listener. High technology options include commercially available devices as well as technology under development. During the past year, we have provided presentations related to our work in this area at RESNA, the World Congress on Disability, and ATIA. In this webcast we present the content of those presentation through an interactive discussion format.

Additional Resources

Slides and handouts

Transcript of presentation (pdf)
Transcript of presentation (txt)
Powerpoint slides as a handout (pdf)

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)