AAC Learning Center

Educational resources for AAC

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.

Teaching Reading and Writing to a Learner with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Complex Communication Needs

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AnnaThis module provides an introduction to literacy instruction for learners with complex communication needs, and describes the impact of literacy instruction for Anna, a young girl with autism spectrum disorders ( ASD).

The major topics include:

The sky is only the beginning: Living life without limits

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Godfrey Nazareth

Webcast Description

Godfrey Nazareth is a biomedical engineer who makes use of AAC to communicate with others. In this presentation (including a question and answer session) with a graduate class in augmentative and alternative communication at Penn State University, Godfrey describes his experiences as a person with a diagnosis of ALS, and his use of AAC to support his life as a husband, a father, a medical researcher,  avionics expert, and airplane pilot.

Godfrey is also a co-leader of the RERC on AAC Dissemination and Training Team, and has played a key role in the RERC on AAC Student Research and Design Competition.

Additional Resources

Transcript as pdf 

AAC for aphasia: Visual Scene Displays

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  • David R. Beukelman, Ph.D.,
  • Karen Hux, Ph.D.,
  • Kristy Weissling, MA, CCC,
  • Aimee Dietz, MS, CCC,
  • Miechelle McKelvey, MA, CCC

Webcast Description
This presentation will review the research and development activities associated with the Visual Scenes Display (VSD) Project at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln .
Specifically:

  • The VSD interface will be demonstrated
  • The strategies for capturing and entering content for individuals with aphasia who rely on AAC will be discussed
  • Examples of VSD setups for specific individuals will be presented
  • Intervention outcomes will be reported.
  • Support Activities and Materials

 Additional Resources

Augmentative Communication News: Visual Scene Displays (August 2004)
This issue provides information on the use of Visual Scene Displays with beginning communicators and individuals with significant cognitive and/or linguistic limitations (pdf)

Visual Scene Displays (University of Nebraska)
University of Nebraska site for downloading Visual Scene Templates (link)

AAC for persons with primary progressive aphasia

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Melanie Fried-Oken, Ph.D.,
Oregon Health and Science University

Webcast Description

Melanie Fried-Oken describes her research on AAC intervention for people with primary progressive aphasia.

Key findings include that people with primary progressive aphasia

  • are more successful in communication when they use AAC
  • can use AAC both with family members as well as clinical researchers
  • can make use not only of low tech communication boards, but also natural AAC supports (photo albums, newspapers, maps) available in their daily environments.

This webcast include both data and video from the research study, as well as videos by individuals with primary progressive aphasia (and their family members) discussing their experiences with primary progressive aphasia, and the positive impact of AAC. The webcast provides evidence, from a controlled experiment, that AAC is an important and valid intervention for people with progressive aphasia in clinical and natural settings. 

Additional Resources

• Bourgeois, M. , Fried-Oken, M. & Rowland, C. (2010, March 16). AAC Strategies and Tools for Persons With Dementia. The ASHA Leader. (full text)

• Beukelman, D.R., Garrett, K. L., & Yorkston, K. (2007). Augmentative Communication Strategies for Adults with Acute or Chronic Medical Conditions. Brookes Publishing, Baltimore, MD.(Ordering Information)

Supporting Conversation

  • Guidelines for communicating with persons with language difficulties (full text)
  • Helpful hints for conversation (full text)

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 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.
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