Writing IEP Goals for Students that Use AAC

We are upon IEP season, which means we are busy coordinating and hosting meetings for our students and are thinking of ways to support students across the span of the school year.  If you are already working in collaboration with your school's Speech and Language Pathologist to develop goals for students on your caseload that have a communication device, it would be worthwhile for you to review this document which provides some guidelines for creating IEP goals for AAC users.  It has a list of considerations for you to use when formulating a goal that you would like to have your team assist in supporting the student who is an AAC user.  Robin Parker and Carole Zangari have developed this amazing document that you may want to consult, along with your division's Speech and Language Pathologist, to consider some ways to further your student's progress and development with AAC use.  See a few other resources on their blog page.

Great Blog for You

If you are a resource teacher working with a student who has communication needs and you haven't started following Robin Parker's PrAACtical AAC blog, I would highly recommend it. Parker's posts on Wednesdays are themed, Watch it Wednesdays and today's post has all to do with considering ways that you can build communication opportunities into your students' daily routines.  When I clicked on the link to the YouTube video, I was directed to a great collection of video resources that you could use with students who have a variety of disabilities or social concerns.  Check out the Watson Institute's YouTube Channel here if you are interested in watching some short and valuable videos to support students with whom you are working.

Best Speech and Language Blogs

Through my Facebook account, I subscribe to a wonderful website called Technology in Education.  My news feed is constantly bombarded by posts about new apps that have come up at a reduced cost, very applicable to my daily work.  As this month was Speech and Hearing Awareness Month, Tech in Ed. recently created a webpage dedicated to the best speech and language blogs.  As one of my major focuses this year was AAC, I was immediately drawn to the write-up about PrAACtical AAC, a blog maintained by Robin Parker and Carole Zangari, professors teaching courses in Speech and Language Pathology.  Their blog is a great resource for practical and supportive language development strategies for individuals with alternative and augmentative communication needs.  You can view a video of the week, read a strategy of the month, and find great suggestions for setting up an AAC program for students needing to use alternative means of communication.  Check out this wonderful blog here or follow Robin Parker on Twitter @parkerrobin.