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Registration Overview

Act now! We reach capacity and sell out every year.
Registration closes Friday, October 24, 2025 — or sooner if capacity is reached.

Ticket Options

  • #TalkingAAC: Pre-Conference Workshop
    Wednesday, November 5, 2025 | 12:00–4:00 PM
    Kellogg Center, East Lansing, MI

  • #TalkingAAC: Two-Day Conference
    Thursday & Friday, November 6–7, 2025

    • Build your schedule for this two-day event

    • Cost: $275

    • Price includes breakfast, lunch, & parking

NOTE: To attend all 3 days, you must purchase both a Pre-Conference Workshop ticket and a Two-Day Conference ticket.

Registration & Session Planning

All registration and session planning will be handled via Sched:

  • Click the green Log In or Sign Up button below to access Sched.

  • Then proceed to purchase your ticket(s).

  • After you’ve purchased your ticket(s), you can plan which sessions you’d like to attend.

Meals, Parking, & Lodging Meals (Included with Two-Day Conference)

  • Continental Breakfast – Thursday & Friday

  • Lunch & Drink – Thursday & Friday

Parking (Included)

  • Overnight Guests:
    Get your parking pass at hotel check-in and display it on your dashboard.

  • Non-Overnight Guests:

    • Register your vehicle on-site via QR code (posted near registration).

    • Bring your license plate number.

    • Do not register your vehicle more than once per day.

Note: Please consider carpooling to reduce on-campus traffic.

Lodging

  • View the 2025 Lodging Options for hotel blocks and discount codes.

  • Reminder: Pre-Conference Workshops begin at 12:00 PM on Nov. 5 to allow extra travel time.

Terms & Conditions

#TalkingAAC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established for continued education.

Refunds & Ticket Transfers

  • Refunds available up to 10 days before the event (Sched & Stripe fees are non-refundable).

  • Ticket transfers (e.g., to a coworker) may be approved before October 24, 2025.

Continuing Education

  • All attendees will receive a Certificate of Attendance.

  • Note for 2025: SCECH hours will not be offered this year.

  • ASHA CEUs are not provided. SLPs will receive a Verification of Attendance form to self-report professional learning hours to ASHA.

Networking & Swag

  • Networking Event – Details coming soon!

  • Merchandise – #TalkingAAC gear available for purchase on-site.

Stay Informed

Watch for updates from #TalkingAAC and Sched with session details and reminders as the event approaches.

Questions?

www.talkingaac.org
info@talkingaac.org

517-299-5200
← Back to schedule
Are we Approaching AAC Modeling all Wrong? Lessons from Early Language Development and “Motherese”
Friday November 7, 2025 12:15pm - 1:30pm EST
Aided language input, or modeling, has become the go-to intervention for teaching AAC. Communication partners are generally encouraged to adopt several modeling strategies, including emphasizing core words, modeling only key words, attributing meaning, verbal referencing, and modeling a slightly longer message than the user can produce. These practices have emerged from research originally conducted decades ago by pioneering researchers such as Carole Goossens, Maryanne Romski, Rose Sevcik, and Cathy Binger. The goal of AAC modeling has always been to replicate how speaking children learn language through receptive input. However, the reality is that modeling AAC is difficult and most communication partners end up modeling very little. 
In this session, we will explore the role of language input to support comprehension for children learning language through AAC. We will evaluate how a variety of common modeling strategies align with the receptive input received by speaking children, and we will consider why partners often find it difficult to model AAC. We will revisit some of the original research on AAC modeling and see how the original practices have changed over time. Finally, we will propose changes to modeling practice based in the study of “motherese”, receptive language development, the original research on AAC modeling, and the cognitive and developmental needs of both communication partners and AAC users. Come join the conversation on what is working, and not working, in current modeling practice.
Presenters
avatar for Barbara van ’t Westende

Barbara van ’t Westende

AssistiveWare
Barbara is a speech language therapist with over 20 years of experience working in a special education school in the Netherlands. At AssistiveWare, she applied research on parent support to help develop the Coach app, the companion app to Proloquo designed to support families starting... Read More →
avatar for Pam Harris

Pam Harris

AssistiveWare
Pam has been a part of AssistiveWare for 15 years starting on the Support team. Today, she contributes to our social media content by sharing her insights and advice. Pam also helped develop the Proloquo Coach app, the companion app to Proloquo, designed to support families starting... Read More →
Friday November 7, 2025 12:15pm - 1:30pm EST
  General Session

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