#TalkingAAC 2025

1. Networking Event - For those attending a Pre-Conference Workshop or arriving in East Lansing early, please join us on Wednesday, November 6th, at 7 pm EST in the auditorium at the Kellogg Center for a free viewing party of the film This is Not About Me sponsored by AssistiveWare. This documentary follows the story of Jordyn Zimmerman who shares what it is to be autistic and non-speaking. Light snacks will be provided with time to connect with the #TalkingAAC community.

Many students with extensive support needs who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) struggle to read or understand grade-level words, concepts, and texts. Explicit and robust vocabulary instruction can play an important part in addressing this need, with a call for greater investment of instructional time aimed at building students' receptive vocabulary and conceptual understandings. The session will focus on evidence-based practices for receptive vocabulary instruction and approaches for leveraging the high frequency words students are likely to have available on their AAC systems to express understanding of the words. The session will feature Building Bridges, a federally funded, open-source project. The session will feature a 5-day cycle as an example of an instructional sequence that applies evidence-based practices in vocabulary instruction, with a focus on how the sequence can be effectively adapted for students with extensive support needs who use AAC (Geist & Erickson, 2021). Participants will be provided access to free, web-based decision-making tools, instructional planning resources and a collection of example lessons.

We highly encourage you to BRING YOUR OWN DEVICE (e.g. iPad with AAC apps) for this hands on session. This presentation provides a real-life example of how one SLP trained her building to be better communication partners by providing hands-on activities that utilize the staff’s learning styles: competition, humor, and challenge. The presentation aims to provide family members, educators, therapists, consultants, and communication partners with a model of how to go about teaching or learning AAC strategies in a fun and low-pressure way. The ASHA practice portal identifies providing initial and ongoing training as a key role and responsibility of the school-based SLP (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (n.d.)) This model was created by pulling from a number of well-established and researched models, including SMORRES (Baud & Senner, 2016) and models of ongoing trainings to support staff learning opposed to one-time in-services (Andzik et al., 2019).

The model being described in this presentation was implemented by an SLP at a post-secondary school (students ages 18-26 years old). In the first year, all staff were asked to participate in a 10-week, once a week, 15-minute training session led by the SLP. In the second year, returning staff completed a 5 week, once a week, 15-minute training, while new staff participated in the full 10-week model. Each training session included a quick lesson on a specific AAC training (ex. Wait time, no hand-over-hand, prompting hierarchy, aided language input, etc.) and a short activity (ex. Uno, guess-who, shared book reading, etc.). After the second year, the SLP gave a survey to gather feedback regarding the training and plan for future implementation/modification. Survey results indicated:
-a wide variety of learning outcomes such as knowledge of different applications, software features (word finder, editing), difference between vocal communication and communicating with a device, etc.,
-half of the survey respondents thought the amount of training was good while the other half felt they would benefit from monthly refreshers following completion of the training model,
-after training, staff feel comfortable using a variety of communication devices and strategies within their classroom,
-staff model on average 10-20 times per day, and
-staff would like continued training on techniques to increase buy-in, learning new programs/softwares, editing/adding words, etc.

Since completing the second year of training and analyzing survey results, the SLP has utilized a number of other strategies to promote an AAC culture within the building including AAC groups, modeling competitions, positive praise, etc.

It has long been acknowledged that teaching and modeling core words is an appropriate place to begin intervention for AAC users. (www.project-core.com) Over my years as mother and homeschool teacher for a child with multiple disabilities including complex communication needs, I have utilized various plans for working on core vocabulary including Speak For Yourself Learning to Speak AACtion Plan and PrAACtical AAC’s Year of Core Word and School Year of Core Word resources.
When my son started combining core vocabulary to communicate across settings with varied communication partners and for different purposes, it seemed appropriate to consider his growing vocabulary needs. I began explicit instruction on additional tier 1 words beyond core and tier 2 words to increase his receptive and expressive language skills. (Comprehensive Literacy For All, Erickson and Koppenhaver.) I used instructional strategies such as examples/non examples, word relationships, and stories. (“Robust Receptive Vocabulary Instruction for Students With Significant Cognitive Disabilities Who Use AAC” Geist and Erickson, Teaching Exceptional Children.) While my experience is limited to working with one child, the frequency that new vocabulary was use spontaneously used mimics the reported research results that I’ve based my intervention on. In my session, I will share our journey and hope to encourage teachers, SLPs, and parents to consider explicit vocabulary instruction beyond core words.

Participants will be able to summarize why explicit vocabulary instruction beyond core words is needed for individuals with complex communication needs. Participants will complete hands-on activities with vocabulary words to better understand the role of the student and to build capacity for teaching others. Participants will be able to identify word lists for consideration, understand the role of using existing core vocabulary on a speech-generating device to build receptive vocabulary, and describe three strategies for teaching vocabulary.

Early in my career supporting emergent communicators, I relied on the prompt hierarchy to guide me.  Unfortunately, the outcome was often students who were completely dependent upon me to show or tell them what to say. What I was doing wasn’t resulting in autonomous communication, which I knew was the goal, and  I needed to change. In this session we will explore the reasons why we rely on prompts when teaching AAC and how prompting can interfere with autonomous communication. We will also apply basic knowledge of prelinguistic skills (engagement, joint attention, motivation, etc.) and expressive language development to determine appropriate goals and strategies for emergent communicators. Finally we will discuss strategies to assist prompt dependent AAC users to reduce their reliance on prompts and begin to generate their own messages by choosing motivating, open ended, student led activities. 

Students with complex communication and extensive support needs using AAC should receive emergent literacy instruction on a daily basis. Literacy learning is the one way we can ensure our students using AAC are able to communicate precisely and become competent communicators.  Unfortunately, this population of students is often left out of comprehensive literacy instruction. This presentation will share how we are providing direct emergent  literacy instruction in letter of the day, core word of the day, and daily shared reading experiences in a preschool special education classroom. You will see the students use a variety of communication systems including eye gaze, direct select, and other no tech supports. Communication, using core vocabulary, is easily embedded into these routines resulting in a multitude of daily communicative opportunities.

Shared reading and alphabet knowledge are two emergent literacy instructional routines discussed in Project-Core, a Stepping-Up Technology Implementation Grant directed by the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies. Shared reading is the interaction that occurs when a child and adult interact with a book together. The goal of the routine is interaction and connection with the adult, the child and the book. Ultimately, we want the child to drive the interaction. This alphabet instructional routine explicitly teaches the alphabet using a distributed practice model. Learning the alphabet is the foundation for our students to learn to spell and communicate.

In addition to the emergent literacy strategies discussed above we have added core vocabulary instruction. Explicit core vocabulary instruction for emergent communicators is another routine students using AAC can benefit from. Explicitly teaching the meaning and use of core words in engaging and language rich activities supports both receptive and expressive language learning.

This presentation will describe the three instructional routines and demonstrate the many ways our students began to participate. We will share how we got started, from navigating seating, mounts, CVI needs, and choosing communication systems. We will discuss our challenges and ultimately the successes as we provide communication and literacy learning to preschool students with extensive support needs.

This session will introduce several ways participants can use free resources to support AAC users, families, and educational teams. Tabi and Rachael will share an overview of the “Stepping Into AAC” materials, including hands-on activities, videos, and newsletters. These materials are available to the public at no charge, offering a time-saving resource to build early understanding of AAC principles. Examples will include:

• Applying these resources to early intervention services
• Using materials in educational settings, including staff training
• Building parent/family support groups for encouragement and accountability
• Supporting outpatient settings or other therapy teams

The unique challenges of each service delivery setting will be discussed, along with options for overcoming barriers to effective AAC use. Join us for an exploration of this rich and dynamic resource that you can start using in your setting immediately.
Outcomes:
1. Describe the three tiers of Stepping Into AAC training materials.
2. Explain how to access the Stepping Into AAC online, print, and video resources.
3. Discuss how to utilize these materials in early intervention, schools, and clinical settings.