A World of Resources
Foundational Literacy Work
Collaborative presentations with the Center for literacy and disability studies
ASHA Presentations
Teaching Core Vocabulary Words and Symbols to Students with Complex Communication Needs by Marlene Cummings, Dr. Penelope Hatch, Dr. Lori Geist, and Dr. Karen Erickson.
Shared Reading Versus Guided Reading for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities: What’s the Difference? by Dr. Penny Hatch, Marlene Cummings, and Dr. Karen Erickson.
A Core Issue: A Core Vocabulary for the Common Core by Penelope Hatch, Karen Erickson, Allison Dennis, and Marlene Cummings
Journey to the Core: Developing a Core Vocabulary for the Common Core by Dr. Penelope Hatch, Allison Dennis, and Marlene Cummings
ATIA Presentations
A Core Issue: A Core Vocabulary for the Common Core by Allison Dennis, Penelope Hatch, and Karen Erickson
Strengthening Your Core: A Core Vocabulary for the Common Core by Allison Dennis, Dr. Karen Erickson, and Dr. Penelope Hatch
Teaching Core Vocabulary Words and Symbols to Students with Complex Communication Needs by Dr. Penelope Hatch, Dr. Lori Geist, and Dr. Karen Erickson.
ISAAC Presentations
Creating a Core Vocabulary for Common Core Curriculum by Karen Erickson, Penelope Hatch, Allison Dennis, and Marlene Cummings
Getting to the Core: Creating a Core Vocabulary for the Common Core by Dr. Penelope Hatch and Allison Dennis
Reference Articles
How I Do It: An Implementation Toolbox
When we begin the process of implementing AAC it is important to consider our “thinking”. We always want to approach every student, every team and every classroom with as much wisdom and respect as possible.
One of my colleagues, Dr. Penny Hatch, from UNC Chapel Hill frequently draws us back to a concept called the “Least Dangerous Assumptions” written by Anne Donnellan in 1994. “Least Dangerous Assumption” states that in the absence of absolute evidence, it is essential to make the assumption that, if proven to be false, would be least dangerous to the individual…
Strengthening the Communication Environment
The first thing we want to ask: Is language being represented visibly?
We in AAC are often known by our “stuff”. Because we need to represent language visibly and love technology, we typically have a lot of “stuff”. I, for one, currently have a large storage unit holding 30+ years of “stuff” waiting to be distributed to all my new teams since I am no longer in the classroom.
Let’s start by looking around our instructional environment…
How I Do It: 5 Ways to Tell If Your Students are Becoming Competent Communicators
“Five Ways to Tell That Your Students are Becoming Competent Communicators”
Students are:
Participating in the purposes of communication by novelly generating multiple word phrases demonstrating a variety of communicative functions
Taking multiple communicative turns with multiple partners in multiple environments
Using words from many different word classes
Using words to talk about words
Using language to communicate and communicating to learn
Throughout the implementation of our “framework for success” we have attempted to periodically take “snapshots” of how our teams are doing and if we are moving closer to our target goal…
Online Webinars
Mindset Matters
Both parents and professionals spend a lot of time and energy on word lists, funding devices, laminating, and coming up with the activities to practice using AAC. What if some changes early on could make that work even more impactful? Join us as we reflect on one of the principles that are foundational to our work: our mindset & the mindset of those we work with. We will discuss the challenges that come along with self-reflection as educators shift towards being influencers rather than experts. Throughout this presentation, we will share resources to help teams consider their role in AAC learning.