AAC for School-age Children with Intellectual Disabilities: Strategies for Long-Term Intervention — Webinar

Wilkinson, K. (2009).  Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) for School-Age Children with Intellectual Disabilities:  Strategies for Long-Term Intervention.  Retrieved from American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).  [On-line]
This program examines how to construct an evidence-based intervention program for aided AAC instruction for children with intellectual disabilities.   The focus of this program is school-age children whose communication is at the earliest stages (“emerging” and “context-dependent” communicators).  Participants learn preferred practices for symbol and vocabulary selection, goal-setting, and intervention strategies. Some of the difficult tradeoffs in aided AAC are discussed, as well as methods for choosing between available options. The course presents two case studies to illustrate the decision-making process.
Recorded lectures, interactive exercises, video clips, additional resources, and an exam are included.
Learning Outcomes
You will be able to:
• describe the patterns of communication in “emerging” and “context-dependent” communicators and recommend short- and long-term goals for children with these profiles
• identify some of the tradeoffs between aided AAC intervention and oral communication and discuss recommended practices for decision-making when balancing these tradeoffs
• develop a system (including symbol set, vocabulary, access method, and communication goals) targeting long-term goals for two case studies
• discuss the role of communication partners in intervention, including the role of augmented input
• examine several intervention strategies for providing augmented input