Spring 2014 comes to a close, but the participants on the Children's Communicative Competence Project are taking off!

The MS students on the Children’s Communicative Competence Grant have been keeping busy!
In addition to the coursework which completes the standard requirements for ASHA certification, the members of the Children’s Communicative Competence Grant just finished another semester of additional specialized focus towards better understanding the process of feature matching the unique needs of individuals with what technology can help support improved communication opportunities and effectiveness.
These students also have just finished their first semester of direct clinical experiences in evidence based practices to work with individuals who have complex communication needs and their families and/or school teams.  Interventions have incorporated multimodal approaches to support receptive and expressive language, operational and strategic skills, and literacy.
The AAC community is committed to collaborative learning, and Colloquium provides a weekly forum for sharing about experiences, learning from one another, and practicing public speaking/advocacy.  Raissa Dempsey and Alyssa Gatto (above) shared with the group the similarities and differences of their experiences working with preteens to address access to literacy, and Emily Townsend (at right) reviewed a dynamic assessment and intervention approach towards supporting the needs of an individual following a brainstem impairment.
Soon the group will head out to off-site placements for the remainder of the summer.  This is the first of two opportunities to be fully immersed in direct day-to-day service within settings such as hospitals, rehab centers, and specialized schools.