#TalkingAAC 2024: Full Schedule

NEW FOR 2024!

Pre-Conference Workshops - Select ONE 4-hour Pre-Conference workshop that will be held IN-PERSON on Wed, November 6th, 2024 from 12 pm - 4 pm at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing, MI. To attend all 3 days of the conference, you must purchase BOTH one Pre-Conference Workshop ticket and one IN-PERSON 2-day conference ticket. (Please note Pre-Conference Workshops will not begin until 12 Noon on Wednesday, November 6th to provide out-of-areas additional travel time to East Lansing.) Pre-Conference Workshop Registration $80
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.
ON-DEMAND Content - A new, separate asynchronous learning option has been added this year with FOUR (4) ON-DEMAND 75-minute, pre-recorded sessions. BONUS: All IN-PERSON attendees will also receive access to this recorded content included with their 2-day conference registration! The ON-DEMAND sessions will be accessed through the Sched registration portal. Recordings will be available beginning at the end of the conference on November 8, 2024 through December 31, 2024. There will be NO live-streaming of sessions in 2024. On Demand Content Registration $60
Swag - #TalkingAAC merchandise will be available on-site for purchase.
Streamlined Registration - Conference registration, ticket sales, and your in-person 2-day conference session planning guide will all occur in one platform this year - Sched. Below, click the green "log in" box if you have a Sched account already or click the green "sign up" box to create a new Sched account, then proceed to purchase ticket(s). 2-Day In Person Conference Registration $265

MEALS, PARKING, & LODGING FOR 2024!
1. Breakfast - a light continental breakfast will be available on Thursday and Friday at no additional charge.
2. Lunch - participants will receive a lunch and drink on Thursday and Friday at no additional charge.
3. Parking - is expedited and included with your registration fees.
Parking - Overnight Guests-: Upon checking into your hotel, you will receive a parking pass. Please display this pass on your dashboard.
Parking - Non-Overnight Guests: You will not need to use the parking kiosks. Instead, you will find signage at and near the registration table with a QR code to register your vehicle. Please have your license plate number ready for this process.
VERY IMPORTANT: All attendees driving to the Kellogg Center will need their license plate number. Please consider carpooling to reduce the number of vehicles on campus. Please be mindful of this process and do not register your vehicle more than once per day. We appreciate your cooperation in following these parking guidelines. If you have any questions, please contact info@talkingaac.org. The #TalkingAAC Team will be available during registration to assist you in this process.
4. Lodging - for lodging information, view the 2024 #TalkingAAC lodging options document for a list of hotels with blocks reserved and discount lodging codes for this conference. For those attending a Pre-Conference Workshop, please note sessions will not begin until noon on Wednesday, November 6th to provide out-of-town/state attendees additional travel time to East Lansing.

Event Instructions or Terms and Conditions

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

5. REFUNDS & TICKET TRANSFERS

Refunds are available up to 10 days before the event. SCHED & STRIPE fees are non-refundable.
Registration transfers (changing the name on the registration to a coworker, for example) may be considered before October 28, 2024.

6. CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDITS & HOURS

SCECH will be offered for educators licensed in Michigan.
While ASHA CEU’s are not provided to SLPs for this course, participants will be given an ASHA "Verification of Attendance" form to self-track these hours.
Every attendee will receive a certificate of attendance.

As the date for this conference approaches, you will receive updates from #TalkingAAC and SCHED. Stay tuned for additional session information!

In late October, you will select your sessions and plan your conference agenda.

Questions? Check out www.talkingaac.org or email info@talkingaac.org

9:45am EST

Turning a Wish into a Working Document

Thursday November 7, 2024 9:45am - 11:00am EST

104 A/B

Clinicians often find that successful use of AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) in schools involves more than evaluating and acquiring a device. Successful implementation requires a detailed analysis of how best to meet a student’s communication needs in various settings, while still honoring the student’s multimodal communication efforts. An implementation plan can greatly facilitate this process.

This session will offer teachers and SLPs an example of creating a comprehensive communication implementation plan. This plan, which has been piloted and revised over five years, was created to ensure that all steps, strategies, actions, and resources for successful AAC outcomes are documented and acknowledged across communication partners and settings. The form is based on current research and clinical best practices and weaves together concepts from Joy Zabala’s SETT Framework, The Lippitt-Knoster Model for Managing Complex Change, The Participation Model (Beukelman and Mirenda), and the Zone of Proximal Development. It also encourages evidenced-based practices including: Aided Language Stimulation, Communication Competencies (Janice Light), communication partner training, functions of communication (Janice Light), robust communication tools, core vocabulary, Descriptive Teaching Method (Gail Van Tatenhove), and debunking AAC Myths. Most importantly, this plan incorporates personal preferences and insights from the AAC user and familiar communication partners. This presentation will offer several case studies demonstrating how the thoughtful construction of an implementation plan can encourage evidence-based practices and support teams in identifying the routines needed to implement the AAC tool with success.

Presenters

Mary Giunta

M.A.CCC-SLP

Mary Giunta has thirty years of experience as a speech pathologist who has had the privilege of working in the area of AAC. Previous work settings included hospitals, outpatient clinics and early intervention. Since 2008, Mary's main role has been focusing on assisting school teams... Read More →

Thursday November 7, 2024 9:45am - 11:00am EST
104 A/B

Mindset

12:15pm EST

"Tell me Everything": Using Digital Assistants to Promote Independence

Thursday November 7, 2024 12:15pm - 1:30pm EST

104 A/B

Digital assistants can be integrated into weekly speech therapy sessions to teach clients that they are a portal to information that can be accessed at any point through a series of steps. The steps to access digital assistancs vary depending on the user's communication strengths (i.e., using their voice, using direct-selections on an iPad, and/or using their eyes to activate buttons on an iPad through infrared technology). Clients and their families learn to build trust in the technology by using skills learned in therapy for generalization into the home using the same portal.

The perception of digital assistants could be a privacy concern because they have a recording feature, but it can be turned off in a simple procedure where you choose not to save voice recording and opt out of voice recording. For example, to ensure that client and staff privacy are at the forefront of decision making, the following features need to be enabled on Alexa:
Go to Alexa App>Alexa Privacy> Manage your Alexa Data> Don’t Save Recordings
Go to Alexa App>Alexa Privacy>Manage your Alexa Data>Help Improve Alexa>Uncheck “Use of Voice Recordings”

Through the use of digital assistants, clients can learn independence and autonomy in the areas of communication, environmental access, medical support, and/or socialization.

Communication independence and autonomy can look like asking “What’s the date?”, “What is the Day of the week?”, “What is the time?”, “What is the weather?”, “When is the holiday?”.
Environmental independence and autonomy can look like using digital assistants to turn the lights off/on, turn on the TV, open/close doors, run the vacuum, and/or start the laundry.
Medical independence and autonomy can look like asking digital assistants to remind me to take my medicine, ask when a doctor’s appointment occurs, set a wake-up, set a timer, and/or make a to-do list.
Socialization independence and autonomy can look like digital assistants dropping-in on a family or friend, telling a joke, telling the news, playing a game, listening to music, and participating in cooking with recipes.

In addition,digital assistants features can be taught to promote clients’ independent knowledge seeking (Alexa read me a book, Alexa spell____), dual language capabilities (Translation from English to Spanish), and for adaptive listening mode (Recognize different speech patterns like stuttering and gives more time to finish speaking).

Digital assistants are an influential therapy tool that can be used as a portal to access information independently for all communicators.

Presenters

Megan A Covey

M.S., CCC-SLP/L, Westside Children’s Therapy

Megan Alano Covey, M.S., CCC-SLP is an ASHA certified and state licensed speech-language pathologist with experience working with children and young adults with complex communication needs. She practices at Westside Children’s Therapy where she specializes in providing augmentative... Read More →

Thursday November 7, 2024 12:15pm - 1:30pm EST
104 A/B

Access

1:45pm EST

A Discussion on Intimate Relationships for AAC Users

Thursday November 7, 2024 1:45pm - 3:00pm EST

104 A/B

This session explores the challenges AAC users face in finding, building, and maintaining intimate relationships. It is very easy to become hyperfocused on the technology, vocabulary, and other minutiae of AAC. Everyone supporting an AAC user needs to take a step back and remember the purpose of AAC is to form relationships. It is very important not to neglect relationship goals that AAC users might have. It is also important to remember that AAC users have the same emotional needs as everybody else, and we all need to help support them so they can participate in the fullest possible range of human experiences. To that end, participants will leave the session being more mindful of the importance of supporting their clients’ development of communicative competence.

A discussion of communicative competence will be at the beginning of the session as it is the foundation for building any type of relationship. It is composed of three constructs: functionality of communication, adequacy of communication, and sufficiency of knowledge, judgment, and skill. In addition, there are psychosocial factors such as motivation, attitude, confidence, and resilience. The presentation will explore these areas.
There are many possible reasons an AAC user could find it challenging to form intimate relationships. There can be physical, developmental, or cognitive differences on top of the communication differences, and the presenter will explore some of these potential challenges. These challenges may include:
• Pragmatic and receptive language challenges
• There is often uncertainty around when and how to disclose a disability before or during the first date.
• Understanding safe sexual practices and consent
• For individuals needing a personal care attendant, it can be a challenge to get privacy with a potential partner and to negotiate boundaries with a PCA
• Social Security rules that disincentivize disabled adults getting married
• Being in the LGBT community
• Societal attitudes towards the sexuality of persons with disabilities
There is a myriad of potential challenges. It is the presenter’s goal to inspire attendees to think more about how AAC can be utilized to increase the quality of life of AAC users. The presenter wants the participants to understand potential barriers and to support whatever steps are necessary for an AAC user to have emotional experiences which are as rich and broad as possible. Furthermore, the presenter wants the participants to understand that many AAC users want a partner and to experience the same intimate bond that most people have the luxury of taking for granted.

Presenters

Lance McLemore

Ambassador, PRC-Saltillo

Lance McLemore is a man on the autism spectrum who uses Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). He currently lives in Alabama. He is an ambassador for the Prentke Romich Company and the Center for AAC and Autism.Lance states, "Before I had a way to meaningfully communicate... Read More →

Thursday November 7, 2024 1:45pm - 3:00pm EST
104 A/B

Special Interest

8:15am EST

Enhancing Narrative Retell Skills with AAC Users

Friday November 8, 2024 8:15am - 9:30am EST

104 A/B

This exciting session aims to share strategies to support narrative retell skills among augmentative-alternative communication (AAC) users. Attendees will gain practical strategies and insights to facilitate the development of narrative language abilities crucial for academic success and social communication.

The AAC partner teams of speech-language pathologists and special education teachers will begin with the introduction of various tools and resources, some of their common principles, as well as there adaptability for AAC users. Next, the educators will underline the significance of narrative language in academic, social, and cognitive development for individuals in diverse classroom communities who use a variety of AAC systems. Documented measurable outcomes of AAC users by the teams include increased message length and complexity, more complete narrative form, expressive vocabulary growth, and increased comprehension through personal connections. Additional benefits include increased ability to repair communication breakdowns and integrated use of AAC to supplement mouth speech. Descriptions of implementation strategies and data-driven decision making will show how the team monitors progress and adjusts intervention plans accordingly. Lastly, the presenters will highlight the role of collaboration among AAC users, family members, caregivers, educators, and therapists in supporting narrative skill development for optimal generalization and functional application of skills.

Enhancing narrative retell skills is essential for AAC users to engage meaningfully in academic tasks, participate in meaningful and authentic social interactions, and express themselves effectively. By integrating tools and strategies presented, attendees will be equipped to address this critical aspect of communication, leading to improved outcomes in literacy, academic achievement, and overall quality of life for individuals using AAC.

Presenters

Samantha Czasak

SLP, MISD-Peters

Tammy Martoni

M.A., CCC-SLP, MISD

Tammy Martoni has worked in the Macomb Intermediate School District for approximately 25 years as a Speech-Language Pathologist. She is privileged to work at Glen Peters School with students across the age span who benefit from moderate-to-high levels of support. Tammy is passionate... Read More →

Friday November 8, 2024 8:15am - 9:30am EST
104 A/B

Literacy

9:45am EST

Enhancing Direct AAC Access: Quick Wins for Immediate Impact

Friday November 8, 2024 9:45am - 11:00am EST

104 A/B

Direct selection is the preferred method of access for AAC apps. It is efficient, simple, and reduces cognitive load. However, some AAC users still struggle with default settings, which can lower their success, confidence, and interest. This session will cover small but impactful settings in iOS and communication apps that can positively impact the independence and experience of AAC users in their communication journey. Customizing visual presentation, button interaction, and auditory settings can help develop efficient motor skills for direct selection, allowing AAC users to focus on language and communication development. In addition to adjusting grid size, most robust AAC apps offer a variety of setting options to modify direct access interactions. This supports fine-tuning features to subtly change how apps respond to an AAC user's touch. Adding visual and auditory supports to touch interactions can improve accuracy and interest with neurodiverse learners. We will also discuss iOS settings for adding accessory tools such as a mouse or stylus to enhance direct selection success. Additional iOS setting features can be used to improve direct touch access outcomes and engagement with keyboard options and accessibility settings. Furthermore, this session will highlight the importance of positioning, both in terms of the device and the user's body, to improve direct selection access. Participants will leave with programming setting workflows for implementing auditory feedback, release time delays, and visual cues. Finally, once we have increased the confidence and independence of our direct select AAC users, we will explore iOS settings options in Guided Access and Assistive Access to ensure consistent AAC app access. By leveraging iOS settings, AAC app features, and considering positioning or external tools, we can create an environment that helps AAC users transition from being ‘nearly there’ to confidently independent.

Presenters

Tracie Schanen

AT Consultant, Livingston ESA

Tracie has been an Assistive Technology Consultant for the past 4 years with Livingston Educational Service Agency in Howell, Michigan. She supports both center-based and county-wide district teams with the AT and AAC consideration process and implementation across ages 0-26. Tracie... Read More →

Friday November 8, 2024 9:45am - 11:00am EST
104 A/B

Access

12:15pm EST

Evaluating and Sharing Books for Disability Understanding and Advocacy

Friday November 8, 2024 12:15pm - 1:30pm EST

104 A/B

The library and education worlds talk about the importance of books as doors, windows, and mirrors for kids to see themselves as leaders and heroes, as well as kids with different lived experiences. But when fewer than 4% of kids books published every year feature a disabled character, and fewer than that are authentic representation, how can we best help our kids see themselves in the wider world and develop pride in themselves? Or for their peers to understand disability as a valid and important aspect of diversity? Children’s librarian Shelley Harris is back to dive deeper on how libraries can support disabled kids and their families. We will evaluate books featuring disabled characters and discuss how to use them with disabled kids and their peers to build understanding and advocacy skills. Bring your list of favorites (and/or ones to avoid!) to share and discuss.

Presenters

Shelley Harris

BS Speech and Hearing, MLIS, Oak Park Public Library

Shelley Harris, MLIS, is a children’s librarian in Oak Park, IL with a passion for early literacy, serving and celebrating the disability community, and exploring technology. She has a younger brother with a rare genetic syndrome who has used AAC for almost 30 years, which inspired... Read More →

Friday November 8, 2024 12:15pm - 1:30pm EST
104 A/B

Literacy