#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

7:00pm EST

FREE Networking Event: Viewing Party of the film "This is Not About Me" sponsored by AssistiveWare

Wednesday November 6, 2024 7:00pm - 9:00pm EST

Auditorium

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.

Wednesday November 6, 2024 7:00pm - 9:00pm EST
Auditorium

Networking

9:45am EST

Robust Vocabulary Instruction for Students With Extensive Support Needs Who Use AAC

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

Auditorium

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.

Presenters

Lori Geist

PhD, CCC-SLP

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

Literacy

12:15pm EST

An AAC Training Model to Bring Back to Your Staff - Note! Bring Your Own Device

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

Auditorium

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.

Presenters

Shannon McEnroe

MS, CCC-SLP

Shannon currently works for Northwest Education Services as a speech-language pathologist in the post-secondary program. Shannon also serves as the Regional Director of Kids On The Go - Traverse City, a non-profit organization focused on providing free summer therapy to children with... Read More →

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

Lifespan

1:45pm EST

Vocabulary Instruction After Core: Does It Matter and How Do We Accomplish It?

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

Auditorium

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.

Presenters

Kim Rankin

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

Literacy

8:15am EST

Confessions of an Over Prompter: How to Stop Prompting and Start Fostering Autonomous Communication

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

Auditorium

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.

Presenters

Kristen Strong

AAC Consultant, Oakland Schools

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

Mindset

9:45am EST

Emergent Literacy & Core Vocabulary Instructional Strategies in the ECSE Classroom

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

Auditorium

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.

Presenters

Marlene Cummings

M.A., CCC-SLP, MRCCommunications

Marlene Cummings, M.A., CCC-SLP is an Augmentative/Alternative Communication Consultant. She specializes in designing innovative implementation systems utilizing cutting edge professional learning frameworks and dynamic service delivery models to build capacity and sustainability... Read More →

Lori Frohock

M.A. CCC-SLP, Lake Orion Community Schools

Lori Frohock M.A. CCC-SLP is a Speech and Language Pathologist servicing preschool students in the public schools. She has over 20 years experience providing speech and language services to the preschool population.

Arianne Stephens

Early Childhood Special Education Teacher

Arianne Stephens is an ECSE teacher with Lake Orion Community Schools. Arianne has taught preschool for ten with five years in the Early Childhood Special Education Classroom.

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

Literacy

12:15pm EST

Stepping Into AAC: Exploring Paths to Use Training Resources to Build AAC Experience

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

Auditorium

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.

Presenters

Tabi Jones-Wohleber

MS, CCC-SLP

Rachael Langley

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

Special Interest