Session 4A - AAC for ALL: Culturally and Linguistically Affirming Services (A 2-hour session)

Speaker: Gloria Soto
 **this session will be 2 hours and include a 15-minute break.**
 
Session Description:
In the US many clients in need of AAC services come from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds. Although in principle, service providers may see the need to preserve their clients’ home languages and cultures, they may lack the knowledge and means to do so. Both intrinsic (e.g., second language competency, beliefs, ‘monolingual’ mindset) and extrinsic factors (e.g., lack of resources) may account for service providers’ clinical decisions and choices on language use. Appropriate AAC service delivery to clients from CLD backgrounds requires not only appropriate technologies but also research-based evidence on the efficacy of intervention approaches.  This presentation will describe the principles of a culturally and linguistically affirming approach to AAC and the existing evidence supporting that course of action. These principles and evidence will be applied to five broad areas of AAC practice including 
a) culturally responsive AAC assessment;
b) culturally responsive AAC intervention;
c) culturally responsive collaborative teaming;
d) culturally responsive development of AAC applications to support language development in children who are exposed to more than one language; and
e) family-professional partnerships to support the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse clients.

f) culturally responsive AAC assessment;
g) culturally responsive AAC intervention;
h) culturally responsive collaborative teaming;
i) culturally responsive development of AAC applications to support language development in children who are exposed to more than one language; and
j) family-professional partnerships to support the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse clients

Objectives:
  • Describe and address the main challenges in providing AAC services to children with complex communication needs from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
  • Describe resources for multifaceted assessment and intervention plans that address the cultural and linguistic needs of clients from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
  • Generate culturally and linguistically responsive goals and objectives for students who use AAC
 
Speaker Bio:
Gloria SotoGloria Soto, Ph.D., is a Professor at San Francisco State University with a joint appointment in the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences and the Department of Special Education. She is the co-director of Project AAC for ALL, a personnel preparation project to train Speech, Language Therapists, and Special Education Teachers on the provision of AAC to dual language learners with disabilities. 

Dr. Soto specializes in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Her research focuses on language development and intervention for children and youth who use AAC, inclusive educational practices, and the provision of AAC services to children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Current research projects involve the development of best practices for the equitable provision of AAC services to ‘minoritized’ students, the investigation of discourse-based interventions on the linguistic skills of children and youth who use AAC, the validation of a protocol for the analysis of aided language samples in Spanish, and vocabulary selection for bilingual Spanish-English users of AAC.

Among Dr. Soto’s publications are numerous articles and two books about the provision of AAC services in school settings, “Practically Speaking: Language, Literacy, and Academic Development for Students with AAC Needs” and “AAC in the Schools: Best Practices for Interventions.” She is a frequently invited speaker at National and International Conference.