Videos

School climate is a key factor in social, emotional, and academic outcomes for students, but what about their teachers? In alignment with Pennsylvania’s dedication to attracting, preparing, and retaining practitioners in education, specifically in special education, Dr. Salome Thomas-El, better known as “Principal El,” joins PaTTANpod to discuss the relationship between school culture and teacher retention.

Students who use AAC benefit from support both at school and at home in order to become proficient communicators. When families and professionals partner to provide this support, they are able to maximize functional communication across environments and identify new potential areas of growth. This session will highlight specific ways to invest, empower, and support team members. Participants will learn about numerous resources and strategies that can be used with families and professionals who have varying levels of AAC experience.

Module 1 provides an overview of the series and materials. POWER:AAC is designed to build the capacity of those who serve students with complex communication needs who require the use of of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems. The materials are appropriate for self-directed or professional learning community use.

Module 10 focuses on the role of parents and the family in their child’s AAC communication success . This module is designed to help school staff support parents and families as they use their child’s AAC system and core vocabulary at home.

This module provides guidelines, resources, and some starting points for collecting data on students’ progress in their use of their personal AAC systems.

Module 2 of the POWER:AAC series addresses common classroom practices with students who may have very low or no speech, who may need or already use AAC systems. A variety of effective classroom practices are introduced, including the use of flexible, generative, potentially powerful words known which are referred to as "core" vocabulary or "core words". As a means of identifying your current educational practices and adopting POWER:AAC classroom practices, you will be asked to complete a self-assessment profile.

Module 3 of the POWER:AAC series reviews the various multi-modal AAC options to consider for students who need/use AAC, from no-tech, through low-tech, to high tech. A guide for making one such option- a simple manual communication board – is introduced.

Module 4 of the POWER:AAC series covers the important topic of selecting words for a student’s AAC system. It focuses on the importance of core vocabulary words and planning for providing sufficient vocabulary in student AAC systems.

Module 5 addresses issues regarding the representation of vocabulary words with pictures. It provides simple strategies for teaching pictures for core vocabulary words, and managing pictures on other visual support materials in classrooms.