AAC Lunch and Learn Webinar Series

Easterseals DuPage & Fox Valley

This webinar series will cover topics of aac rejection and abandonment, aac assessment and intervention and social skills in aac users.

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<h3>W﻿ebinar 1</h3>Stay on Track: Preventing AAC Rejection &amp; AbandonmentDate: 9﻿/8/2023, 12:30 PM- 2 PM CSTCourse Description:Research tells us that only about 39% of families use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems introduced by an SLP for more than one year. In this session, we will discuss factors related to rejection and abandonment as well as elements correlated with successful implementation. Prevention will be highlighted.Target Audience: Appropriate for speech-language pathologists, Occupational therapists, teachers, instructional assistants, and other professionals who work with children using AAC devices.Learning Objectives:Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:1. Participants will define AAC rejection and abandonment. 2. Participants will list at least three factors related to AAC rejection and abandonment. 3. Participants will describe at least three practices for preventing AAC rejection and abandonment.

<h3>W﻿ebinar 2</h3>Say What?!? AAC Assessment and Intervention for Children Who SpeakDate: 3/8/2024, 12:30 PM- 2 PM CSTCourse Description:Speech comprehensibility, how well a child’s speech is understood by a communication partner in a natural context, can be influenced by a number of factors. Children who are poorly understood by some partners or in some contexts may benefit from AAC. Assessment tools for this population will be demonstrated and intervention strategies will be highlighted.Target Audience: Appropriate for speech-language pathologists, Occupational therapists, teachers, instructional assistants, and other professionals who work with children using AAC devices.Learning Objectives:Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:1. Define speech comprehensibility. 2. Identify two factors that can affect speech comprehensibility. 3. Describe a tool for measuring speech comprehensibility. 4. List at least three AAC intervention strategies for children with poor speech comprehensibility.

<h3>W﻿ebinar 3</h3>Chat with Me: Pragmatic Skill Intervention in AACDate: 5/3/2024, 12:30 PM- 2 PM CSTCourse Description:The acquisition of social skills plays an important role in education, employment, and living opportunities for individuals with disabilities. In this presentation characteristics of social skills in individuals who use AAC will be discussed, tools for assessing social skills will be explained, a number of evidence-based therapeutic interventions for teaching social skills will be demonstrated, videos will be shown of therapeutic intervention, and free add-on social pages for use with core vocabularies will be shared.Target Audience: Appropriate for speech-language pathologists, Occupational therapists, teachers, instructional assistants, and other professionals who work with children using AAC devices.Learning Objectives:Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:1. List characteristics of pragmatic skills in individuals using AAC. 2. Summarize the importance of social skills in AAC. 3. Describe tools to assess pragmatic skills. https://talcaac.com/ 1-847-682-1596 4. Explain at least three strategies that can be used to teach social skills to individuals who use AAC

About the Instructors:Jill E. Senner, PhD, CCC-SLP has over 20 years of experience working with children with complex communication needs. She is the owner and director of Technology and Language Center where she specializes in providing augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) services via telepractice. Dr. Senner presents lectures on AAC topics online and around the world, has published research articles and textbook chapters on AAC, and is an adjunct professor of speech-language pathology at DePaul University.Matthew R. Baud, MS, CCC-SLP, has been working with AAC for over 20 years. He currently is the Assistive Technology Coordinator at Niles Township District for Special Education (NTDSE) performing evaluations, trainings and coaching communication partners. Matthew also has his own AAC private practice working with individuals with complex communication needs from birth through adulthood. He is an adjunct professor at Saint Xavier University where he teaches a graduate course in AAC and has presented at national and state conferences. Matthew has published research in areas of AAC.Disclosure Statement: Jill E. Senner has the following financial relationship to disclose: she receives a fee for speaking from Easterseals DuPage &amp; Fox Valley. She has no relevant nonfinancial relationships to disclose.Disclosure Statement: Matthew Baud has the following financial relationship to disclose: He receives a fee for speaking from Easterseals DuPage &amp; Fox Valley. He has no relevant nonfinancial relationships to disclose.

Continuing Education CreditsEarly Intervention credits have been applied for.All participants will receive a course completion certificate upon successful completion of the conference. No certificates will be awarded until course completion is verified on the final date of the conference.E﻿ach of the three webinar courses are 1.5 contact hours for a total of 4.5 contact hours for all three courses

Special Accommodations: Please notify us of any special accommodations you may have by contacting us at 630.261.6191.