Slideshow for a presentation that Jhoselle Padilla and I did at the 2016 ASHA Convention.

1. Aided Language Stimulation for All Communication
Partners of Children Who Use AAC
Eric Sailers, M.A., CCC-SLP
Jhoselle Padilla, M.A., CCC-SLP
Image

2. Disclosures
• Eric Sailers
• Worked for AssistiveWare and n2y, which created
Proloquo2Go and Unique, respectively
• Owns Expressive Solutions, which created
Percentally Pro 2
• Jhoselle Padilla
• No financial disclosures

3. Teaching
AAC
ALgS Coaching
Overview

4. Teaching
AAC

5. “The success of a communication interaction
between an AAC user and a communication partner
will depend heavily on the skills of the
communication partner” (Kent-Walsh &
McNaughton, 2005).
Teaching AAC

6. Core Vocabulary
Fringe Words
20%
Core Words
80%
Nouns
Pronouns
Verbs
Prepositions
Adjectives

7. Teaching Strategies
• Questions - Yes/No, WH-Questions (e.g., Who,
What, Where)
• Prompts - visual, gestural, verbal, physical
• Aided language stimulation (ALgS) - touch the
symbols as you’re saying them
vs.

8. Teaching Strategies
Language
growth
Prompts
(Barker, Akaba, & Thiemann-Bourque, 2013)Questions
ALgS

9. Teaching Strategies
• Aided language stimulation (ALgS) - touch the symbols as
you’re saying them
• Expansions - add more to AAC user’s utterance (e.g., “I
like” -> “I like it”)
• Recasts - gently correct the AAC user’s utterance (e.g.,
“Ball want” -> “Want ball”)
• The CAR strategy - comment-ask-respond during shared
reading tasks
• Descriptive teaching - ask open-ended questions that
elicit responses with core words
• Wait time - wait approximately 5 seconds or more
(Light, 2012)

10. ALgS

11. ALgS = “Touch n’ Talk”
(Goossens, Crain, & Elder, 1992)
Image

12. ALgS
Input Output
AAC
AAC
(Binger & Light, 2007)

13. AAC Tools
Make AAC tools available!

14. Contexts
Shared Reading Playtime
Games Arts & Crafts
Mealtime
Shopping

15. Communicative Functions
request I want it
protest You do not want that
comment You like it
ask a question Where is it?
share
information
I have it

16. ALgS
Do This Not That
Teach with statements Test with questions
Model without expectations Model with demands
Follow up with expansions
and recasts
Follow up with a prompt
hierarchy

17. Zone of Proximal Development
Can do
Needs help
Cannot do
E.g., 1 word
E.g., 2 words
E.g., 3 words
(Musselwhite, 2015)

18. Proloquo2Go
Demo of ALgS

19. Coaching

20. “We wouldn’t teach someone to drive by giving
them a lecture, tossing them a book, and then
turning them loose on the freeway. Nonetheless,
when we provide traditional staff development in
schools, that is pretty much what we do” (Knight,
2007, p. 110).
Coaching

21. Need for Coaching
SLP
1%
Parents
49%
Gen Ed Peers
14%
SpEd Staff
35%
SLP: Leadership role
2,100 min/wk
60 min/wk
1,500 min/wk
600 min/wk

22. 8-steps to Coaching
1. Pre-test
2. Describe strategy
3. Demonstrate strategy
4. Verbally practice strategy steps
5. Practice in controlled environment
6. Practice in natural environment
7. Post-test
8. Generalization
(Kent-Walsh & McNaughton, 2005; Senner & Baud, 2016)

23. Staff
Images

24. Ashley Robinson
Everyday AAC

25. Data Collection
Percentally Pro 2

26. Data Collection
Percentally Pro 2

27. Data Collection
Percentally Pro 2

28. Parents
Images

29. Intro Training Handout

30. Follow-Up
• Offer monthly opportunities
• 8-step coaching approach
• With or without child present
• Self-assessment of modeling
• Provide resources as needed
• Handouts
• Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=vUY6oQoSTXw (One Children’s Place, 2013)
• Websites

32. Coaching Parent
Video

33. Peers
Images

34. Communication Club
• General ed peers in elementary grades
• Volunteered to do aided language stimulation at
recess and in SpEd class
• Rationale
• Language input and modeling by teachers is often
low during class interactions (Brady, Herynk, &
Fleming, 2010)
• Like to help students with special needs
• Pre-requisite job skill
• Not afraid to fail

35. Task Frequencies
Weekly Monthly Yearly
Consult peers ✓
Consult parents ✓
Consult staff ✓
Provide resources ✓
Self-assess ✓
Deliver large training ✓

36. 3:1 Model
1 week -
staff and parent
consultation
3 weeks -
direct services

37. Contact
Symbolstix symbols by n2y
eric@expressive-solutions.com jhoselle.Padilla@cvesd.org
Jhoselle
Eric

38. References
• Barker, R. M., Akaba, S., Brady, N. C., Thiemann-Bourque, K.
(2013). Support for AAC Use in Preschool, and Growth in
Language Skills, for Young Children with Developmental
Disabilities. Augmentative and Alternative Communication.
December 2013, 29(4): 334 – 346.
• Brady, N., Herynk, J. & Fleming, K. (2010). Communication
input matters: Lessons from prelinguistic children learning to
use AAC in preschool environments. Early childhood Services,
4, 141-154.
• Binger, C., Light, J. (2007). The Effect of Aided AAC Modeling
on the Expression of Multi-Symbol Messages by Preschoolers
who use AAC. Augmentative and Alternative Communication,
March 2007 VOL. 23 (1), 30 – 43.

39. References
• Kent-Walsh, J., & McNaughton, D. (2005).
Communication partner instruction in AAC: Present
practices and future directions. Augmentative and
Alternative Communication, 21, 195-204.
• Knight, J. (2007). Instructional coaching: A partnership
approach to improving instruction. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Corwin Press.
• Goossens, C., Crain, S., & Elder, P. (1992). Engineering
the preschool environment for interactive, symbolic
communication. Birmingham, AL: Southeast
Augmentative Communication Conference Publications.

40. References
• Light, J. (2012). 2012 ASHA Conference Handout,
Building Communicative Competence with
Individuals Who Require AAC: From Research to
Effective Practice.
• Musselwhite, C. (2015). Model Core Language: Ideas
for Beginners. Retrieved May 12, 2015 from http://
aacgirls.blogspot.com/search?
q=model+core+language%3A+ideas+for+beginners
• One Children’s Place (2013). One Kids Place Aided
Language. Retrieved April 10, 2013 from https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUY6oQoSTXw