Resources for Everyone

This week’s post was inspired by a blog by speech-language pathology professors Carole Zangari and Robin Parker, called “PrAACtical AAC.” (Their blog is a great find, too, if you’re interested in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).)

The post we are featuring is from 2014, and it’s entitled, “Does AAC Really Work with Infants and Toddlers?” The blog post provides a link to a valuable research article on AAC, but you can access the article itself here:

The authors of the research article, Branson and Demchak, offered four important conclusions:

• Young children can successfully use both no tech AAC (e.g., signs, pictures) and low-to-high tech devices.
• Communication partners were effective in creating communication opportunities for the learning and use of AAC in infants and toddlers.
• Using AAC with young children facilitates “early learning experiences that can promote the child’s further development.”
• “None of the studies reviewed supported the idea of a minimum age requirement for introducing AAC.”

Check it out for yourself. The article is a very interesting read. Let us know what you think in the comments below and be sure to click the follow button to learn what others are thinking. 

The ICC-Recommended Early Start Personnel Manual (ESPM) describes core knowledge and role-specific competencies needed for early intervention service provision, incorporating current research and evidence in the field of early intervention. To access the ESPM, click here. 

This resource is related to the following ESPM knowledge-level competencies:

• Individualized Family Service Plan Development and Review (IFSP-DR):
  • IFSP-DR2 (EIS): Understands the concept of mentoring and its importance with parents and other IFSP team members.
  • IFSP-DR5 (EIS): Understands the rationale for the identification and selection of intervention strategies used in everyday routines, relationships, activities, places and partnerships for early intervention activities (or justification of the extent to which some outcomes cannot be achieved in a natural environment).
  • IFSP-DR6 (EIS): Understands when there is the need for other professionals in specific disciplines to provide services to address IFSP outcomes.
• Individualized Family Service Plan Implementation (IFSP-i):
  • IFSP-i2 (EIS): Understands the individual nature of child learning styles and the importance of adapting intervention strategies.
  • IFSP-i3 (EIS): Knows generic and specific evidence-based early intervention strategies to support all areas of development.
  • IFSP-i4 (EIS): Understands early experiences that contribute to emergent literacy.
  • IFSP-i6 (EIS): Understands the need for developmentally appropriate strategies (for example, hands-on, experiential, child-centered, play-based activities within daily routines), adaptations, assistive technologies and other supports that maximize the child’s learning opportunities.
  • IFSP-i7 (EIS): Understands roles of various disciplines and models of teamwork and collaboration that integrate strategies from multiple disciplines.
  • IFSP-i11 (EIS): Knows strategies that support parents in adapting the natural environment to meet infant/toddler developmental needs.