Episode 117: 10 Lessons Learned at the 2022 ATIA Conference

In this episode, Sarah shares her travel experience to Florida (during the Omicron surge, unfortunately) and what she learned about AAC at the 2022 ATIA conference. The first part of this episode is a chatty account of the travel experience, so if you just want the tips, skip ahead to 18:34. 



Time Stamps

0:00 Introduction 

2:57 Why AAC? Why now? (Sarah’s work transition) 

7:11 Pandemic Travel

18:34 What I Learned at ATIA

32:39 Wrap Up 



Key Takeaways

  1. Don’t assume the child isn’t attending to modeling

  2. Teach, don’t just model

  3. Oftentimes, parent training IS the intervention

  4. Use least to most prompting hierarchy for AAC 

  5. Find ways to offer more communication opportunities throughout the day 

  6. Use Canva to design open ended activities (presentation mode) 

  7. Ask fewer questions and offer more statements (instruct, don’t question) 

  8. Choose what vocabulary to target based on observation & a spontaneous language sample - what are they doing now to communicate?

  9. Reduce expectations and increase engagement 

  10. RAPP Reading Strategy - read the text and use an AAC model, ask a question and provide an aided AAC model and wait 5 seconds, answer the question and proved an aided AAC model and wait 5 seconds, provide a brief verbal prompt like “your turn” or “show me” 




Parent Handouts Bundle https://bit.ly/3I3XmmT


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