In this episode, SLP Sara Ware (Instagram) shares tips for guiding families and learners through the early stages of the AAC process, including:
Work with families to determine goals
Determine daily routines as opportunities to model language
Meet the family where they are at
Ask open-ended questions (including what has and hasn’t worked, and what they have and haven’t tried so far) before offering suggestions
SLPs can guide next steps, but work with families to make sure the next step feels “right-sized” for the families
Quotes
“I found even though rural areas has its challenges, I found that it also has some really great, powerful, beautiful things too. It's just like what you make of it. Like how much you put in is really how much you get out. And I think that's where that like kind of outreach piece of, of what we do is so important.”
Sara Ware
“There's a lot of education before an AAC evaluation to prepare parents in not only what to expect, but what implementation is going to look like and how huge of a role they (parents) play in the implementation of AAC. This is going to come home with you. This is going to be a part of your life. What's feasible (for you) How can we incorporate it (AAC) into your life?”
Sara Ware
“‘Tell me about it’ is such a great coaching phrase because it's open ended and allows for the expansion from the parent. That's something that I had to really be mindful of, improving in my own practice is reframing my questions to be a little bit more open ended, and being comfortable with giving parents time to reflect on what has been working and what hasn't, encouraging them to open up more.”
Sara Ware
“As a sole provider, you're really not going to make your biggest influence by yourself. So reaching out to people and expanding on your influence on the people around you in order to impact the AAC user and the AAC community to the best of your ability has been so crucial.”
Sara Ware
“A lot of times there's an idea or a hope that the device is going to be present and they are going to use it right away. We need to teach families, hey - they're not going to just automatically always interact with it or use it appropriately quite yet, or be able to communicate with you overnight.”
Sara Ware
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