SymbolSpeak Blog

5 things I wish I knew
AAC

5 things I wish I knew…

https://youtu.be/9TGzYQnF–M “Five things I wish I knew at the beginning of this journey. I think hindsight is 20/20, right? What do we wish we knew at the beginning of the augmentative communication journey, or at the beginning of our conversations with the therapists about our child’s language development? What do we wish we knew? Well,

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AAC

But my child speaks some words. Why AAC?

“But my child speaks some words. Why would I even want to even consider augmentative communication?” That’s a hard question, and it’s a very individualized question at the same time that it’s a group question. The decision to start augmentative communication should come from a conversation between you, your speech pathologist, and your assistive technology

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Why Symbols Support Literacy and the Language of Literacy
AAC

Why Symbols Support Literacy and the Language of Literacy

https://youtu.be/mKUDzhsl8Sk Let’s talk about literacy and reading and reading activities. There’s more to literacy than decoding or learning how to sound out the words. Part of the elements of reading or literacy is about understanding what the story is about, who is in the story, what happens, and in what order. This is all about

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modeling and immersion
AAC

Modeling and Immersion

https://youtu.be/iNxPD7hoX3g Let’s talk about modeling and immersion. Modeling first. I love the symbol of modeling. It’s a lady walking down a runway — a model walking down a runway. Well, what does that represent? That represents the idea of intentionality. For a model, you plan the event, you plan to get ready to show off

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AAC

How Long Does It Take To Develop Language?

Language doesn’t happen overnight. Whether speech is verbal or augmented through symbols, language skills must be given time to develop. How much time is entirely dependent on how immersed the learner is in the language and symbol system being acquired.

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Why Am I Not Hearing About AAC Sooner?
AAC

Why Am I Not Hearing About AAC Sooner?

https://youtu.be/_XDkYefUP74 Welcome back to Let’s Talk About It! This is the time and place where we talk about augmenting language in order to develop language through an alternative communication system. A question I get asked a lot is, “Why am I not hearing about augmentative communication sooner? Why do I have to seek out augmentative

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AAC

How Much Is Too Much?

https://youtu.be/W5BZQGQ1p8Y AAC: How Much Is Too Much? Welcome back to Let’s Talk About It, the place where we’re answering questions about augmentative communication. The question for today is how much is too much when it comes to planned activities to introduce augmentative communication? How much is too much in those cases? Part of the challenge

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Santa speaks to a deaf girl
AAC

Why are we surprised?

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE SCENE   There is a beautiful scene in the 1994 remake of the Christmas classic “Miracle on 34th Street” in which Kris Kringle is presented with a deaf girl. To everyone’s surprise (including the young girl, Sami, who was deaf in real life), Kris Kringle defies the mother’s expectations and

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