Speakmod iPad Communication App

Try the free version of the app. 

Introduction to Alternative and Augmentative Communication

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have difficulty with communication. Even those with high functioning ASD may have difficulty getting their message across or sustaining conversation. Others with ASD have trouble developing speech and might not ever fully develop spoken language.

 

Therefore, many individuals with ASD will need alternative means in order to communicate. This Q&A will provide an introduction to Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) for individuals with ASD.

Read more here.

Archived Webinar on Autism and Skills for Adulthood

In this video, Dr. Peter Gerhardt discusses the adaptive skills/skills of daily living that teens and young adults with autism spectrum disorder need to acquire to help them lead safe, productive, and fulfilling adult lives. These skills include safety, hygiene, employment, social competence, decision-making, self-management, leisure, and communication.

Watch the video here.

New hope for Autistic children who never learn to speak

Scientists are showing that while not all of the current interventions used to improve language among Autistic children are effective, there is real hope for progress by using interventions based on understanding natural language development and the role of motor and "motor mirroring" behavior in toddlers.

Read more here.

InnerVoice: augmentative alternative communication

● Patent-pending interactive video self-modeling, which gives users the ability to watch themselves speak clearly and effectively -- as if their own reflections were teaching themselves how to speak! “One of the attributes of self-modeling is that positive results are seen almost immediately.” Tom Buggey, Ph.D. Seeing Is Believing
● Two Powerful sets of standard pre-programmed vocabularies
● 3-D animated avatars not only engage users and communication partners but also improve speech comprehension by displaying synchronized mouth movements, which accompany the voices in the app.
● An easy-to-use edit mode creates personalized vocabulary to fit individual needs in a snap.
● Includes two innovative avatar speech modes -record your message or text-to-speech
● Create novel messages by seamlessly transitioning from buttons to keyboard, and back, with a touch of the finger
● Industry-first remote prompting - (learn more about remote prompting at www.innervoiceapp.com)
● Two high-quality child voices: Acapela Text-To-Speech from Acapela Group

See more here.

Archived Webinars from Seattle Children's Autism Center

Autism 201: State of Autism in 2014

Autism 202: Navigating Insurance Benefits – What You Need to Know About Health Insurance Benefits for Assessment, Diagnosis and Treatment of Autism

Autism 201: State of Autism in 2013

Autism 202: Addressing Challenging Behaviors – Strategies for Families


Autism 204: Supporting Speech, Language and Communication with Mobile Technology

Autism 205: Legal Planning for Individuals with Disabilities – Guardianship, Public Benefits and Estate Planning

Autism 206: Anxiety

Autism 207: The Transition to Adulthood


Autism 208: Social Communication

 

Autism 209: Relationships, Puberty and Sexual Health

 

Autism 210: Highway to Hell or Stairway to Heaven? – Parenting a Child with Autism

Autism 211: Panel Discussion – Developing and Advocating for Services in Local Communities
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Discovering the Possibilities with Visual Strategies - Linda Hodgdon

Discovering the Possibilities with Visual Strategies:

Meeting the Communication, Behavior & Social Skill Challenges in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Most students with Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome and related communication challenges are visual learners! This observation has tremendous implications. Capitalizing on their strengths, the use of visual strategies alters many social, communication, and educational challenges. This program will demonstrate effective ideas for using a range of low tech to high tech visual tools, including video and tablets like iPads and Apps, to help students organize their lives, significantly reduce behavior problems, and improve student successful participation. This program will define the need, discuss training, and demonstrate many practical ideas for both special and regular education settings.

 

The OPI Montana Autism Education Project will provide three days of free training from Linda Hodgdon.

Registration will open in September and will be advertised on this blog and the MAEP Newsletter.


The dates/locations are:

 

October 15th - Great Falls

October 16th - Bozeman

October 17th - Billings

Michelle Garcia Winner in Billings August 5/6, 2014

What is Social Thinking?

Social thinking is what we do when we interact with people: we think about them. And how we think about people affects how we behave, which in turn affects how others respond to us, which in turn affects our own emotions.

Whether we are with friends, sending an email, in a classroom or at the grocery store, we take in the thoughts, emotions and intentions of the people we are interacting with.

Most of us have developed our communications sense from birth onwards, steadily observing and acquiring social information and learning how to respond to people. Because social thinking is an intuitive process, we usually take it for granted.

But for many individuals, this process is anything but natural. And this often has nothing to do with conventional measures of intelligence.

In fact, many people score high on IQ and standardized tests, yet do not intuitively learn the nuances of social communication and interaction.

While these challenges are commonly experienced by individuals with autism spectrum disorders (high-functioning), social communication disorder, Asperger's, ADHD, nonverbal learning disability (NLD) and similar diagnoses, children and adults experiencing social learning difficulties often have received no diagnosis.

A treatment framework and curriculum developed by Michelle Garcia Winner targets improving individual social thinking abilities, regardless of diagnostic label. Professionals and parents alike are using these methods to build social thinking and related skills in students and adults. Social Thinking books, workshops and trainings, created by Winner or based on Winner's work, now offer a range of strategies that address individual strengths and weaknesses in processing social information.

You can find a link to the conference brochure and registration here.