ISAAC Silent Auction
A Silent Auction is held at each ISAAC biennial conference to raise funds for ISAAC Conference Travel Assistance Grants. This year we are going mobile! Get ready to participate in a virtual auction at ISAAC Conference Cancún.
A Silent Auction is held at each ISAAC biennial conference to raise funds for ISAAC Conference Travel Assistance Grants. This year we are going mobile! Get ready to participate in a virtual auction at ISAAC Conference Cancún.
DESCRIPTION: Following a conversation with a firefighter in 2014, the presenters realized emergency firstresponders were not being trained for interacting with individuals who have complexcommunication needs. This session will discuss the creation and implementation of a trainingprogram which began in 2016. Information will include a “how to” guide for contacting firstresponder departments and a brief…
The Closing The Gap Conference is an annual assistive technology conference that presents an opportunity to deepen your assistive technology (AT) knowledge and strengthen your implementation strategies.
Meet other USSAAC members and get updates about the organization
This seminar will educate the target audience of adult individuals who use AAC, families, and professionals who support AAC users on the barriers to employment for people who receive SSI and SSDI and how to address those barriers. The audience will hear from an AAC user on how working has affected her SSI benefits.
Hand gestures are clearly not random movements; they are movements that often accompany the
spoken modality and are communicative devices. Gestures and spoken output often exhibit
semantic, pragmatic and temporal synchrony (McNeill, 1985; Kelly 2010). However, the role of
gestures during language production has not been well understood and gestures are often assigned
a compensatory role. This webinar will aim to discuss the types and the functions of hand gestures.
It will discuss the stages of development of gestures in children, and the nature of the gesture-
spoken language relationship in children and adults with or without communication impairments.
AAC summer camps are becoming more and more common across the U.S., giving
AAC users the same opportunities and benefits that their typical peers enjoy. These benefits include
improving AAC usage and interpersonal skills, forming life-long friendships, taking risks in a safe environment
and meeting mentors. Options include family camps, day camps and independents. All offer opportunities
for children who use AAC to spend time with other individuals who communicate in similar ways and have
many shared experiences. Families and the professionals who spend time at AAC camps also benefit from
these experiences. In this webinar, participants will hear from two adult AAC users who will share their own
experiences as campers and mentors, a speech-language pathologist whose professional career was greatly
impacted by her work at an AAC camp and a parent who will share how attending a family AAC camp shaped
her understanding of communication and helped forge life-long friendships
The transition from adolescence to young adulthood is an important life passage for everyone. This webinar will
examine policy, supports and systems in place for individuals who use augmentative and alternative
communication (AAC) when they are in school. Likewise, policy, systems and supports available to young adults
who use AAC after leaving the school system will be examined. Many adults who use AAC have successfully
navigated their transition from adolescence – proof can be found in the increasing presence of augmented speaker
voices across all domains of the AAC field and beyond. Still, it is widely known that this transition from
adolescence to adulthood can be challenging for many, for a variety of reasons. Considerations, strategies, and
approaches specific to supporting successful transitions to young adulthood in the context of AAC will be
highlighted.
This presentation will explore practical strategies that can be implemented immediately
to equip children and adults with Complex Communication Needs (CCN) to actively participate in meaningful
activities and relationships through practical and effective communication. This includes building on personal
strengths to enable individuals to acquire Social Communication skills that allow them to access valued natural
consequences as well as mutually valued interpersonal interactions. It has generally been found that, though
children with disabilities may have access to well-founded programs and services, they are often ill-equipped as
they enter adulthood to effectively participate as valued members of their communities. The presenters will
review foundational social and communication skills so that all team members at any stage of intervention can
determine and target skills necessary for building social competence. This presentation will conclude with
resources for participants to implement the information presented and to provide therapy supports and materials.
There’s a broad range of strategies and devices that individuals may use for communication if their speech isn’t functional.
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