2012 AAC by the Bay Conference Schedule

Young children with cerebral palsy typically spend much of their day positioned in adaptive equipment such as braces, floor sitters, positioning chairs, standers, wheelchairs or strollers. Although these devices provide therapeutic positioning, they do not allow children to explore their environment or experience the stages of development that depend on hands-free, upright, self-initiated mobility. Mobility for Discovery encourages the use of sensory motor activities and dynamic standing mobility systems for young children with physical disabilities to augment development, learning and interaction gained from accessing, exploring and physically interacting within the environment. Studies on the significance of self-initiated mobility, intervention strategies and ideas, and features of standing mobility systems for multiple environments will be shared through slides and videos.

The achievement of upright, self-initiated mobility radically alters the experiential world of young children and provides new contexts for acquiring, practicing, and refining skills that contribute to learning. Young children with severe physical impairment who have no means for self-initiated, upright mobility will be limited in their abilities to explore, interact, and participate in the classroom environment. In this presentation we describe the use of hands-free support walkers to encourage self initiated mobility combined with the use of AAC techniques and devices, in the context of ongoing preschool curricular activities. The rationale for using hands-free support walkers in selected preschool activities as well as hardware considerations will be discussed through slides and video case studies.

In attempting to develop and organize personalized AAC systems for young children with complex communication needs, it is important for school-based interventionists to know of and build upon daily experiences outside of the classroom, including interests, language, and ideas that are valued in the home environment. However, it is an ongoing challenge to learn of and, in turn, use this information to regularly update AAC systems and to provide instruction in ways that allow children to talk about familiar, motivating experiences and become increasingly competent communicators using AAC. We discuss how this problem has been approached in a preschool setting using a curricular activity of the Bridge School program, the regular sharing of what we call ‘Home News’. Through the use of case examples with video and audio recordings, we illustrate how ‘Home News’ is used to expand AAC systems and to provide instruction specifically targeting individualized goals and objectives across operational, strategic, social, and linguistic competencies. We describe our process for recording, archiving, and analyzing ‘Home News’ and provide tip sheets for promoting a family’s selection and recording of ‘Home News’ to best support and expand their child’s growing communicative competence with AAC.

This fast-paced workshop will provide strategies for scaffolding writing for students with disabilities, based on a cognitive processes model of writing. Both light and high tech strategies will be suggested for each phase of writing, including prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. Sample mini-lessons will also be demonstrated. Accommodations will be offered for students with a range of needs, including physical impairments, AAC, and autism spectrum disorder. Writing prompts and writing samples will be shown for a range of writing genre. The focus will be on authentic writing opportunities and interactive supports.

Early childhood is the PERFECT time to set a strong base for literacy. This session will focus on three areas: developing a strong language base for literacy, scaffolding phonemic awareness at the word, syllable, and phoneme level, and supporting emergent writing from scribbling to phonetic writing. Each of these three areas will be explored through the use of three highly successful and motivating strategies: songboards with strong visual support and use of props, interactive play centers, and shared reading. This session will combine a brief literature overview plus sample activities and videos.

This presentation describes our implementation of a research-based, communication-focused preschool curriculum that we have adapted for children with complex communication needs and physical disabilities. We share how we systematically support children’s growing use of assistive technologies for access and communication in the context of ongoing preschool activities such as dramatic play, story time, and music. Through the use of case examples, we describe how individualized accommodations and adult scaffolds are provided to promote authentic participation, maximize acquisition of functional communication skills, and promote generalization of newly mastered skills to natural, everyday contexts.

Two sessions dedicated to developing and expanding your professional network while sharing effective tools and strategies with colleagues. Bring your no- tech to high tech ideas and examples to these sessions to show others what you’ve found to be useful with your students/clients. What’s your favorite iPad app? What creative ways are you using Classroom Suite? What features of assistive technology devices, equipment, and communication tools are making an impact in your classroom or practice? Come to these sessions ready to share and to learn!

Video and Collaboration is not new to us in Education, however today’s advancements in technology provide innovative ways to transform your schools. During this demonstration we hope that you learn how revolutionary tools such as scalable interactive video, video consumption and creation and social media experiences through Cisco show and share, can transform teaching and learning.
We will be joined via TelePresence by Dr. Lance Ford. Lance is an education technology advocate for Cisco. For the past seven years, he has been the technology coordinator for a school in Howe, Oklahoma. His job responsibility at Cisco allows him to work with teachers ( K20 ) on a global basis, leveraging technology in their classrooms . Lance’s focus is not the technology. Instead he is focused on impacting teachers & students to help them attain their maximum potential through the personal interactions made possible with various technical tools, much as you have done with your schools.

This presentation describes the development of an international collaborative project involving former Bridge School Teacher in Residence. Staff from the Centro Apoyo Tecnológico para la Comunicación y el Aprendizaje (CATIC) in Mexico City and Augmentative Communication Inc. are using mainstream technologies to develop and support children with complex communication needs and their families in Mexico City. The Bridge School and Cisco Systems, Inc., are providing technical support. The presentation highlights project goals, the use of videoconferencing for clinical planning across distances, and documents preliminary outcomes for the children in Mexico City and their families, as well as CATIC staff. It also describes how consultations from international experts in occupational therapy and vision became part of the program. The presenters will discuss how other international collaborations (e.g., between staff in Poland and Romania) are being carried out and what strategies are most helpful for achieving successful collaborations that benefit children with complex communication needs and their families.

In this session the presenters will describe implementation of a dynamic, high-quality self-determination program for students with complex communication needs (CCN). A variety of interactive activities paired with classroom lessons were used to target development of specific self-determination skills with elementary and middle school students. We will describe how students used a range of communication and technology tools to communicate and participate throughout the program. A Bridge School graduate who provided mentorship to the students in the program will describe her contributions and the role of mentorship in building SD skills. Through the use of case examples, photographs, and video clips, we will illustrate implementation of self-determination activities; interactions between mentor and mentee; and positive outcomes of students who participated in The Bridge School Self-Determination Program.

Framing A Future (FAF) is an important tool for young adults, their families and professionals to gain insights into the interests, preferences and goals of an individual. It is designed with the young adult and their family in the forefront, with other team members supporting planning. Teens and teams can use information gathered to assist with setting priorities, and identifying barriers and opportunities to achieving personal goals. In this session, participants will be provided with a brief overview of the background and development of the tool; will walk through the process of implementation using video samples of young adults with a range of abilities and assistive technology supports working with their teams; and will look at outcomes of a good planning process that at the core takes the priorities and needs of the individual as a guide. Attendees will leave with tools for assisting young adults in understanding, determining and communicating goals that are important to them.

In Dr. Rytter's presentation, she defines self-determination according to her own experiences as a professional in the field as well as a close observer of adults with disabilities who were not self-determined. This discussion sheds insight on the importance of becoming self-determined. Dr. Rytter then poses the question regarding when and how to begin to teach children with disabilities the necessary skills to increase the likelihood that these youngsters will become self-determined in adolescence and adulthood. She uses case studies throughout the presentation to illustrate key points. Lastly, Dr. Rytter explains one of the approaches she has used to teach children the skills to gain self-determined knowledge and abilities.

In collaboration with the Bridging Communities Through Alternative Communication crew, Bridge School alumni, and the Transition Team an unprecedented panel of AAC users will be sharing information that highlights the various ways in which they conduct and participate in their team meetings.

This interactive session, which follows the morning plenary session, invites participants to ask questions, share their own experiences and help us brainstorm ways to make international collaborations more meaningful and long-term. We will discuss, in more detail, how available technology can help meet the communication and educational needs of children around the world and how to increase the likelihood of success.

Two sessions dedicated to developing and expanding your professional network while sharing effective tools and strategies with colleagues. Bring your no-tech to high tech ideas and examples to these sessions to show others what you’ve found to be useful with your students/clients. What’s your favorite iPad app? What creative ways are you using Classroom Suite? What features of assistive technology devices, equipment, and communication tools are making an impact in your classroom or practice? Come to these sessions ready to share and to learn!

Join us for a hands-on demonstration of Cisco TelePresence Video endpoints & Cisco Collaboration Technologies. Cisco Show and Share is our video sharing application that helps schools create highly secure video communities to share ideas and expertise, and personalize collaboration. See how you can use ‘video as the new voice’ for a more realistic & enhanced method of teaching, training & connecting to educational institutions & experts around the globe! You’ll get to experience the quality of HD video calls & recordings, & see first hand how you can use video to extend your reach globally.

Written language is a powerful and versatile tool for learning, communication, and thought (Sturm & Koppenhaver, 2000). Using the alphabet to write is especially critical for students who use AAC because the development of conventional writing opens unlimited possibilities for self-expression across multiple contexts. To become literate, all students, including those who use AAC, need access to effective writing instruction that supports engagement in authentic, meaningful, and frequent writing experiences.

The goal of this session is to describe elements of a comprehensive, high-quality writing program and its implementation with students with complex communication needs who use AAC. This writing program utilizes scientifically-based writing practices for all students, and draws upon the federal Common Core Standards for writing (Common Core Standards State Initiative, 2010), with an additional focus toward the student who uses AAC. Participants will also learn about ways in which the quantity and quality of student writing, for the most beginning writers, can be measured and used to foster growth over time. The Bridge school staff will share how this program is implemented at The Bridge School with preschool and elementary students who use AAC and will describe the educational benefits to the students.

Designed to foster development across language, communication, and writing skills, Dr. Sturm will describe a Writer’s Workshop program, paired with cogntive strategy instruction, which she has been developing for five years. This curriculum is comprised of four core components: mini-lessons, independent writing, peer and teacher conferences, and Author’s Chair. This program uniquely combines Writer’s Workshop with strategy instruction through mini-lessons that offer extensive modeling, a discussion of goals and purposes, and student engagement in guided practice and feedback. Dr. Sturm will describe how, during these mini-lessons, students also receive strategy tip sheets that target core concepts from the lessons. She will also share how these tip sheets are integrated within independent writing sessions, and during Author’s Chair, to support communication and writing development. An organizational system for students’ materials, called Author’s Toolkits, will be described. Each Author’s Toolkit contains individualized student materials including: strategy tip sheets, communication boards, photo-based topic supports, and an ever growing supply of written work authored by each student. A culuminating aspect of this writing program is the Meet the Author event, a venue used to celebrate students’ authorship. This special event, which includes important individuals in each student’s life, will be shared through photos, writing samples, and outcome measures.

Next, this presentation will describe how multi-level instruction can be provided while also addressing individualized goals for students who use AAC. Through case examples The Bridge School staff will describe how this writing program was implemented. Adaptations were made across the curriculum, from mini-lessons to Author’s chair to Meet the Author, that took into account the multiple considerations for students who use AAC, such as physical access, sensory needs, choice of high tech and no tech communication tools, selection of multiple “pencils”, and adult scaffolds used throughout phases of each writing session. Finally, we will provide a description of how students use the tools, skills, and strategies developed in the writing program to write across curricular areas as outlined in the Common Core Standards.