Use it on Monday Series

Bridge to Life is delighted to invite you to our brand-new Use it on Monday Workshop Series—a three-part professional learning opportunity designed for SLPs, AAC specialists, special educators, and assistive technologists.

Each workshop brings the latest AAC research to life, paired with practical strategies, resources, and interactive activities you can apply with your clients right away. No more thinking, “That’s interesting, but how does it work in practice?”—you’ll leave every session with concrete tools you can use on Monday.

Workshop 2: The CVI/AAC Framework: A Complementary Approach to AAC Assessment for Individuals with CVI 


Presenters: Dr. Tara V. McCarty and Gabriela Berlanga
Date: Saturday, February 21, 2026
Time: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM PT
Cost: $25
Format: Online

About the Session

Dr. Tara McCarty is a licensed speech-language pathologist and assistant professor in the Communication Science and Disorders program at Penn State University- Harrisburg. Prior to teaching and conducting research, Tara worked clinically in Missouri and Pennsylvania primarily in school-based settings. Tara’s research focuses on communication solutions for individuals with multiple disabilities and cerebral/cortical visual impairment (CVI). Specifically, Tara investigates training for communication partners such as parents, paraeducators, and peers, as well as data collection and decision-making approaches to facilitate optimal AAC system design solutions for individuals with CVI. 

This session will introduce the CVI/AAC Framework as a complementary approach to typical AAC assessment procedures for individuals with CVI. Specifically, attendees will become familiar with the 3 primary domains of the framework: characteristics of the individual, responsibilities of the communication partner(s), and AAC system design choices. Attendees will be given examples to illustrate how each domain of the framework can be discussed within a team to help with data collection and decision making across time. 

Learning Outcomes

Participants will be able to:

  • state the three domains of the CVI/AAC Framework
  • describe two types of visual engagement data they could collect to help with decision making about aided AAC system design choices
  • identify CVI-friendly modifications made to popular aided AAC systems such as Grid by Smartbox and Proloquo2Go  

Continuing Education Units (CEUs) & Certification Maintenance Hours (CMHs)

This workshop will be offering 2 CEUs for California licensing renewal by The Bridge School.
Continuing Professional Development Provider
Provider No. PDP 16

This workshop may be used to meet ASHA Certification Maintenance.  The Bridge School does not report these hours to ASHA.  Please view ASHA’s website for complete details on Maintaining Your Certification, FAQs, Accepted Activities.

Registration