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11.4.20 PARTICIPATION MODEL: PLANNING FOR AAC IMPLEMENTATION with Erin Sheldon — Transcript

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0:02foreign
0:21Post-it notes to remind me of things I
0:24need to do and my whole table is covered
0:28with little Post in them they'll all
0:30take five minutes but
0:33how effective are they at that point I
0:35have to ask myself well they work for me
0:38I have always made lists
0:41hi everybody thank you for turning on
0:43your cameras I love that I love to see
0:46the faces I understand that sometimes
0:48the bandwidth might be uh keeping you
0:51um from doing that but it's always nice
0:53to at least start off with that or the
0:56or the puppy
0:57puppy
0:59he's always steal the show
1:05you know I've been watching the zoom
1:07captioning
1:10uh Britney says bandwidth and breakfast
1:15I've been watching the zoom captioning
1:18and it's really fairly accurate except
1:21when it makes a mistake they're a really
1:24big mistakes
1:26sometimes I just have to hide my
1:29surprise because I look down and I see
1:32something that I said that was totally
1:34Mis misunderstood and I I don't want to
1:37dwell on it
1:39because it's embarrassing sometimes yeah
1:42yeah
1:43we need to get Zoom to stop putting in
1:46bad words
1:49it needs an autocorrect I think oh
1:51speaking of young ones look for parental
1:54controls
1:56we need an introduction from you today
1:59who do you have with you can you mute hi
2:02I'm Shayna
2:04um assistive technology AAC SLP at mesd
2:06and this is AO and my daughter hi yeah
2:10we're so glad you're with us this
2:12morning friends can you see yourself on
2:14TV do you see yourself
2:17good morning
2:18[Laughter]
2:21okay well thank you for that welcome
2:24everyone
2:25um I know that we will have others
2:28joining us
2:29um as we go along but I know we've got a
2:31lot to talk about today so I'm gonna go
2:34ahead and get started and uh so welcome
2:37welcome to Echo voices this is our
2:41second year of echo voices in support of
2:45our Learners with complex communication
2:48needs and it's our voice it's our chance
2:51to talk about what those needs are and
2:53how we can support them our entire first
2:56year was really about philosophy and
2:59making sure that you know that you've
3:01got the skills it may be intimidating to
3:04think about adding on a complex outcome
3:07and teletherapy but you've got this and
3:11that's where we started and then this
3:14year we're just looking at different uh
3:16models for integration and
3:18implementation so we've been sharing
3:20some great
3:22um sessions and today is no exception
3:24we're so excited for this uh your sign
3:27in is your record of attendance you will
3:30be receiving contact hour credit this
3:32year we are uh sending those to uh have
3:35viewed live we're sending those
3:37certificates out hopefully within a
3:39couple of days uh with my one or 2.3 FTE
3:44of Staff it is a priority to get those
3:47out to you but we're also adding
3:49comprehension quizzes so when we post
3:51the session recordings at the spot that
3:55you see right here in our s'more
3:57newsletter there will be a comprehensive
3:59quiz that accompans that so that you can
4:02receive a certificate from the recording
4:05um I'll so you'll receive those CEUs
4:09again for the comprehension quiz uh you
4:12will receive 1.25 contact hours and uh
4:16if you complete with the 90 accuracy
4:19so just wanted to point out that we are
4:22now using the zoom closed captioning it
4:25is built right within Zoom so
4:28um you should see that if you don't go
4:30to your toolbar at the bottom of your
4:32screen and then you'll click where it
4:34says live transcript and you can change
4:36how you receive that so we're happy
4:39that's built into Zoom now and again
4:43um you are the biggest reason that we
4:46are here we want to hear from you and
4:50you may be intimidated but don't be
4:52because we are all here for the same
4:54reason to discuss and come up with
4:57Solutions and sharing so please unmute
5:00yourself and Gail and I will be
5:02monitoring the chat box as we go along
5:04uh so either way we want to hear from
5:07you I'm deaf Deb Fitzgibbons some call
5:10me Deborah mostly it was my mom when I
5:13was in trouble but I am the coordinator
5:16of the Oregon technology Access program
5:18and Regional and Statewide services for
5:22students with Orthopedic impairment
5:24supporting therapists no small task
5:27these days so many things going on and
5:29so many questions
5:31um I have nothing to disclose other than
5:33that this is my job along with my
5:36passion but I am also thrilled to have
5:39Gail to introduce herself we've been
5:42doing these sessions together and I'm
5:45thrilled for for every minute of the
5:48learning Gail
5:49good morning everybody it's good to be
5:52with you and I'm very excited to uh have
5:55Aaron Sheldon with us today she's a old
5:59friend and somebody I've been able to
6:01work with over several years now
6:04um I am an independent consultant do we
6:07have another slide
6:09uh yeah I'm an independent consultant in
6:13the uh area of special education of
6:16former School administrator and a former
6:20Otep coordinator
6:21my disclosure is that I am also under
6:26contract to three different Echo
6:28programs the echo voices program through
6:32otap the University of Wyoming's Echo
6:35and assistive technology program
6:38uh and the rsois echo ties program for
6:43which is specifically developed for
6:46therapists
6:49specifically developers by therapists
6:51but the topics always cross over we
6:53always meet is is a common theme and a
6:58common theme for therapists uh is how do
7:01we Implement what are we talking about
7:03and so I just want to point out to you
7:05that next time on November 18th when we
7:08get together again model is a master pal
7:10and Tabby Jones
7:13um I'm not sure how to pronounce her
7:15last name I will probably need to learn
7:17Wilbur okay I've only seen it written so
7:20thank you for that Aaron but Tabby has
7:23been mentioned uh last week Rachel and
7:26Chris bougay mentioned her as uh someone
7:29uh as a model for integration she's very
7:33well known in this area and this is her
7:35model and so she'll be sharing with us
7:38on November 18th but today we are
7:41thrilled to wear welcome Aaron some of
7:43you may have seen her as a participant
7:46or a presenter at our conference
7:49two years ago I saw Aaron at Atia in
7:53January before the world changed on its
7:56ear and I said can you come to see us in
8:00um for our conference in April 2021 well
8:04she's still coming but she's coming
8:05virtually because our conference will be
8:08virtual so uh Aaron is presenting with
8:11us today the participation model uh
8:14planning for implementation she's got a
8:17wealth of
8:18experience and wears many different hats
8:21and she's going to introduce herself and
8:24her tell us about or why much better
8:27than I ever could and I just want you to
8:31remember that Aaron will be coming as a
8:34keynote and a presenter at our
8:36conference so as you're thinking about
8:39what is it that's talking about that
8:42resonates these may be the topics that
8:45we want her to focus on at the
8:47conference in the spring so just think
8:49about that as we go through and make
8:51comment about hey I want to know more
8:53and that's how we bring you what we need
8:56so I'm going to stop sharing my screen
9:00so that you can start sharing yours Erin
9:03and I'm ready again we'll monitor the
9:06chat box Aaron do you prefer that people
9:09hold their questions or do you want them
9:11to ask as they go along as oh go ahead
9:14and just yeah just ask as we go along
9:17okay all right excellent welcome
9:21thank you and let me get us into play
9:24mode oh my little Zoom window is just
9:26blocking one of my
9:28let's see
9:31that introduction was cracking me up
9:33because that 12 year old Maggie is now
9:36the 17 year old Maggie so
9:38there we go
9:41um so uh thank you guys
9:43um like Deb said my name is Aaron
9:45Sheldon um I work part-time as a
9:48disclosure for the vendor assistiveware
9:50as a special education lead
9:53um I've actually been focused
9:56um about the last year or so on the
9:59evidence base behind the vocabulary of
10:02assistive Wares products such as
10:03proloquo to go and um products that will
10:07be coming out vocabulary and how we
10:10Implement vocabulary and vocabulary
10:12instructions so anyway it's been great
10:14fun and
10:16um I am also home with a 17 year old AAC
10:20user
10:21um who we're actually getting home-based
10:24services this year during the pandemic
10:26so she has an educational assistant who
10:28comes to her home about uh an hour and a
10:31half every morning and facilitates
10:33Maggie to be able to
10:35have online instruction with her
10:37classroom so yeah so that is how we are
10:40handling this and I am talking about the
10:42participation model which
10:45I think has been my framework since
10:48about the time I met Gail which Gail I
10:50was realizing that was like nine years
10:52ago a long time and you were the first
10:57person to ask me to uh present at a
11:00conference so I came out to California
11:03and we did the Club 21 yeah event
11:06whatever that was so I think Maggie was
11:08actually about seven or eight then
11:10um and I learned about the participation
11:11model about 10 years ago doing a special
11:14education project for my own daughter
11:16School District my own kids school
11:18system we went to a neighboring School
11:20District to learn about their approach
11:23to planning assistive technology our
11:26entire special education advisory
11:28committee went and this was a local
11:30school district here in Ontario that
11:33uses Universal Design and had an entire
11:35School a pilot school that's about 10
11:38years ago they had implemented Universal
11:40Design and the speech pathologist at the
11:43school explained that Universal Design
11:44Works beautifully for most kids but
11:49students with complex communication
11:50needs they have to layer it with the
11:52participation model and so she described
11:55Universal Design as a safety net that
11:58catches most students but our students
12:01who need AAC tend to fall through the
12:03Universal Design safety net and that's
12:06where they use the participation model
12:08to ensure that they are doing the
12:11planning that those students need for
12:12assistive technology so she explained it
12:15to me and it has been like my guiding
12:17framework ever since and I'm it's
12:19interesting it's so funny it's it's
12:22I just find that it helps me organize
12:24just about anything we just did with
12:26Tabby
12:27um and that I suspect if it's the same
12:29Rachel with Rachel Langley and Marlene
12:31Cummings we just did a pre-conference uh
12:34for closing the Gap um
12:38right oh well if you're if you follow
12:42that podcast
12:43we just had an interview with Karen
12:44Erickson about some of the literacy
12:46instruction that will come up a little
12:48bit in this one so there you go
12:50all awesome people hold on let me get
12:52this
12:54my slides there we go all right so oh so
12:58I have and um opened up menti I've put
13:02all my slides into mentee
13:05um so that you guys can be highly
13:09participatory so Zoom is messing around
13:12with me a little bit it keeps putting
13:13our little headshots
13:16right over my
13:18navigation bar so I'm going to minimize
13:21those for me
13:22um but go ahead if you look at the top
13:24of the screen you'll see the website for
13:26mentee and the code and this is just a
13:30quick practice slide to give you guys a
13:32chance to log into mentee when we
13:36complete the mentee slides at the end
13:39you will have the option to download all
13:43of the slides and it will include all of
13:46your contributions
13:48um and and participation so
13:52um I didn't submit the slides ahead of
13:53time just to make sure that you guys
13:55some of them will be progressing through
13:57but you'll get them all at the end and
14:00you'll get to see all of the inputs that
14:01all of you provided
14:05so I know it's a stressful time so on a
14:08scale of cat are you feeling excited
14:11barely hanging on perplexed sleepy
14:15whatever
14:17I can see here that at least four of you
14:19have been able to join up with mentee
14:24I'm watching this little roster down
14:26here in the bottom right hand corner to
14:28tell me how many of you have been able
14:30to submit a response and that's what
14:31gives me an idea of whether I should
14:33progress the slider cut is anybody
14:36having trouble joining
14:40could uh could somebody put the
14:43number in the chat box the code
14:47that might be helpful
14:55thank you
15:07I've been doing so many Zoom meetings
15:09and it's well you guys have all we've
15:12all been doing so many Zoom meetings and
15:14I had a meeting about a month ago where
15:16the entire presentation had been put
15:18into mentee and it was such a refreshing
15:20change that I decided going forward I
15:23will do that as often as possible
15:28all right I'm gonna go ahead and
15:29progress to the next one you'll see that
15:31this code and the website will stay at
15:34the top of every single slide so if
15:36anything comes up
15:38it's easy to reconnect
15:40so before we get going what inspires you
15:44about AAC what brought you to the field
15:46what excites you in terms of what you
15:49are doing for your students by
15:51implementing
15:52AC go ahead and submit those and I'll
15:55also give folks who are having trouble
15:56joining them to get a chance to
15:58to join us
16:12supporting students who need
16:14communication access the most I love
16:16getting to see the AAC unlock learning
16:18improving quality of life for
16:20individuals and their families seeing
16:22the child get it and start communicating
16:23I love to see them communicate their
16:25needs and wants to see kids be able to
16:27participate better the ability to give
16:29kids a voice I love it when kids be able
16:31to tell me things I didn't know finding
16:34out what they are thinking
16:36okay awesome hearing a student or
16:37client's voice and thoughts for the
16:39first time
16:40theme Learners who've been given a voice
16:42become active participants in their life
16:45awesome yes so this is exactly what has
16:48brought us to this field and we will
16:51come back to this a little bit when we
16:53think about what participation is
16:55according to participation model
16:57so now what forms of AAC assessment do
17:01you currently use is your evaluating
17:03students for AC what are some of the
17:05tools
17:07I've just put in some of the most common
17:09here
17:12set process communication Matrix
17:18functional communication profile
17:22go ahead and unmute yourself if you
17:24check others so we can hear what you
17:26were thinking when you clicked that
17:41okay very cool
17:44so it looks like a lot of you use the
17:47set process the communication Matrix
17:50which is awesome
17:52the dag2 functional communication
17:55profile and at least one person uses
17:57something else okay oh and there's the
17:59pragmatics profile I personally love the
18:00pragmatics profile but I think it's
18:02because I
18:03tend to work with such complex kiddos
18:06all right so let's break down the
18:08participation model and we will be
18:09referring back to both of those things
18:11we just did
18:13if you have ever opened up for example
18:16the buccalman and Miranda AAC textbook
18:20um it is massive I once evaluated the
18:22reading level of the big AAC textbook
18:25from Brooks publishing that um Pat
18:28Miranda and David buchelman published I
18:30think the reading level was like grade
18:31level 26. so I forgive you if you
18:35struggled with any parts of it
18:38um but it is a brilliant model that Pat
18:41Miranda has given us and basically what
18:43she is saying is that in order to
18:45support our students to meet their
18:47communication needs and participate in
18:49life we have to make sure that we are
18:52unpacking barriers they face both
18:54physically their their um their access
18:57barriers these are their whatever the
19:00nature of their disability is that's
19:02getting in the way of of that's
19:04impairing their ability to participate
19:06as well as their opportunity barriers so
19:08she just gave us this framework to make
19:10sure that we're evaluating both of these
19:13and this is a slightly more just
19:15simplistic version
19:18when you think about our students having
19:20two kinds of barriers that they face and
19:22so again those access barriers are the
19:24nature of their disability it might be
19:27differences in how they coordinate and
19:29control their body how they receive
19:31information from their senses how they
19:35have have learned and are learning
19:37language and literacy
19:40um how their brain works in terms of
19:42thinking cognition and attention
19:44but then the other kind of barriers is
19:46the opportunity barriers and these are
19:48the results of how other people respond
19:51to the student's disability so it's
19:54really separate from our students
19:55biology it's separate from their their
19:58um their disability and these
20:00opportunity barriers can be everything
20:02from the knowledge and skill level of
20:06all of us and of their Educators and
20:08their families it can be the practices
20:11and policies within our systems and it
20:13can be the attitudes that kind of guide
20:15you know the mindsets that guide all of
20:18those practices and policies and we're
20:19going to spend some time kind of
20:21unpacking what those look like
20:26first though one of the things that I
20:28find most compelling about the
20:30participation model is how we
20:33conceptualize what it means to
20:34participate
20:36um and Pat Miranda makes it very clear
20:37that what she's thinking about is what
20:41is it that people without disabilities
20:43are able to do where what are they
20:45participating in how are they
20:47participating and how are we making that
20:48accessible to our students and so I
20:51think of it as having kind of four broad
20:53outcomes that we can think about for
20:55participation
20:57um the most obvious for AAC obviously is
20:59communication that our students have the
21:02skills and the technology that they need
21:04to be understood and understood by a
21:07broad range of people not just familiar
21:09people and for a broad range of purposes
21:13for communication everything from social
21:18to commenting and expressing opinions
21:20and protesting and requesting and all
21:22the like
21:23but then there's also educational
21:25outcomes right because I think most of
21:26us are working within a school system
21:28and so why are we going to school and
21:32are we participating in the actual
21:34learning of school
21:36um are we learning the essential skills
21:38and knowledge to be able to participate
21:40in society
21:42um and to be able to participate more
21:43broadly in things like voting and right
21:46the Civic responsibilities of of being a
21:49member of society so are we learning the
21:51essential skills of language and
21:53literacy and numeracy and technology so
21:56that we can really participate in our
21:57community duties
21:58are we developing the social outcomes so
22:01that by the time we leave schools we
22:03have close friendships and strong family
22:06relationships and our communication
22:09partners are effective
22:11um and have our community have learned
22:13how to support our communication
22:15especially the more complex the needs of
22:18some of our folks the more that our
22:19communities really need to be prepared
22:21um to be good communication partners and
22:23to understand and support our students
22:26and are we developing the skills of
22:28self-determination right again that's
22:30getting back to concepts of citizenship
22:32like what does it mean to have control
22:34choice and control of our own lives but
22:37also transition planning right so as
22:39students become teenagers and inters
22:41secondary are they leaving school with
22:44the skills to participate in the most
22:47important decisions about their life and
22:50to really be able to express their their
22:52own individuality and their own
22:54personhood
22:55and Pat Pat Miranda talks about
22:59um when she when she shares the
23:01participation model making sure that
23:02we're looking to kind of age appropriate
23:04Norms like what is someone without
23:06disabilities of this same age in this
23:08same space what are they learning and
23:10how are we creating access to that
23:13and I think this part is self-evident
23:15but why does this matter is these are
23:16all the reasons that you guys just
23:18mentioned for what brought you into the
23:20field of AAC we are providing a voice to
23:24students who don't have one and
23:26therefore accommodating that um that
23:29disability of complex communication
23:31needs
23:32um we're providing access to the general
23:34curriculum and to all of the learning
23:36that happens and that's because you know
23:38partly just because it's the right thing
23:40to do
23:41um but partly because our own federal
23:42law is manually mandate that all
23:44students have access to the general
23:46curriculum and you simply cannot access
23:49the general curriculum without AAC if
23:51you have complex communication needs
23:55um we are making sure that when we
23:57provide services and supports and
24:00accommodation like AAC like speech
24:03therapy that that service is removing a
24:07barrier to participation rather than
24:09creating a barrier to participation and
24:13we'll talk a little bit about what that
24:14means but it can mean that you know
24:17sometimes in response to a disability we
24:19provide we create a special program or
24:21create a special service
24:23um and that very strong good intention
24:25can itself become a way that students
24:30are not not now able to participate in
24:32the life of their schools or the life of
24:33their communities
24:34and we're making sure that we're
24:36providing equal opportunity we know for
24:39example that there is huge variation
24:40between the states
24:42um in terms of which populations of
24:45students are currently getting access to
24:47AAC but our longitudinal research is
24:51really showing that school systems and
24:54states that provide AAC as early as
24:58possible to the broadest range of
25:00students to whatever students cannot
25:01meet their needs with spoken language
25:03those are the same States the same
25:06school systems with the largest number
25:09of students who are symbolic
25:11communicators by secondary so we know
25:14that you have to have access to the
25:16technology
25:17for some of our students for 10 15 years
25:20before you actually learn how to use it
25:23but you certainly can't learn to use it
25:24if you've never had access to it so
25:26these opportunities creating equal
25:28opportunity
25:30um is just kind of I think one of our
25:31our driving principles
25:35so when we go back to the ways that we
25:40currently evaluate students
25:42um for AAC we can see that different
25:45evaluation tools are better at some
25:48things than others so for example the
25:49functional communication profile and the
25:51dag2 are very effective at assessing
25:55access needs the pragmatics profile the
25:58AC profile the set framework also look
26:01at things like opportunity barriers they
26:03also look at things like communication
26:05partner behaviors so how is the person
26:07being interpreted how are they working
26:09within the environment and what's in
26:11front of them and the project core I'm
26:15sure you guys are familiar with project
26:16core
26:17um their self-evaluation tools that are
26:21part of project core that give staff an
26:24opportunity to reflect on how they're
26:26implementing AC it's really the only
26:28tool I have found AC evaluation tool
26:31that focuses entirely on opportunity
26:33barriers so it's not really asking
26:35questions about how students are
26:37accessing technology it's just asking
26:39how we're implementing it so there's a
26:41range of tools and it really I hope this
26:43visual just kind of helps us think about
26:44how we need more than one tool in order
26:47to make sure that we're really looking
26:50at all the barriers our students face so
26:54I won't spend a lot of time on access
26:55there barriers because as medical
26:58professionals as school professionals I
27:01think these tend to be the most well
27:03known these are the most likely to be
27:05captured in you know the kind of
27:07ordinary feature matching that we do
27:10um and all the common assessments that
27:12students with complex needs face
27:15um the kinds of access barriers that our
27:18students face they might be
27:20cognitive in terms of limits to their
27:23attention to their memory to their
27:25ability to retrieve memories to retrieve
27:28words
27:29um
27:30self-regulation it's also linguistic in
27:34terms of how our students are learning
27:35to understand
27:36symbols and spoken language and what
27:40words mean and how we change the meaning
27:42of words by how we put them together how
27:44words can be represented either in print
27:46through literacy or visually through
27:49things like graphic symbols but it's
27:52also our students sensory needs whether
27:54they're able to see and touch and access
27:56whatever technology we put in front of
27:59them so these tend to be already the
28:01most well documented with the students
28:03that we support and what I thought was
28:06just useful to think about is how all of
28:08these relate to each other so for
28:11example a student with significant motor
28:15needs may have not physically explored
28:18their world very much particularly if
28:21they also have sensory needs such as
28:22visual impairment so we know that that
28:25directly impacts things like cognition
28:27and learning about the world and the
28:29students ability to learn to sort of
28:31incidental experiences
28:34and students who cannot produce speech
28:37which might be a motor need struggle in
28:39their linguistic development if they've
28:42never been able to explore language and
28:44combine words and be able to actually
28:45participate in language as opposed to
28:47just hearing spoken language but not be
28:49able to produce it so access barriers
28:52always interact with each other and I
28:56think the students that I focus on the
28:58most are students who both have
29:00significant cognitive and intellectual
29:03disabilities as well as motor
29:05disabilities as well as sensory
29:08disabilities with you know in terms of
29:11their hearing their Vision their sense
29:12their sensory processing all the like
29:15and that makes it extremely difficult to
29:18assess any individual one piece to know
29:21for example what to sensory need or
29:23what's a motor need versus what's a
29:26what's a cognitive need but that can
29:28become its own topic
29:30um so I've only just stopped really
29:31quick and just ask so how do you
29:33currently evaluate access barriers
29:36amongst your students some of you
29:38already mentioned some common tools but
29:40what are some of the things you
29:41currently do maybe with an IEP team to
29:44evaluate the access barriers the nature
29:46of the disability that your students
29:48face
29:56ask analysis
30:03multi-disciplinary teaming with related
30:06Services absolutely
30:11and the more complex the student the
30:13more multi-disciplinary we usually need
30:15that team to be observation
30:19mostly informal consultation
30:21consultation task analysis getting help
30:23from the Adaptive tech center yeah so
30:25finding external expertise a set meeting
30:28to help put things to the surface taking
30:30a team approach absolutely so this kind
30:32of I think the the big message we're
30:34getting here is we can interview
30:35students we need to know who what we
30:38need to gather the knowledge of the
30:39people most familiar with them
30:41um
30:43in some of my districts we're still
30:45struggling to help other professionals
30:46realize that there are access barriers
30:48absolutely
30:50okay
30:52so you guys have lots of different
30:54approaches for doing this and
30:56observation being a really key one so
30:59now let's look at Opportunity barriers
31:01because these don't tend to be as
31:03carefully evaluated as access behaviors
31:06and the way that random buchelman
31:09describe opportunity berries is they
31:10sort of group them in five areas
31:14um there is policy policy barriers are
31:17when access to AAC is limited limited by
31:20some kind of policy hey sorry put my
31:24doorbell rang and the puppies
31:27um losing his mind
31:29um so access to AC illuminate is limited
31:32by someone's policy or regulation this
31:34means that someone in Authority has
31:36created this barrier it could be your
31:38state legislature it could be your
31:40school board it could be the head of the
31:42at department but it means that a formal
31:45decision has been made
31:47practice barrier people often mistake
31:49practice barriers for policy barriers
31:51but a practice barrier just means this
31:54is the way we have always done it and we
31:57often assume that the way we've always
31:58done it is is required
32:01foreign
32:10can evaluate sorry an electrician has
32:13come to fix something in our house and
32:15my husband's taking care of the dog
32:17knowledge and skill barriers are talked
32:21about the most frequently when I talk to
32:22speech therapists and it's where for
32:25example the knowledge about AAC
32:27implementation
32:29um maybe rests mostly with the speech
32:32language pathologist but access to that
32:34knowledge is more eliminated access to
32:36AAC is more limited limited because
32:38other team members don't have that same
32:42level of knowledge or maybe they've
32:44learned about something in books or
32:45through webinars but they haven't
32:47learned how to apply that knowledge and
32:49that's when we see skill barriers and
32:52then what tends to Overlay all of this
32:53is attitudinal barriers it's when
32:56mindsets are really what's getting in
32:58the way
33:00um of how we Implement AAC and you know
33:03an attitudinal barrier when you come
33:05across it and we're actually going to
33:07spend a little bit of time practicing
33:08kind of how to how to identify these
33:11different barriers when you come to them
33:12it's interesting one of the things that
33:14always crack me up in um and Miranda
33:17text is Pat talks about
33:20um
33:21simply directly confronting an
33:23attitudinal barrier and saying I think
33:25your attitude is the problem is rarely
33:27an effective strategy right it's
33:30something that we tend to need to work
33:31around and I think it's something that
33:33your own Echo voices program addressed a
33:36lot last year by by really focusing on
33:39mindsets and kind of a Common Language
33:42and common understanding of what
33:45everybody's up to and again just like
33:47access barriers opportunity barriers
33:49interact with each other so a certain
33:51policy about how AAC is provided can
33:55really inform practice
33:57um how we might fund or organize
34:00professional learning especially for
34:01classroom staff and communication
34:03Partners can be influenced by what we
34:06fund and what policies and what
34:07practices we have and the like and so
34:10it's very difficult to to Simply address
34:12one of these individually but you guys
34:16already mentioned this set process and
34:18the pragmatics profile what are some
34:20other ways that you currently evaluate
34:24opportunity barriers go ahead and
34:26take a minute and fill those in
34:42observation staff interviews
34:46what people say and what people do
34:49taking a social inventory
34:52foreign
35:09and formally discussions and feedback
35:11from training and coaching students and
35:13family interviews and conversations
35:23okay one more second to see if you guys
35:25have more
35:29Case by case looking at how the student
35:32is interacting and how is academic data
35:34is coming along
35:36again task analysis what are the goals
35:38and what's standing in the way
35:40okay
35:41so let's practice identifying
35:43opportunity barriers because just
35:45identifying and naming them is often
35:48half the challenge if you have a
35:51situation like this um actually this is
35:53this is you'll hear from Tabby in two
35:55weeks Tabby talks about the biggest
35:56barrier she faced is our district does
35:59not provide teachers or aides with
36:01release time or funding to attend
36:03workshops or trainings on AAC this is
36:06the barrier that led her to create the
36:08master pal program those modules
36:12what kind of barrier is this when a
36:15district is not providing that kind of
36:17professional release time
36:19um or funding for professional learning
36:24policy practice
36:32yep it also reflects attitudes
36:35attitudes and mindsets about where our
36:37priorities are so I think you guys have
36:39nailed it right so it's largely about
36:40policy because it's a funding decision
36:43and therefore a decision maker
36:45um someone in Authority has made that
36:47decision but that decision very much
36:50reflects the knowledge and attitudes of
36:52the decision makers
36:54um you know of the system itself and the
36:56practices of that system because so
36:59often what we do policy wise is a
37:01reflection of just what we've always
37:02done
37:03how about this when Medicaid funding or
37:06any specific funding system restricts
37:08how we provide AAC and how we provide
37:11those kind of of speech therapy services
37:14what kind of barrier is that when we see
37:16it
37:24again yep overwhelmingly it's a policy
37:27barrier because it's a funding decision
37:29but it very much reflects mindsets and
37:32practices so attitudes and practices
37:33okay how about our at team is swamped
37:37with aec referrals I'm sure none of you
37:39can relate to this
37:41um but because of the large number of
37:43AAC referrals we cannot also provide
37:45support with AAC implementation what
37:48kind of barrier are you facing when this
37:50is the situation
37:58thank you
38:06I can tell you guys have been talking to
38:08Chris Begay and Rachel madle
38:10um because just the fact that you know
38:12this this consensus around the fact that
38:14it's often about practice and skills and
38:17knowledge of the team it it very well
38:20could reflect the policies for example
38:22the funding system of wherever you work
38:24but often this kind of thing is um
38:28reflecting the practices just how we've
38:30always provided assistive technology to
38:33this population which very much again
38:35reflects the knowledge the skills the
38:36attitude
38:38um of the team how about this one I call
38:40this the kale theory of AAC our staff
38:42treat AAC like kale or quinoa it's a
38:46good healthy idea and Theory but they
38:48don't actually cook it or eat it
38:52what kind of barrier is that
39:03yep really reflects largely the mindset
39:06around AC but also very much the
39:09Knowledge and Skills
39:11um of that team itself right they may
39:14they may actually have a mindset that
39:16AAC is important that they have but
39:18don't have the knowledge skills or
39:19practices
39:21um to implement it okay awesome
39:23um how about when speech therapists only
39:25provide AC services in one-on-one
39:28therapy sessions so they're not
39:29available to coach teams in the
39:31classrooms or provide any kind of that
39:33that in class job embedded support
39:38laughs
39:39okay
39:42absolutely it really reflects all of
39:45these barriers coming together once it's
39:47often largely a practice barrier like
39:49you guys are saying
39:51um but it can really reflect the
39:52policies and funding systems it can
39:54reflect the knowledge skills and
39:56mindsets of the whole team okay
39:59when classroom teams are only modeling
40:02AAC during a few specific routines so
40:05maybe they get it out during shared
40:06reading and they get it out during snack
40:08time but otherwise AAC stays in the
40:11closet on a Shelf
40:16foreign
40:20okay you guys are really nailing it this
40:23off this really reflects the mindsets
40:25the skills the knowledge and the
40:27practices of the team right and often
40:30people will do what makes them feel
40:33competent and effective so if they know
40:34how to use AAC during those specific
40:36routines they'll do it but if they don't
40:38have the habits or the mindset for the
40:40practices to do it otherwise then we're
40:43going to see that very limited use all
40:45right out of curiosity how much do these
40:48five kinds of barriers affect your work
40:50you can rate them
40:52um in terms of which ones you feel are
40:54having the biggest effects
40:57um on your work and which ones are
40:58having a more minor effect
41:16here we go oh wow okay
41:20so skills and practices that's
41:22interesting this is exactly the same
41:25um responses we lot in our
41:27pre-conference at uh closing the Gap
41:29last week
41:31skills attitudes practices
41:34okay let me give you another scenario
41:37what about when you hear some students
41:39are too low functioning to learn AAC
41:41what are you hearing what kind of
41:43barrier is that
41:50[Music]
41:52largely attitude
41:54mindsets yeah
41:56but also pretty much the knowledge the
41:58practices
42:00skills of our teams so this to me really
42:03gets into where our access and our
42:05opportunity barriers that our students
42:06face really overlap where a student who
42:09has access barriers around things like
42:12cognition and intellectual disability
42:14and memory language development control
42:18of their body sensory motor impairment
42:20that overlaps with the attitude and
42:24Knowledge and Skills and policies and
42:26practices that we work within and that
42:29middle area between these two is where
42:32we see assumptions about who's capable
42:35of learning and how much they're capable
42:37of learning it's where we see the
42:40enactment of things like
42:42um how we teach and what we teach and
42:45how many resources we put into it so the
42:47quality of instruction and the quality
42:50of resources if you've ever been into a
42:52special education classroom that hadn't
42:54been provided with any formal
42:57evidence-based resources I call it
42:59Pinterest special education where it's
43:01whatever teachers can find for free on
43:03the web that often reflects again these
43:06assumptions about who's capable of
43:07learning and so it results in fewer
43:09resources or lower quality
43:12resources if when we see affiliator
43:16provide that kind of professional
43:17learning for teams right you can see it
43:19really reflected in the quality of of
43:21Staff Development that's coming into
43:23these classrooms
43:26so then what kind of barrier so here
43:29I've combined access and opportunity
43:31barriers so what kind of barrier are we
43:34up against is if AAC is only provided
43:36after a detailed individual AAC
43:39evaluation with no intervention no no
43:44exposure to AAC before we do that
43:47detailed individual AAC evaluation
43:50what are the barriers that we're seeing
43:52here
43:53[Music]
44:10so the opportunity barriers are really
44:13clear in terms of we're seeing a
44:14reflection of policy and practice that
44:18we're not even giving students the
44:19opportunity to know what AAC is before
44:21we're evaluating it I'm noticing that no
44:23one is selecting the excess barriers
44:25sensory motor impairment the student
44:27sensory motor impairment I've combined
44:29them or they're cognitive and language
44:31development or impairments in those so
44:35that's really that's very interesting to
44:37me go ahead well I was going to ask you
44:40about that they seem like
44:42um very different
44:45uh items then the then the first five
44:49and
44:51um maybe a part of a detailed AAC
44:54evaluation but how do you feel like they
44:57fit into this model
45:00um just that we have to be aware of both
45:02of them right so for example if we don't
45:04have any kind of what for example
45:06Kristen and Rachel on their podcast talk
45:09a lot about having
45:10some kind of universally available AAC
45:13system if we don't have access to
45:16something like that that can be accessed
45:19by most students or some kind of
45:21response to intervention approach
45:24um where we have some version of
45:26symbolic language that we're making
45:28available to students letting them
45:30observe and model
45:32um then we will never will never meet
45:34both of these like I think we have to we
45:36have to figure out a system that does
45:38both
45:40um I've been in school districts where
45:42Wham or Prolo Court ago is provided
45:45automatically to every single student
45:47with complex communication needs which
45:48is great I mean it's great that there's
45:50a universal system but if there's not
45:52been any evaluation of students motor
45:55skills or their Vision skills and there
45:59isn't uh we're still we're not going to
46:02do anything different until we also take
46:06these access barriers into consideration
46:09um then I just think we run into we we
46:11run into trouble right there's no one
46:13single system that can be accessible to
46:15every single student
46:18um so I'm still I'm actually Gail still
46:20exploring how these all interact but I'm
46:22I actually haven't gotten this response
46:25before to this question where people
46:28have only identified opportunity
46:30barriers and no one said but I think
46:33that this is really about better
46:35understanding like we can't provide AAC
46:37without this really detailed individual
46:41AAC evaluation so to me this this tells
46:43me this is an audience that has really
46:45thought about opportunity barriers
46:48yeah I
46:50um
46:52yeah I know and let me think about it
46:55well maybe we'll talk later okay yeah
46:57keep thinking about it I'm wrapping my
46:59brain around it I'm with you Gail
47:02I think it's about making sure that
47:05we're finding this space in between and
47:07that's the power of tools like the set
47:09process right it's making sure that
47:10we're always looking at the space
47:12between
47:13um and not assuming that we can solve
47:16all AAC issues with just opportunity
47:19just addressing opportunity barriers or
47:22just addressing access barriers I think
47:24that's the only point that I'm hoping to
47:26well and it may be uh that part of it is
47:30some approach to kind of udl
47:34for this population
47:36um
47:38I I
47:40I'm gonna think about it some more okay
47:43cool this is like the conversations
47:45we're having at ATA so
47:48um so this is another one this is a very
47:50common prerequisite here in Ontario
47:52students have to demonstrate
47:53communicative intent and knowledge of 20
47:55symbols before AAC is even considered
47:59and that doesn't so like where's the
48:01road map where's the road map that gets
48:03me from a purely pre-symbolic
48:06communicator
48:07to having knowledge of 20 symbols and
48:10developing communicative intent
48:13what are we seeing what are the barriers
48:15we're seeing
48:17when we see this kind of candidacy model
48:22so you guys have identified knowledge
48:24attitude
48:32I think I completely agree with you guys
48:34I think it's largely knowledge and
48:36attitude but all of these this is the
48:39overlap this is where I feel like it all
48:41comes together that yes our students
48:43have really significant impairment right
48:45and we have to be aware of that but we
48:48also have to be addressing those
48:49opportunity barriers oh this is really
48:51interesting
48:55how about when we hear my students
48:57aren't motivated to use AAC they prefer
48:59to communicate what they need with
49:00gestures or sounds and you might hear
49:02this from families right there's a lot
49:04of people you might hear this from
49:06what kind of barrier are those students
49:07up against if this is the what we're
49:10hearing
49:22I feel like these responses really
49:25reflect the work that you guys have
49:26already done with Echo voices
49:30um because in different audiences I've
49:31seen this skewed very much the other way
49:33that of course it's about the students
49:36disability that's why we're seeing this
49:38not so much the opportunity barriers so
49:40anyway I think that if we believe they
49:43can do it that it's going to
49:45it's going to fuel everything else
49:49no I think you're exactly right
49:52so this is where to be opportunity
49:55barriers
49:56um come together with exactly what you
49:58guys are doing in Echo voices and that
50:00you're both evaluating the needs of your
50:02system as a whole of your state as a
50:04whole of how to better support staff
50:07Within These individual school districts
50:10as well as how all of you here in this
50:13group as speech pathologists are trying
50:14to evaluate the needs of individual
50:16communication Partners you know
50:18individual families or classroom
50:20teachers or paraprofessionals and the
50:22like and it's figuring out how do we
50:24address kind of one group of barriers in
50:28a way that supports these more
50:31individual ones I think when I see us
50:33this kind of systematic approach like
50:36what you guys are doing with this
50:37project this is to me where we're seeing
50:40the merger where we're addressing all of
50:42it together both at a systems level as
50:45well as at the individual kind of
50:48professional
50:49levels I think you guys are I'm proud to
50:51say Aaron you mentioned slps but I'm
50:53proud to say that uh got OTS on with
50:56this too and and uh you know the the
50:59team approach is is certainly catching
51:01on oh that's very cool well and that I
51:04think it also gives you so much power
51:06when it comes to assessing those
51:07individual access barriers right because
51:09those OTS are such an important part of
51:12that problem solving so um we'll get
51:15into the case study in just a second but
51:18um this is just a quick question what
51:19can we do to remove more barriers to
51:21participation I think you guys are
51:22already doing a lot of this stuff
51:25um but what what do you feel best
51:28removes a knowledge barrier when you are
51:32working with classroom teams
51:34professionals families educators
51:36what are the things that allow us to
51:38remove the knowledge barriers more than
51:41anything else
51:42[Music]
51:44mission statement
51:46statement yeah workshops webinars
51:50staff training
51:58okay so you're developing some consensus
52:00looks like we're on staff training job
52:03embedded coaching information sharing
52:05like workshops and webinars is kind of
52:07maybe the primary
52:09the primary ways that we share more
52:12knowledge
52:13okay let's go to what removes a skill
52:17barrier
52:24remember skill is how we apply our
52:26knowledge
52:47I've never used mint tea before I kind
52:50of like it after I figure it out isn't
52:52it fun yeah it definitely has a little
52:54bit of a learning curve but it's had
52:55less of a learning curve than the zoom
52:57tool did you say that the handouts will
53:00also be there for the the slideshow will
53:03be there for us too yeah at the end you
53:06can have it emailed directly to you and
53:07you get it with all this interaction
53:11cool thank you
53:13sure
53:16um so what else what can we just
53:18brainstorm what else removes knowledge
53:20and skill barriers Within These
53:23different systems
53:35sharing successes and those exemplars
53:39Echo voices
53:49video models partnering team members
53:54foreign
53:57practicing using AAC embedding it into
54:00the student's day
54:11having people at home and at school
54:13trained and using the tools yeah so that
54:15whole circle around the student
54:22s
54:26that's what I love about mint tea is
54:28that everything that you guys are now
54:29submitting here becomes part of the
54:31slide so easily so it'll now be part of
54:33your handout
54:34having a Clear Vision of where we want
54:36to go that's where I really like to
54:37think about those outcomes that we
54:39talked about at the beginning like what
54:40are the outcomes we were trying to get
54:42to that helps us develop that Clear
54:44Vision
54:46[Music]
54:55regular frequent training Echo podcasts
54:59having a community of AAC Specialists to
55:02support and train us spreading out the
55:04expert title to everyone involved
55:07absolutely
55:08okay these are so good all right so now
55:11what removes a policy barrier when
55:14policy barriers were it's someone in
55:16Authority such as a funding decision
55:17that is the biggest thing that we're up
55:20against or one of them what are the
55:22things that can really help us remove a
55:24policy barrier
55:38new policies and procedures
55:41workshops and webinars especially if
55:43they help get people on board mission
55:45statements that explain the rationale
55:47behind what we're doing
55:48staff training
55:51yeah
55:54coaching to help people implement the
55:55new policy
55:57technology
55:58what I'm trying to get at it here is I
56:01remember when I first came into this
56:02field is about 10 years ago and it was
56:04all about the iPad and apps and you
56:06would have thought that an iPad with
56:09apps could remove every barrier a
56:11student faced to AAC and I think that
56:13what I'm seeing here really shows that
56:16it takes a whole package there's no one
56:19thing but when we're up against a
56:21particular kind of barrier we can be
56:22more targeted and strategic about how we
56:25how we approach it how about a practice
56:26barrier so it's not formal written
56:29policy but it's just the way we've
56:31always been doing it what helps us kind
56:34of overcome that practice barrier more
56:37than anything else
56:41okay
56:52coaching training especially if those
56:55staff trainings like staff meetings
56:56we're really talking about why are we
56:59currently doing something what's the
57:00outcome we're trying to get to and is
57:02what we're doing actually working so I
57:04would have put self-evaluation in but
57:06anything that that really gets us
57:08considering that
57:10and workshops webinars even if it just
57:13helps us understand that there's other
57:15ways we could be doing it that we
57:18haven't been
57:19any other ideas go ahead yeah any other
57:22ideas
57:23um this is Gail again I do a lot of work
57:26in the area of uh systems and
57:29administrative support and one of the
57:32things
57:33um that I keep wanting to add to your
57:36list is
57:38um administrative involvement knowledge
57:40of the administrator about the kinds of
57:43barriers we're addressing
57:45um
57:45uh encouragement from supervisors
57:52no I think that's really key the the
57:54pre-conference we did last week that was
57:56a big Focus we actually had
58:00I think
58:01maybe a third administrators
58:05with otherwise the bulk being
58:08um ATAC Specialists within their system
58:12because yeah so much of this is stuff
58:14where we really need to be
58:16um partnering with administrators
58:19educating administrators and influencing
58:22administrators so for example one of the
58:25things that came up a lot
58:27um last week was if you're an individual
58:30SLP if you're an individual therapist or
58:32educator it might feel like there isn't
58:35much that you can do to address policy
58:37and practice but sometimes just having a
58:39small pilot project one of those
58:41Exemplar success stories like one of you
58:45have already mentioned and being able to
58:47share that information with
58:48administrators being able to collect
58:50data
58:52um in a small pilot that you can then
58:55share and use that data to help
58:58influence administrators so that we can
59:00change policy practices you know I think
59:03taking some of that data as
59:08information about what is needed and
59:11then offering
59:12uh suggestions to administrators about
59:16how they can help that I think a lot of
59:18Administrators don't know
59:20uh what some of the issues are but if we
59:24can say you know how about if we had one
59:27line item to the budget or
59:30talk about AAC successes and staff
59:34meetings things like that absolutely
59:38so that was the influencing part I liked
59:41what you said about that
59:42well we also talked about there's a a
59:45really cool helpful model of change
59:47theory and it's the idea that people go
59:50from pre-contemplation to contemplation
59:52and then continue through a change cycle
59:54so pre-contemplation as an administrator
59:57is when you don't see a problem your
1:00:00professionals are taking care of a
1:00:02problem you know some students can't
1:00:03talk you've got professionals who are
1:00:04dealing with it if there's no problem to
1:00:07solve and with what we're doing is
1:00:09currently working then you're
1:00:10pre-contemplative and so sometimes what
1:00:13we need to do with leaders is shift them
1:00:16into contemplation which is recognizing
1:00:18there actually is a problem
1:00:20um collecting data that shows that maybe
1:00:22students are having better outcomes in
1:00:26some places than others where practices
1:00:28are different in one place rather than
1:00:30another being able to see that a
1:00:32different intervention results in better
1:00:34outcomes that that's the information
1:00:36that can move decision makers
1:00:39um to to shift into contemplative and
1:00:41once you're in that con contemplation
1:00:43mode you're going okay so there's a
1:00:45problem and we need a solution what's
1:00:48the solution and what are those plans
1:00:49like you just said like what are what
1:00:51could we actually do now
1:00:53um and what resources what would we need
1:00:55to do that in order to to do something
1:00:57different
1:00:59okay cool
1:01:01um
1:01:03because it's the law but we really need
1:01:06to see beyond that we don't want to play
1:01:09that card right off the bat
1:01:10exactly exactly well and that's actually
1:01:13a really nice segue to this one um so
1:01:15what actually removes an attitudinal
1:01:16barrier like what is the role of the law
1:01:19it's interesting but some there's a
1:01:22certain percentage of the population
1:01:23that just being told this is the law you
1:01:26have to do it is enough that that
1:01:29motivates the change that needs to be
1:01:31seen whereas for others it needs to be
1:01:34much more um involved it can't be it
1:01:37can't be just this is the law you have
1:01:39to
1:01:41thank you
1:01:43whoever's clicked mission statements I
1:01:46really I have seen some of the most
1:01:48growth around attitudinal barriers
1:01:50around helping teens develop that vision
1:01:54of where we're going so that's kind of
1:01:56what I'm getting at with a mission
1:01:57statement or a vision statement like
1:01:59what are the outcomes we're trying to
1:02:01get to what is our purpose for being
1:02:03here why are we doing this
1:02:06um and what could we do better but again
1:02:08the way that you guys have also pointed
1:02:10out look at the strength here amongst
1:02:11the job embedded coaching just seeing
1:02:14someone else do it coming into your
1:02:17space and showing you how to do it
1:02:19removes an enormous part of the barrier
1:02:22because for so many of the the
1:02:24communication partners that we're
1:02:25supporting it's all Theory and they need
1:02:28to see how it actually works in practice
1:02:30in their own in their own classrooms
1:02:34um how else can we remove attitudinal
1:02:36barriers any other suggestions
1:02:39that you guys have I'm slightly behind
1:02:40schedule
1:02:42so I'm just going to move it along just
1:02:44a little bit just so we can get to the
1:02:46short case study
1:02:51observation
1:02:57webinars with AC users I was hoping
1:03:00someone would say that here success
1:03:02stories of other students but hearing
1:03:04directly from AAC users that is often
1:03:07where that is the most powerful
1:03:09particularly if physically an AAC user
1:03:13appears like your complex students or
1:03:16the students that you serve and then
1:03:18being able to actually see that outcome
1:03:20having a conversation with someone who's
1:03:22developed the skills
1:03:24um that you're hoping your students will
1:03:26develop yeah modeling case studies
1:03:29supervisional enforcement passion and
1:03:32dedication for the work can be
1:03:33contagious absolutely you guys all
1:03:36shared at the beginning
1:03:38um your reasons for being in the field
1:03:40and that really has to be shared with
1:03:42the people we're trying to influence so
1:03:44that that passion and dedication
1:03:46um I don't want to say contagious during
1:03:49a pandemic but it can be just can go
1:03:51viral in the same way
1:03:53so what removes an excess barrier
1:03:58I should have had AAC user testimony
1:04:00here hearing directly from
1:04:03um oh no that would work for the actual
1:04:04barrier so how about access barriers
1:04:06what removes access barriers for
1:04:07students so now we're getting back to
1:04:09the physical nature of the disabilities
1:04:15do any of these things actually help us
1:04:17do that and here's where we're seeing
1:04:20the power of Technology right also
1:04:23coaching people training people
1:04:24providing that more more knowledge they
1:04:27can better recognize the access barriers
1:04:29but this is where we're going to really
1:04:31see
1:04:32um you know whatever that latest
1:04:34technology is
1:04:36might be really helpful with specific
1:04:39access barriers or student space
1:04:45cool okay
1:04:46so
1:04:48um
1:04:50I think this will be really quick I'm
1:04:52going to throw out some really common
1:04:53practices if you go to any at conference
1:04:55any AAC conference you're going to hear
1:04:56about these practices and I just want to
1:04:59think about like what what barriers
1:05:01specifically are these addressing when
1:05:05you go to a school and there's core
1:05:06boards posted all around the school or
1:05:09in the playground is it addressing
1:05:11policy practice knowledge skills
1:05:14attitude
1:05:16or specific access barriers of students
1:05:41so you guys are saying that it's
1:05:42addressing attitudes mindsets it's
1:05:45giving people an opportunity to practice
1:05:46skills probably just raising awareness
1:05:49helping to shift practices but it's also
1:05:52providing an actual tool that can help
1:05:55with the language development and actual
1:05:58physical access to AAC of our students
1:06:01what about when we're modeling AAC while
1:06:03we're interacting with a student
1:06:06what are the barriers
1:06:08that we're addressing when we do that
1:06:21okay
1:06:25so we will be just us modeling AAC might
1:06:29be improving the skills and attitudes
1:06:31and knowledge of the communication
1:06:32partners
1:06:33I'm helping to shift practices around
1:06:36the student but at the same time also
1:06:39addressing the language development the
1:06:41the graphic symbol of recognition the
1:06:43the specific uh impairments our students
1:06:47are facing
1:06:48how about when we have things like happy
1:06:50hours with staff so they have an
1:06:52opportunity to practice using AC when
1:06:54students aren't there in some kind of
1:06:56informal setting
1:07:12absolutely
1:07:14it's about sharing knowledge and
1:07:16shifting practices but it's really about
1:07:18developing that those skills and
1:07:19mindsets
1:07:21um
1:07:22I'm going to skip through these last
1:07:24ones
1:07:25oh I'm gonna go back to self-evaluation
1:07:27self-evaluation by classroom staff when
1:07:29we use any form of self-evaluation tool
1:07:32so that
1:07:33the IEP team can really ask what are we
1:07:35doing why are we doing it is it having
1:07:37the effect we want it to have could we
1:07:39be doing it better what do those kind of
1:07:42things what kind of barriers do those
1:07:45kind of practices remove
1:07:48foreign
1:08:10attitudes practice knowledge skills
1:08:16absolutely okay
1:08:19um
1:08:21so very quickly this isn't a very
1:08:24detailed case study but I will show you
1:08:26a case study
1:08:27this is a student Cameron he's age seven
1:08:30he's placed in a multi-disability
1:08:32classroom with inclusion in a general
1:08:34education first grade class for specials
1:08:36like music art and gym
1:08:38he uses an iPad to watch for
1:08:42entertainment to watch Netflix YouTube
1:08:45um to look at photos and videos he has
1:08:47significant developmental delay he has
1:08:50no expressive language Beyond
1:08:51vocalizations and some word
1:08:53approximations he has very inconsistent
1:08:56skills being able to identify some
1:08:59important letters that are represented
1:09:01in his own name and inconsistent skills
1:09:04identifying printed photographs of
1:09:07familiar people and he currently has no
1:09:09AAC Beyond a single message device that
1:09:12he uses every morning to say his name
1:09:14during morning Circle
1:09:16um and he has some laminated photos to
1:09:19request preferred items
1:09:22so this is Cameron
1:09:24what barriers does Cameron likely face
1:09:29to getting
1:09:30um greater access to AAC greater
1:09:33participation in his school community
1:09:36just in life
1:10:00thank you
1:10:13so you guys are identifying his
1:10:15cognition his language development those
1:10:18will be important
1:10:20um attitude the mindsets the attitudes
1:10:22of people around him the practices yeah
1:10:24so it's very Global I would argue given
1:10:28things like inconsistent recognition of
1:10:31photographs
1:10:32um there very well maybe some sensory
1:10:34impairment there as well there a lot of
1:10:37these students have things like cortical
1:10:38visual impairment that would make things
1:10:40like recognizing photographs especially
1:10:44like a laminated printed photograph of a
1:10:46familiar person more difficult so when
1:10:49there's a disconnect between what we see
1:10:51students do digitally on a backlit
1:10:54device like an iPad or a smart board as
1:10:56opposed to what they're doing with
1:10:58something printed or laminated then
1:11:00that's just one thing I would think
1:11:01about
1:11:04um what would you do beyond the things
1:11:06we already talked about to evaluate
1:11:08Cameron's access there is is there
1:11:09anything that this very quickly study
1:11:13um makes you think about that you should
1:11:15evaluate in order to understand
1:11:17Cameron's access needs
1:11:33task analysis uh-huh
1:11:38thank you
1:11:41guys talked about having
1:11:42interdisciplinary teams of Occupational
1:11:44therapists absolutely I would get the
1:11:46occupational therapist involved and
1:11:48probably also personally
1:11:50um a teacher for the visually impaired
1:11:52some kind of functional Vision
1:11:53assessment
1:11:54CBI evaluation
1:12:08if you submit something after I click to
1:12:10the next slide it will still show up on
1:12:12your handout of the slides so just to
1:12:14keep us on time and how about how can we
1:12:17evaluate Cameron's opportunity barriers
1:12:19beyond what we already
1:12:21talked about you guys you guys
1:12:23identified
1:12:26several opportunity barriers that a
1:12:29student with Cameron's profile is going
1:12:30to face
1:12:35you've talked about addressing his
1:12:36access barriers with things like
1:12:38determining staff attitudes towards AAC
1:12:40but again that's going to be as much an
1:12:42opportunity barrier
1:12:44as an access barrier so any other ways
1:12:46that we would evaluate cameras
1:12:48opportunity barriers the policies the
1:12:50practices the mindsets
1:12:52the skills or the knowledge of the
1:12:54people around him
1:13:09modeling to staff and coaching for them
1:13:16you guys talked about observation and
1:13:18one of the things I really observe
1:13:21um is the comments that people make
1:13:23right so as we're observing the language
1:13:25that people use is often a really
1:13:28interesting indication
1:13:30um of either mindsets also just asking
1:13:34if this is the way we've always done it
1:13:35is that written down somewhere that it's
1:13:37the only way to do it or do we have like
1:13:39where do we have flexibility
1:13:42looking at the student schools to see if
1:13:44he has the opportunities to practice and
1:13:45really making sure that his goals are
1:13:48aligned with those outcomes that we
1:13:50talked about at the beginning right so
1:13:52what are the outcomes we want Cameron to
1:13:54have and are his goals actually things
1:13:57that if he meets them he will get closer
1:14:00to those those outcomes uh following up
1:14:03on our the data that we collect through
1:14:04the set process and in interviews to
1:14:07make sure that we're really removing
1:14:08those barriers and expanding his uh
1:14:11his opportunity to participate he just
1:14:14gave it one more second see if there's
1:14:15anything else anybody adds
1:14:20feel free to unmute if you'd rather just
1:14:22say something
1:14:27um I don't know going back to the chat
1:14:30box
1:14:31um someone who had to leave Buddha isn't
1:14:32able to respond now said that um the
1:14:36strategies for what kind of strategies
1:14:37can we use when they uh when attitude
1:14:40was the barrier is it more technology
1:14:43rather than coaching any specific
1:14:46questions and Shayna
1:14:48um went on agreed to that
1:14:51um
1:14:52and admin is already aware but feeling
1:14:54sympathy for teachers in a high workload
1:14:57versus addressing their own attitudes
1:15:00identified no problem in the same way
1:15:04so so I actually tried to find research
1:15:07on this what is it the best addresses
1:15:09attitudinal barriers and what I found in
1:15:12the research was cognitive dissonance is
1:15:15what most addresses attitudes and so
1:15:17that means having examples having
1:15:21exemplars seeing things that make you go
1:15:25have I been making assumptions that
1:15:27weren't actually based in fact and so
1:15:30the more that it so it obviously depends
1:15:33on the particular attitudinal barriers
1:15:35but if the
1:15:36you know if I'm hearing a lot of
1:15:38language about how low functioning a
1:15:41student is and that tells me something
1:15:43about the mindsets behind the Assumption
1:15:46of what's possible for the student you
1:15:48know that we've kind of mentally capped
1:15:49what we think they can learn so that
1:15:52tells me that I need to find some
1:15:54examples of people who appear low
1:15:56functioning
1:15:58who are able to have outcomes who have
1:16:01outcomes that are beyond what I thought
1:16:03were possible for this particular
1:16:05student
1:16:06um you know honestly Stephen Hawking is
1:16:09a great example of a person who without
1:16:12the set process right who without
1:16:15appropriate assistive technology was
1:16:18extraordinarily low functioning what was
1:16:20different in Stephen Hawking's case was
1:16:22he actually had the technology and the
1:16:24support he needed to fully participate
1:16:26now that might persuade some people but
1:16:28not others but it really gets at the
1:16:30idea that for example Stephen Hawking
1:16:32was a full assist when it came to
1:16:34personal care you don't have to be
1:16:35caught in to use AAC that is not a
1:16:37prerequisite skill
1:16:39um but that comes up when people are
1:16:42talking about
1:16:43um which students are potential
1:16:46candidates
1:16:48um so finding those exemplars finding
1:16:50those complex AAC users and helping
1:16:55people develop a vision of what these
1:16:57out outcomes look like even for a
1:17:00student with an extremely complex body
1:17:01what we're trying to get at again is
1:17:03that that cognitive dissonance that
1:17:05realization that I've been making
1:17:07assumptions
1:17:09um that weren't entirely based in fact
1:17:11and that's that's the the single most
1:17:14effective way from what I've been able
1:17:16to find so far
1:17:17um to address attitude so whatever we
1:17:20can do to get people to First recognize
1:17:23what assumptions they're making and then
1:17:25question
1:17:27um
1:17:28whether those those assumptions are
1:17:30actually um based in fact and so what I
1:17:32do with a lot of teams is is there
1:17:35another explanation so the student that
1:17:37I actually modeled Cameron off of um
1:17:39that's not his actual name but the
1:17:41student I modeled him off of the speech
1:17:43therapist said he is so low functioning
1:17:46that he doesn't even recognize
1:17:48photographs of his own parents how could
1:17:51he possibly learn AAC
1:17:53well the way I create cognitive
1:17:54dissonance is saying is there any other
1:17:56explanation for why he doesn't recognize
1:17:59photographs of his parents and when he
1:18:03finally had
1:18:04um evaluation a functional Vision
1:18:06assessment and evaluation for cortical
1:18:07Vision impairment on Christine Roman
1:18:10lanski's scale of one to ten for the
1:18:13degree of severity of CVI he was a one
1:18:16he had profound cortical visual
1:18:19impairment but that actually hadn't come
1:18:21up that access barrier hadn't been
1:18:23identified
1:18:25um before by that team because of
1:18:27assumptions about about the student's
1:18:29body so looking for other potential
1:18:32explanations of what we're seeing that's
1:18:35making us presume one thing and
1:18:37something else so that we at least have
1:18:39another Avenue to investigate
1:18:41um
1:18:42something else to consider this is what
1:18:44I think families are instinctively
1:18:45trying to do when they say oh but my
1:18:47child they use their their app at home
1:18:50or in this situation my child said this
1:18:54they're trying to they're instinctively
1:18:55trying to create that cognitiveness
1:18:57dissonance to say you don't think it's
1:18:59possible for my child's here but I've
1:19:00seen it here and so that gives us the
1:19:02opportunity to say okay so what is it
1:19:05about that context if he's using it at
1:19:08home but not a school what is it about
1:19:09that context that is enabling this
1:19:12ability that's removing this barrier and
1:19:14how can we try to replicate that in the
1:19:18school setting as opposed to really
1:19:20what's happening at home I have to say
1:19:23yes explain what's happening because the
1:19:25if the staff have never seen them they
1:19:27are wondering if this parent is trying
1:19:29to make us think they're higher up and
1:19:32I'm not trying to read what's history
1:19:33but I would see that unless you had both
1:19:35of that because I've had I've seen a
1:19:38student who was a Selective mute
1:19:41um
1:19:42and nobody at school believed it until
1:19:45they saw the wonderful video or
1:19:47presentations that this kid was giving
1:19:49to his own family so make sure you have
1:19:52proof of that if you need to
1:19:54and so that is the end of our
1:19:57conversation Erin but there have been a
1:19:59number of people who have stayed up so
1:20:01it's obviously something uh that you're
1:20:04resonating and I have really enjoyed the
1:20:06thought processes that you've taken us
1:20:08through so I'm going to offer an
1:20:09opportunity for last questions from
1:20:12folks and
1:20:14um wrapping up but I think we've found a
1:20:16couple of things that you could share
1:20:18with us at our conference
1:20:20um overcoming the attitudes and uh
1:20:23talking more about coaching or some some
1:20:25common things anybody have any last
1:20:28questions for Aaron before we let her
1:20:30Escape
1:20:34foreign
1:20:42excellent job Aaron
1:20:44um and I know that you did I'm so proud
1:20:46of the work that you're doing and I love
1:20:48following you whenever if any of you are
1:20:51not on the quiet lists or when I see a
1:20:53comment coming in from Aaron I know it's
1:20:56always going to be thoughtful uh well
1:20:59thought out and it might be long but
1:21:00it's a very comprehensive answer because
1:21:02I love that about you and
1:21:05um you think it through you give every
1:21:07uh perspective and the one that always
1:21:09Rings true is that of a parent so I I
1:21:13thank you so much for being here and
1:21:16sharing with us today we look forward to
1:21:19welcoming you back to our conference
1:21:21next year even if it is uh virtual and
1:21:25everyone
1:21:26um please keep doing what you're doing
1:21:29and thank you for that and everybody
1:21:32take care
1:21:34we'll be talking to you soon
1:21:36bye
1:21:38bye everybody
1:21:41thanks Aaron that was delightful it was
1:21:44absolutely delightful but provoking
1:21:48together in my brain while you were
1:21:50talking I put together two

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