This week, Chris has an amazing interview with Benjamin Bennett, an AAC Specialist for the Escondido Union School District near San Diego, CA. Benjamin has a wealth of information to share, including his school’s move from doing traditional AAC evaluations to a model that is more focused on the considerations of the whole team. Benjamin has lots of questions about the strengths and drawbacks of the Specific Language System First Approach (SLSFA) - his district is strongly considering moving more...
Jun 08, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 228
This week, we present Rachel’s interview with Laura Taylor, a Special Education Teacher and AAC Specialist with a years of experience teaching language and literacy to people with complex communication needs. Laura has done amazing work utilizing the Pragmatic Organization of Dynamic Displays (PODD), a form of AAC that, at least in the early stages, focuses on teaching communication functions along with vocabulary. Before the interview, Rachel shares about a client of hers with Childhood Apraxia...
Jun 01, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 227
This week, we hear Part 2 of Dr. Meredith Gohsman's interview with Chris and Rachel! Meredith, Chris, and Rachel reflect on the meeting they attended at the last ASHA convention about ASHA AAC Certification. While previous meetings they attended were more concerned regarding ASHA AAC certification, at ASHA the crowd was more in favor of the certification. Meredith, Chris, and Rachel remain concerned about ASHA AAC certification and discuss some possible negative consequences, including possible ...
May 25, 2022•55 min•Ep. 226
This week, Chris and Rachel interview Dr. Meredith Gohsman about her research into how much progress using their device AAC users made during a 4 week AAC camp. Each AAC user received aided language stimulation and was prompted using the least-to-most prompting hierarchy. Meredith’s results indicate that, after 9 sessions of AAC Camp, there was no change in the students receiving language instruction or the parents participating in sessions. The only change they saw was growth in therapy skills ...
May 19, 2022•49 min•Ep. 225
This week, we present Small Talks VI! “Small Talks” are short clips recorded with a previous guest that highlights one strategy or one idea in seven minutes or less. In this episode of Small Talks, we hear from Andy Smidt, India Ochs, Lory Chrane, Mark Nichols, and Tali Kellerstein! Before the interviews, Chris and Rachel discuss Chris’s “design challenge” he helped create for some 5th graders to help figure out how to attach 3D printed AAC keyguards (i.e. overlays) to AAC devices without needin...
May 12, 2022•57 min•Ep. 224
This week, Rachel interviews Dr. Jeffrey Ebin, an inventor and ER doctor at the University of Houston who created a FREE eye-tracking communication board ( communicatonboard.io ) that requires no more equipment than a camera (e.g. on a phone/tablet) and a web browser! Jeffrey shares all about his interest in creating Assistive Technology solutions, and how helping a man who was paralyzed from the neck down started him thinking about a free eye gaze website. One great thing about his communicatio...
May 05, 2022•37 min•Ep. 223
This week, we hear from Dr. Andy Smidt, a professor at the University of Sydney who teaches a number of courses related to communication and supporting people with severe intellectual disabilities. Andy shares about teaching pre-service professionals in unique ways, her “TEAM” taxonomy that can help write goals for emergent (presymbolic) communicators, and more! Before the interview, Rachel and Chris talk about playing “The Mind”, a card game where you only use observation and nonverbal communic...
Apr 27, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 222
This week, we share Part 2 of Rachel’s interview with SLP and host of the SLP Happy Hour podcast, Sarah Lockhart! They continue their discussion of Sarah’s clients, including a nonverbal client who uses lots of scripts to communicate. Rachel shares ideas for how to choose targets for therapy, why we should be modeling language that is important to the AAC user, and how motivating materials during AAC assessment can help get a better picture of his or her true ability. Before the interview, Chris...
Apr 20, 2022•53 min•Ep. 221
This week, Rachel interviews Sarah Lockhart, an SLP and host of the SLP Happy Hour podcast. Sarah had questions about providing AAC to a student who has limited spontaneous communication but used lots of scripts. Rachel and Sarah discuss the importance of supporting independent communication for echolalic students, how AAC benefits these students by providing visual word choices with auditory feedback, and more! Before the interview, Chris and Rachel discuss a listener question about a student w...
Apr 14, 2022•52 min•Ep. 220
This week, Chris interviews Rebecca, a guest who requested to keep her last name anonymous. Rebecca is an assistive technology professional who supports a K-12 school district and was interested in putting together some information for her school board asking to increase the number of assistive technology specialists in her district. She and Chris break down some arguments for increasing the quality of AT in the schools, as well as topics like providing direct service minutes vs. coaching, how t...
Apr 06, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 219
This week, we share Chris’s conversation with Mai Ling Chan and Jeanette Washington on making our presentations and trainings more engaging and effective! Chris, Mai Ling, and Jeanette are seasoned presenters, and they have a ton of useful tips that you can use to improve your presentations right away! Before the interview, Rachel shares about a client who was moved to tears by a sad video that he saw, but was confused about what was happening when he was crying - he wondered if someone was cutt...
Mar 31, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 218
This week, Chris interviews Stacey Maijala, an SLP who recently started a new AT Specialist position in Michigan that supports 13 school districts and five transition programs. Stacey had lots of questions for Chris about creating a lending library for technology, providing AT and AAC to everyone through Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), informing teachers about Tier 1 resources (i.e. resources available to everyone without the need for an evaluation or special education eligibility), and ...
Mar 23, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 217
This week, we share Part 2 of Chris’s interview with Tracy Kovach! Tracy is an SLP and AAC specialist who has over 30 years of experience with AAC. She shares about helping Bruce Baker organize the Pittsburgh Augmentative and Alternative Language Seminar Series (PALSS), changes we should make to pre-service education (e.g. university classes), how implementation might change with brain-interface systems, and more! Before the interview, Chris and Rachel answer a Patreon member’s questions about w...
Mar 16, 2022•58 min•Ep. 216
This week, Chris interviews the Tracy Kovach, an SLP and AAC specialist with a wealth of experience working as an SLP supporting complex communication needs. She shares about working with AAC when it was in its early years, the important of training communication partners, how SLPs and other professionals can advocate for changes in their profession, and more! Before the interview, Chris and Rachel have a fascinating discussion about Lego Braille Bricks ( legobraillebricks.com ), a service that ...
Mar 09, 2022•55 min•Ep. 215
This week, Chris interviews Tali Kellerstein, an SLP and owner of The Speech Boutique ( https://thespeakboutique.com/ ) who recently presented at ASHA with Chris on incorporating games and communication! Tali shares about strategies she uses to incorporate games with literacy, letting the child’s targets drive what game you choose, and more! Before the interview, Rachel shares about working with a client who uses AAC and how she got him motivated using games related to his specific interest, ele...
Mar 02, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 214
This week, we present part 2 of Rachel and Chris’s discussion of their experiences at ATIA 2022! This episode includes discussion of Rachel’s first experience with “AT Chat”; the benefits of learning in small groups during “Ed Camp”, the success of Chris’s “Cards Against Exclusivity” session, new strategies for using Canva in therapy, AT Maker Day, and more! Links from this weeks episode: Search #ATChat on Twitter Ashley Larisey TWT Episode Canva.com...
Feb 24, 2022•42 min•Ep. 213
This week, Chris and Rachel discuss their recent trip to ATIA 2022 and some of their favorite takeaways. Rachel shares about being a ATIA first timer and how much she enjoyed learning from sessions with previous podcast guests Chris Klein, India Ochs, and Lance McLemore. Chris shares about his session learning about preparing people for transitioning out of school and into the workforce using the VOISS virtual reality app, as well as the tribute to Joy Zabala. Rachel and Chris also talk about a ...
Feb 17, 2022•28 min•Ep. 212
This week, we present part 2 of Chris’s interview with Dr. Kris Brock, an Assistant Professor at Idaho State University who shares his experience researching using animated AAC symbols to teach and represent verbs and prepositions. Before the interview, Chris and Rachel share some of the resources that are being shared each week on the Talking with Tech Patreon page, including www.wombo.ai , mytalkingpet.com , biteable.com and more! If you are a TWT listener and would like to support the podcast...
Feb 09, 2022•41 min•Ep. 211
This week, Chris interviews Dr. Kris Brock, an Assistant Professor at Idaho State University, and President-Elect of Idaho Speech Hearing Association. Dr. Brock shares about his fascinating research into using animated AAC symbols for verbs and prepositions to improve symbol comprehension and reduce the time it takes to teach abstract words. Dr. Brock shares why using animations can be so powerful, why verbs and prepositions are the most important to animate, and why teaching verbs can happen na...
Feb 02, 2022•50 min•Ep. 210
This week, we present Part 2 of Rachel’s interview Jenifer Eaton & Marya Hoff, two BCBAs who own Rooted in Play ( rootedinplay.co ), an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) practice in Orange County, California. This week, Rachel, Jenifer, and Marya discuss dealing with rigid ABA therapists, why Jenifer and Marya’s ABA practice is different than some older methods, their thoughts on anti-ABA sentiments from some Autistic adults, and more! Before the interview, Chris and Rachel discuss the recent ...
Jan 26, 2022•55 min•Ep. 209
This week, Rachel interviews Jenifer Eaton & Marya Hoff, two BCBAs who own Rooted in Play, an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) practice in Orange County, California. Rachel shares about her experiences working with Jenifer and Marya to support one of her students, and why Rachel felt Jenifer and Marya were great examples of ABA and and SLP working together effectively to support language development and spontaneous utterance generation. Before the interview, Chris and Rachel talk about their ...
Jan 19, 2022•41 min•Ep. 208
This week, we present Part 2 of Chris’s interview with Kara Cotter, a school-based AAC/AT Specialist who contacted Chris to ask about improving buy in, moving to the coaching model, making AAC more inclusive, and more! Before the interview, Chris shares a Patreon subscriber’s questions about: 1) feeling “imposter syndrome” as a new AAC Specialist; 2) discussing the features of different AAC apps in a resource consideration meeting; and 3) how long to “trial” AAC systems to determine what system ...
Jan 12, 2022•53 min•Ep. 207
This week, Chris has a discussion with AT Specialist Kara Cotter! Kara asked Chris about her current efforts to get greater buy-in from teachers, ideas for moving to a coaching model in her district, and strategies for training teachers and students. Before the interview, Chris and Rachel kick off the new year with a discussion a group they are thankful for in the new year - the Talking with Tech fans! The support of the community has been huge to helping our podcast continue! Chris also talks a...
Jan 06, 2022•40 min•Ep. 206
This week, Rachel interviews Ashley Larisey, a school-based SLP working in the high school setting and an adjunct faculty member at St. Xavier University. Ashley describes some of her strategies for motivating older students in therapy, why she prefers “age-respectful” instead of “age-appropriate” materials, considerations for older students who are just being introduced to AAC, and more! Before the interview, Chris and Rachel chat about Rachel’s recent experience diving with sharks in Hawaii wi...
Dec 16, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 205
This week, Rachel and Chris discuss their recent trip to ASHA 2021 and some of their favorite takeaways that they will be using in their own practice, including why its better to present on a fewer number of tools with more information on how to use them, why you have to be both interesting and informative when presenting, how to make sessions more engaging so people will show up, and more! Sessions Discussed this Week: Shaun Sweeney - Play on Words: Thoughtful Uses of “Game-Based” Apps and Reso...
Dec 08, 2021•39 min•Ep. 204
This week, Rachel interviews Rachel Dorsey, the amazing "Autistic SLP" who runs a private practice and teaches courses on Neurodiversity and Goal Writing. Rachel shares her perspective on neurodiversity, how to help shift the perspectives of others to better affirm neurodiversity, the importance of co-regulation for Autistic people, and more! Before the interview, Rachel and Chris sit down with Melissa Bugaj and Sara Gregory to have a quick roundtable banter about gestalt language processing (e....
Dec 02, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 203
This week, Chris chats with Michaela Ball, TWT’s Audio Engineer & SLP Grad Student, about getting a certification in Assistive Technology while she finishes her Master’s degree. They have a lively discussion about why Chris thinks that the time and money spent on AT certification could be better spent on other kinds of professional development. Before the interview, Chris and Rachel discuss a recent experience Chris had in a classroom of young students playing Minecraft, including using Imme...
Nov 28, 2021•34 min•Ep. 202
This week, we share five brief “small talks”, or short interviews, with Mark Brown, Meryl Schnapp, Jennifer Edge Savage, Kim Albrecht, & Colleen Warn! Before the interviews, Chris and Rachel have an amazing discussion about targeting spontaneous language when people do not communicate much without a prompt or model. For example, you can help parents and teachers realize how much (or little) their child/student communicates spontaneously by having them track it during the day. Making sure to ...
Nov 17, 2021•42 min•Ep. 201
This week on TWT, we are excited to present Rachel’s interview with the amazing Alexandria Zachos! Alexandria is an SLP, educator, and private practice owner who specializes in treating delayed echolalia (aka scripting) and using the Naturalistic Language Acquisition framework to move from echolalia to self-generated language. Alexandria has a wealth of information to share about gestalt language (learning language in chunks or scripts), how we can teach language to gestalt learners, and how to ...
Nov 11, 2021•51 min•Ep. 200
This week, Rachel interviews Cindy Gelormini, parent of an autistic person and author of a series of children’s books about autism called " Robbie's World and his Spectrum of Adventures ". Previously, Cindy built a following on YouTube making videos about her son and their life together. Cindy shares about her son’s journey as a communicator, and some of the challenges he faced not having a method of communication beyond PECS and gesture. Tragically, her son passed away, and Cindy discusses why ...
Nov 03, 2021•52 min•Ep. 199
