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ISAAC Conference

Sessions

Sessions listed here have been accepted, however date/time has yet to be confirmed.

Title: AAC, How we got here and where we are likely to be in 20 years.
Theme: AAC devices
Speaker: Gregg Vanderheiden
Objectives: 1. Participants will be able to describe early AAC devices (simple and technical) and understand how technology had advanced what is possible, 2. Participants will be able to name at least two key unmet needs of all AAC users that we currently cannot address, 3. Participants will be able to describe new capabilities that will be possible in the future for meeting unmet needs, 4. Research participants will be familiar with research areas needed before we can realize future potentials.

Title: Ten years of AAC in Bulgaria: achievements and problems
Theme: Review of AAC in Bulgaria 
Speaker: Maurice Grinberg
Objectives: 1. Emergent AAC countries could benefit from the experience of Bulgaria, 2. Critical barriers and facilitators are identified and discussed.

Title: AAC Technologies and Interventions to Support Literacy Learning
Theme: AAC and literacy
Speaker: Janice Light
Objectives: 1. Describe the importance of literacy skills for people who need AAC, 2. Describe the components of effective instruction to support literacy learning for individuals who need AAC, 3. Describe technologies to support the acquisition of literacy skills and the transition from picture symbols to literacy.

Title: Adult Life and AAC: New Directions for AAC Technology and Educational Supports
Theme: describe current research and training projects of the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (the RERC on AAC) to develop new and needed supports for the key transition goals of AAC users
Speaker: David McNaughton 
Objectives: 1. Describe three key goals of adult life for AAC users, 2. Explain two benefits of a video visual scene display approach for supporting participation and communication, 3. Discuss the impact of three key strategies for supporting improved patient-provider communication.

Title: High tech or low tech AAC – How do we know?
Theme: aim of the survey was to explore the decision-making process involved in the selection of AAC systems for children
Speaker: Kim Bates
Objectives: 1. Separate research from perception of the advantages of low-tech vs high-tech AAC systems, 2. Explain individual AAC recommendations backed by research, 3. Reflect on their own decision-making processes, and to identify knowledge and training needs.

Title: Beyond the borders of speech: Music and touch at the core of social interaction
Theme: As an attempt to move beyond speech and towards the bodily foundations of human connection, a novel interactive environment mapping interpersonal touch to music was brought into the homes of 10 non-speaking autistic individuals.
Speaker: Rachel S.Y. Chen
Objectives: 1. Explain the fundamental importance of embodied interaction in all social communication, 2. Explore a variety of ways in which social interaction can be fostered through forefronting diverse modalities, 3. Innovate on collaborative activities that include the participation of diverse social communicators.

Title: Exemplary AAC SLPs Supporting Children who use AAC in Meaningful Interactions
Theme: present findings from a study that investigated the nature of interactions between children who use aided AAC technologies and SLPs
Speaker: Danielle Nader
Objectives: 1. Define how and why the term exemplary AAC SLP is used in the current investigation, 2. Identify one or more communicative support strategies used by exemplary AAC SLPs and the ways these strategies support meaningful social interaction, 3. Describe components of the theory of attuning and how these components contribute to high quality interactions. 

Title: From Participation to Communication: Bodily-Tactile Early Intervention for Children with Visual Impairment and Additional Disabilities
Theme: effects of bodily-tactile early intervention on four one-year-old children with visual impairment and additional disabilities (VIAD) and their mothers.
Speaker: Sini Peltokorpi
Objectives: 1. Learners will identify the challenges that children with VIAD and their parents face in early interactions, 2. Learners will understand how the bodily-tactile modality can be used to enhance the participation and communication of children with VIAD at the preverbal stage of language development, 3. Learners will gain insights from the results of the bodily-tactile early intervention. 

Title: Breaking Barriers: Fostering Communication Access and Awareness (Insights from ISAAC Cancun)
Theme: actionable strategies and impactful initiatives that promote accessibility for AAC users
Speakers: Tracy Rackensperger, Yoo Sun Chung, Jaimie Gibbs, Dana Lopez
Objectives: 1. Participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of the challenges faced by individuals utilizing AAC systems, particularly in regions where awareness and support are limited, 2. Participants will acquire actionable strategies for promoting communication access and raising awareness for AAC users, drawing from real-world experiences and innovative initiatives discussed by the panelists, 3. Participants will develop practical skills to implement inclusive communication practices in diverse settings, contributing to the breaking down of barriers and fostering greater inclusivity for individuals relying on AAC systems.

Title: Comprehensive Literacy Instruction and AAC: From Emergent to Conventional Literacy
Theme: Literacy and AAC 
Speaker: Karen Erickson 
Objectives: 1. Participants will identify 4 questions used to determine the appropriateness of a focus on emergent or conventional literacy for individual learners, 2. Participants will identify 3 or more emergent literacy instructional routines, 3. Participants will identify 5 important areas to address in conventional literacy instruction. 

Title: A Collaborative AAC Peer Support Model
Theme: results from a national survey of AAC users about peer supports. Protocols to find and evaluate peer support models, projects, approaches and activities
Speaker: Melanie Fried-Oken
Objectives: 1. Describe peer support models that are available now, within and outside AAC fields, 2. To list what criteria make a good peer support model within AAC, 3. Describe how successful AAC peer support models might be integrated into independent living and AAC practices.


Title: AI and AAC: Impacts on Language, Cognition, Personality and Privacy
Theme: AI and AAC
Speaker: Chris Gibbons
Objectives: 1) Learners will be able to describe two challenges that AAC users currently face that could be potentially mitigated through the use of AI-infused AAC, 2) Learners will give two examples of how AI-infused AAC could benefit AAC users, 3) Learners will give two examples of how AI-infused AAC could lead to negative outcomes for AAC users.

Title: My fight to get speech back after a stroke
Theme: Speech rehab from a stroke patient’s perspective 
Speaker: Nicholas Wilkinson 
Objectives: 1. To understand speech rehabilitation from a personal perspective

Title: The Guide to Communication with Hospitalized Patients 
Theme: Inpatient AAC Guide tool
Speaker: Yonit Hagoel-Karnieli 
Objectives: 1. Explain the sequence in which the six main elements of the Guide framework are most effectively used, 2. Identify three types of patients that the Guide can be applied for, 3. Describe three purposes for which the Guide can be used .

Title: Challenging today’s AAC modeling practice: 5 lessons from early language development
Theme: propose a practical alternative modeling approach that is based in the study of “motherese”, early language development, and cognitive and developmental needs of both communication partners and AAC users
Speaker: David Niemeijer, Erin Sheldon
Objectives: 1. As a result of this activity, participants will be able to list at least two issues with current AAC modeling practice, 2. As a result of this activity, participants will be able to describe why current AAC modeling practice is cognitively challenging for the communication partner, 3. As a result of this activity, participants will be able to describe at least 3 alternative modeling practices that are supported by the research on motherese and early language development.

Title: Helping the Helpers: Resources for Supporting Families of Individuals Who Are Learning to Use AAC
Theme: results of the Stepping into AAC project, which created resources to introduce families to AAC
Speaker: Carole Zangari
Objectives: 1. Participants will be able to provide a rationale for offering asynchronous support to families of children, youth, and adults who are beginning to use AAC, 2. Participants will be able to describe the three types of Stepping Into AAC materials and how they can support families, 3. Participants will be able to explain how to access the Stepping Into AAC online, print, and video resources.

Title: Talking with Tech Live: Brainstorming Solutions To Real-Life AAC Questions
Theme: Interactive sessions focusing on presented questions
Speakers: Rachel Madel, Chris Bugaj
Objectives: 1. Describe three tools to effectively implement AAC, 2. Describe three strategies used to effectively implement AAC, 3. Describe a system for evaluating which tools and strategies might be evidence-based.

Title: Supporting Gestalt Language Processors to Keep Scripting
Speakers: Lily Konyn, Alyssa Hillary Zisk

Title: Speech.exe has failed to load: when speech isn’t enough for true communication
Theme: Part-time AAC use. Autism and AAC
Speaker: Alyssa Hillary Zisk
Objectives: 1. Define the terms intermittent, unreliable, insufficient, and expensive speech and distinguish between them, 2. Describe examples of how intermittent, unreliable, insufficient, and expensive speech can affect communication, 3. Describe the benefits of AAC supports for people who experience any of these types of speech, 4. Apply the communication bill of rights to justify AAC access for people with intermittent, unreliable, insufficient, or expensive speech. 

Title: Dream big, work hard, be resilient: Transferring AAC skills into elite sporting success
Theme: importance of empowering individuals to fulfil their own potential, high expectations and crucially the time commitment
Speaker: Beth Moulam
Objectives: 1. Discuss the importance of high expectations for every AAC user fulfilling their own communication potential, 2. Explore the key components for good functional communication from an AAC user’s perspective, 3. Identify key attributes that support AAC user success, 4. Reflect on their own approach to supporting AAC users. 

Title: Building Writing Autonomy: Supporting Developing Writers with Idea and Language Generation
Theme: different supports we can use with developing writers to help them to become autonomous in generating their writing content
Speaker: Jane Farrall
Objectives: 1. Participants will be able to discuss different supports for language and ideas to be used with developing writers, 2. Participants will be able to identify which supports for language and ideas to use with developing writers at different groups on the Writing with All Tools Continuum.

Title: AAC as language – What is not researched
Theme: AAC research, some issues are over-represented while some core issues related to language development are rarely addressed.
Speaker: Stephen von Tetzchner
Objectives: 1. Gaining insights into AAC as atypical language form, 2. Learning about processes underlying typical and atypical language development, 3. Getting thematic ideas for AAC research. 

Title: Parallel learning for independent, autonomous communication using an auditory scanning SGD
Theme: all skills required to communicate using an auditory scanning SGD
Speakers: Linda Burkhart, Gayle Porter
Objectives: 1. Identify the complex integration of sensory, motor, cognitive, social, communication and language skills required to operate an auditory scanning SGD, 2. Describe a process for parallel learning to operate an auditory scanning SGD, including the development of operational, cognitive, psychosocial and linguistic competencies, 3. Discuss the role of a non-electronic AAC system and ‘simple powerful’ electronic page set to provide access to autonomous communication and language now and as part of the parallel learning process to develop more independent communication in the future, 4. Explain how “Stepping Stones for Switch Access” (Burkhart) is used within the parallel learning process to provide the graded repetition and practice with intent, purpose and variation to learn movements to operate and auditory scanning SGD.

Title: Designing Accessible & Inclusive Online Meetings for Persons with Complex Communication Access Needs
Theme: designing online sessions for individuals with CCN
Speaker: Nneka Nnagbo
Objectives: 1. Comprehend the significance of communication accessibility for individuals with complex communication needs (CCAN) in online meetings, 2. Identify key challenges faced by individuals with CCAN in participating effectively in online meeting environments, 3. Learn practical strategies and tools to design and facilitate inclusive online meetings that accommodate diverse communication needs, 4. Apply acquired knowledge to advocate for and implement inclusive practices in online meetings to promote accessibility and inclusion for individuals with CCAN.

Title: Reading and spelling instruction in Dutch non-verbal children with disabilities: the LOeS-procedure
Theme: Literacy and AAC
Speaker: Loes Theunissen
Objectives: 1. To learn about the LOeS procedure and its implementation, 2. To appreciate the importance of including children with AAC within the classroom so they get the same opportunities and learning possibilities as their speaking peers. 

Title: Diversity in children with CCN
Theme: culturally sensitivity in AAC interventions to children and young people with communication needs
Speaker: Mathijs Vervloed
Objectives: 1. Learn what culturese sensitive parenting means, 2. Give input on what the guideline should contain

Title: Literacy Learning using digital apps for students with intellectual disability in need of AAC
Theme: efficacy of digital app-based literacy interventions for students with intellectual disabilities (ID) requiring AAC
Speaker: Lisa Palmqvist
Objectives: 1. Practitioners and teachers should consider using specifically developed digitally based instruction methods as literacy instructions for students with ID, 2. Learning strategies that are effective for persons with TD are also effective for persons with ID in need of AAC, 3. Intensive reading interventions are effective in increasing reading ability for students with ID in need of AAC.

Title: Communication without Borders: Emotion Work & People with CCN
Theme: Emotion and people with CCN
Speaker: Margie Charlesworth
Objectives: 1.The Cycle of Negativity and how it contributes to the practice of emotion work for people with CCN. Essentially the Cycle of Negativity occurs throughout a person’s life, and is when people, particularly people with disabilities are constantly aware that they are different from others and are restricted in life’s opportunities because of their disability, 2.The ways in which society marginalises people with disabilities, and how people with ccn not just perform, suppress, monitor and pretend emotions, for the benefit of others, 3.Finally, the presentation will speak to how emotion work contributes to a person’s mental health. Simply put, when anyone is constantly practising emotional work for the benefit of those around them, there is an increased likelihood that they experience adverse mental health as a result.

Title: Finding Efficiency in AAC Education with Pediatric Acute Care Nurses
Theme: current literature regarding patient-provider communication and AAC across the lifespan with a special focus on its role in paediatric acute care settings
Speaker: Amanda Simmons
Objectives: 1. Consider current patient-provider communication literature and research to determine best practices, 2. Describe barriers to and strengths for implementing patient-provider communication, 3. Discuss research conducted and results regarding the benefit of short online training modules for pediatric nurses and nursing students.

Title: Bringing AAC Service Delivery into the 21st Century: Best Practices in Tele-AAC
Theme: Tele-AAC and challenges that people with CCN face when obtaining AAC services
Speakers: Christina Givner, Cristina Pujol
Objectives: 1. Identify three (3) challenges individuals with CCNs and their families face when seeking AAC services, 2. Discuss three (3) benefits of teletherapy as a form of AAC service delivery, 3. Describe how one AAC Clinic shifted from traditional in-person AAC service delivery to a teletherapy model during COVID-19, 4. Discuss three (3) key considerations when implementing tele-AAC services.

Title: Reading and Writing in People with Aphasia Who Benefit from AAC
Theme: AAC-Aphasia Categorical Framework
Speaker: Joanne Lasker 
Objectives: 1. Participants will: apply meaningful principles to classify people with aphasia who may benefit from AAC, 2. Participants will: describe differences in reading and writing between Stored Message and Generative Message categories within the AACF, 3. Participants will: generate ideas about specific types of AAC tools and strategies for identified communicators with aphasia, 4. Participants will: identify appropriate treatment goals for identified types of communicators with aphasia who may benefit from AAC.

Title: AAC Class “Three Ways”: Learning Outcomes from Face-to-Face, Hybrid, and Fully Online Course Modalit
Theme: AAC Graduate course format and learning outcomes
Speaker: Joanne Lasker 
Objectives: 1. Identify the different synchronous and asynchronous learning modalities employed in this study, 2. Describe aspects of course content that were shared across three modalities, as well as content that differed, 3. Discuss the student learning outcomes resulting from the analysis of common course products across the three modalities.