Go to previous article 
Go to next article 
Return to 2002 Table of Contents

MOTIVATIONAL THERAPY ACTIVITIES USING YOUR MAC, SOFTWARE, AND ASSISTIVE DEVICES

Alisha Magilei, AT Specialist
E-mail: alisha@dynamictherapysolutions.org

Lisa Sandoval, M.S., CCC-SLP
E-mail: lisa@dynamictherapysolutions.org

Dynamic Therapy Solutions
9029 Reseda Boulevard Suite #208
Northridge, CA 91324
Phone: (818) 341-3797
Fax: (818) 341-3798

Do you have a Macintosh Computer that is sitting in your therapy room? Do you need some creative and motivational therapy ideas to use with your clients who use AAC? Then this session is for you.

AAC therapy needs to be motivational, educational, and functional. Research shows that AAC therapy can help to enhance communication effectiveness, communication repertoire, and turn-taking in conversation for people with severe acquired communication disorders (Garrett, Beukelman, and Low-Morro, 1989; Fried-Oken, Howard, and Stewart, 1991; Garrett and Beukelman, 1995; Fox and Fried-Oken, 1996). Activities such as playing Madlibs using Speaking Dynamically Pro by Mayer-Johnson, Inc allows participation and multiple communication turns around a topic, which focuses on building pragmatic skills.

This session will include a power point presentation in conjunction with hands-on opportunities in the Macintosh Lab. The presenters will focus on how to create motivational AAC activities for therapy and in the classroom.

In the first part of this presentation, you will learn how to make communication boards, book adaptations, and more. The second half of the session will concentrate on written expression using symbols via e-mail, incorporating commercially available software to include your switch users, and creating a cool conversational phone page.

At the end of this session you will be able to:
1) create communication boards using BoardMaker by Mayer-Johnson, Inc.
2) make book adaptations using commercially available software
3) utilize commercially available software games for switch users
4) teach non-literate clients to send/read e-mail using Writing with Symbols by Mayer-Johnson, Inc.
5) design a conversational phone page for literate and non-literate AAC users using Speaking Dynamically Pro by Mayer-Johnson, Inc.

Selected References

Fox, L.E, and Fried-Oken, M. (1996). AAC Aphasiology: Partnership for future research. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 12, 257-271.

Fried-Oken, M, Howard, J.M., and Stewart, S.R. (1991). Feedback on AAC intervention from adults who are temporarily unable to speak. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 2, 38-44.

Garrett, K.L., Beukelman, D.R., and Lo-Morro, D. (1989). A comprehensive augmentative communication system for an adult with Broca's aphasia. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 5, 55-61.

Garrett, K.L., and Beukelman, D.R. (1995). Changes in the interaction patterns of an individual with severe aphasia given three types of partner support. Clinical Aphasiology, 23, 237-251.

Peake, P. (2001) Touring Boardmaker and Speaking Dynamically Pro (SDP) for Windows. CSUN Conference 2001.

Go to previous article 
Go to next article 
Return to 2002 Table of Contents 
Return to Table of Proceedings