This week, Chris interviews the incredible India Ochs! India is a brilliant social justice advocate, lawyer, educator, and board member for USSAAC and ISSAC who is also a lifelong AAC user. India describes her incredible journey with AAC, how she has used her many skills to advocate for social justice, why she volunteers so much of her time to the disabled community, and what she sees are the impacts of systemic racism on the field AAC (e.g. lack of vocabulary words to talk about racism).
Before the interview, Chris and Rachel respond to several comments from listeners about their recent banter about PECS. Some listeners said PECS works for them while robust AAC doesn’t work for them. Chris and Rachel note that, if robust AAC hasn’t worked, maybe the implementation hasn’t been done in a systematic way. They also respond to the idea that PECS is a necessary stepping stone to robust AAC, and provide some strategies for demonstrating early success with robust AAC when it doesn’t look like AAC is “working” yet.
Key ideas this week:
🔑 While the systematic nature of PECS implementation can encourage some people who would like a step-by-step guide, in some cases it causes students to “stall out” at a particular stage because they are required to demonstrate certain skills before moving on the next skill.
🔑 A simple paper and pen can be the most effective form of AAC for some literate AAC users.
🔑 It is difficult to find symbols for words like racism, anti-racism, African-American, Black person, hispanic, Martin Luther King, Jr on many AAC devices. Developers need to bring in experts on Black history and anti-racism to tell us what vocabulary we need to add to our devices.
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To listen to this episode, search "Talking with Tech" in your podcast player of choice or go to www.talkingwithtech.org/episodes/india-ochs
Links from the episode:
AAC Speaker Connection: https://speaker.ussaac.org/
Silent Auction benefiting USSAAC that ends October 15th:
https://www.silentauctionpro.com/bidonlinegrid.php?groupId=1860
or email Virtualauction@ussaac.org
India's Blog: https://intrepidoaks.com/
Xceptional AAC Leaders Book with Chapter by India
Stacy Maijala - Streamlining AAC Evaluations with Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS)
Tracy Kovach: Re-Defining the Role of AAC Specialist (Part 2)
Tracy Kovach: Re-Defining the Role of AAC Professionals (Part 1)
Tali Kellerstein - Using Games to Engage Students and Motivate Communication
Key Takeaways from ATIA 2022 (Part 2)
Key Takeaways from ATIA 2022 (Part 1)
Kris Brock: Using Animated Symbols to Improve AAC Instruction & Comprehension (Part 2)
Kris Brock (Part 1): Using Animated Symbols to Improve AAC Instruction & Comprehension
Jenifer Eaton & Marya Haff (Part 2): Collaborating Effectively with ABA Providers
Jenifer Eaton & Marya Haff (Part 1): Collaborating Effectively with ABA Providers
Kara Cotter: Creating Self-Paced Training for Communication Partners (Part 2)
Kara Cotter: Improving AAC Training Opportunities for Teachers and Families (Part 1)
Ashley Larisey: Effective and Respectful Therapy Materials for Older Students
Tools, Strategies, and Takeaways from ASHA 2021
Rachel Dorsey: Taking a Neurodiversity-Affirming Approach to Therapy
Michaela Ball: Is an AT Certification Worth It?
Small Talks V: Mark Brown, Meryl Schnapp, Jennifer Edge Savage, Kim Albrecht, & Colleen Warn
Alexandria Zachos: Supporting Spontaneous Speech in People Who Script
Cindy Gelormini - Improving Inclusion Through Storytelling
Lory Chrane: Sowing the Seeds of AAC in Uganda
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