Join speech-language pathologists Rachel and Chris as they discuss supporting complex communication needs with alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) and assistive technology!
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The SLP Now Podcast is your go-to resource for practical speech-language pathology tips. Through this podcast, you'll hear directly from Marisha Mets, a school-based SLP turned research nerd. She’ll be joined by expert guests to answer your biggest questions. Submit your questions at slpnow.com/ask.
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This podcast is for Speech-Language Pathologists that are in multiple locations and dealing with those specific challenges that come with that style of working. May also be known as travelers, home health, itinerant.
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Show Notes: slpnow.com/193By SLP Now
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Anand and Amanda Murthy: Advocacy and Hope in the Face of Infantile Spasms
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This week, we share Rachel’s interview with Anand (@anandmurthy) and Amanda Murthy (@amandajanemurthy)! Anand and Amanda’s son, Maverick, is affected by infantile spasms, a rare form of epilepsy. Maverick has undergone multiple brain surgeries and faced numerous challenges related to his condition. Anand and Amanda share about their journey to rais…
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Show Notes: slpnow.com/195By SLP Now
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Jaclyn Lewis & Jessica Gerth: Supporting Communication and Inclusion with Tabletop Gaming
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Jessica Gerth and Jaclyn Lewis This week, we share Chris’s interview with Jessica Gerth and Jaclyn Lewis! Jessica (@chaoscommunicationconverse) is a speech pathologist who utilizes TTRPGs to enhance communication and social skills among her students. Jaclyn (@wranglerofchaos) is a writer, youth worker, and game master who wrote "Rolling with the Yo…
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Show Notes: slpnow.com/194By SLP Now
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Amanda Diekman: Lowering Parental Demands to Increase Connection and Calm
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This week, we share Rachel’s interview with Amanda Diekman! Amanda (@lowdemandamanda)is an autistic adult and parent of three neurodivergent children who advocates for a shift away from traditional parenting models that prioritize control and demands. She suggests that accommodating children's needs and reducing expectations can foster better emoti…
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Brianna Hughes & Tiffany Rezvani: Creating a Free AAC Screening Tool
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This week, we interview Brianna Hughes and Tiffany Rezvani! Brianna and Tiffany are Speech-Language Pathologists and AAC Specialists based in Northern California. They share all about the free AAC screening tool they created, called AAC Screening, that helps educators and clinicians efficiently identify students who may benefit from AAC devices! Be…
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Writing Goals for Life Skills with Rose Griffin
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Show Notes: slpnow.com/192By SLP Now
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Marnina Allis & Marisa Portanova: Empowering Communication & Collaboration at Blythedale Children's Hospital
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This week, Chris interviews Marnina Allis and Marisa Portanova, two speech-language pathologists at Blythedale Children’s Hospital, the only independent specialty children’s hospital in New York State! Marnina and Marisa share about their role on the core assistive technology (AT) team, ideas for supporting AAC users and their families outside the …
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Writing Goals for Gestalt Language Processors with Katja Piscitelli
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Show Notes: slpnow.com/191By SLP Now
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Amy Mayer, Judy Schoonover, Remi Moran, & Tiffany Zaugg: Small Talks VIII
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This week, we share a series of “Small Talks,” e.g. short recordings (less than 15 minutes) about a single topic of interest with guests Amy Mayer, Judy Schoonover, Remi Moran, and Tiffany Zaugg! Before the Small Talks, Rachel discusses presenting ant an online autism summit about some of the fundamentals of AAC. Meanwhile, Chris shares about recor…
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Writing Neurodiversity Affirming Goals with Jessie Ginsburg and Chris Wenger
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Show Notes: slpnow.com/190By SLP Now
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Writing Goals for Preschool with Kelly Vess
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Full show notes at slpnow.com/189By SLP Now
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Carole Zangari, Tabi Jones-Wohleber, Rachel Langley, & Michaela Ball: The "Stepping Into AAC" Project
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This week, Rachel and Chris interview the superstar members of the “Stepping Into AAC” project - Carole Zangari, Tabi Jones-Wohleber, Rachel Langley, and Michaela Ball! The “Stepping Into AAC” team shares about the core mission of the project: to introduce people to AAC, to guide them through the early months of using these new communication tools …
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Recast: Rachel Dorsey: Taking a Neurodiversity-Affirming Approach to Therapy
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This week, we present a Recast episode of Rachel's interview with Rachel Dorsey, an amazing autistic SLP who teaches courses on neurodiversity and goal writing. Recast episodes are previous episodes of TWT that Chris and Rachel want to highlight. In this Recast, Rachel Dorsey shares her perspectives on neurodiversity, how to help shift the perspect…
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Recast: Rebecca Moles: Preventing Abuse and Neglect With AAC
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This week, we present a Recast of Chris’s interview with Dr. Rebecca Moles! Recast episodes are previous episodes from the early days of TWT that Chris and Rachel want to highlight! In this Recast, Dr. Moles shares the importance of communication and AAC in preventing child abuse, the categorization of abuse types, the need for educators to equip c…
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Recast: Talking with Tech Roundtable: Early Intervention & AAC
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This week, we present a Recast of a previous “roundtable discussion” between Rachel, Chris, and previous host Lucas Stuber on early intervention and AAC! (Note: Recast episodes are episodes from the early days of TWT that Chris and Rachel want to highlight again). In this episode, Rachel shares her experiences with using AAC with very young childre…
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Recast: Kathy Howery: Understanding the Lived Experiences of AAC Users
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This week, we share a “Recast” of Chris’s interview with Kathy Howery! “Recast” episodes are episodes from the early days of Talking with Tech (with improved audio) that share important ideas Chris and Rachel want to highlight! Kathy is an AAC specialist, researcher, and educational consultant from Alberta, Canada who emphasizes the importance of u…
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Caroline Woeber: Supporting AAC Users with Angelman Syndrome
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This week, Chris interviews Caroline Woeber! Caroline is an SLP specializing in AAC at Children’s Hospital Colorado, including working at their Angelman/Chromosome 15 Disorder clinic. Caroline shares all about supporting communication and AAC in the hospital environment, training parents and caregivers about AAC, identifying next steps when teachin…
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Benjamin Gibbs: Interviewing Chris Bugaj for a Master's AT Program
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This week, Chris is interviewed by Benjamin Gibbs! Benjamin is a student at George Mason University studying Assistive Technology who is completing a school project interviewing Chris, and Chris asked if the conversation could go on the podcast! Ben has cerebral palsy that affects his walking gait and verbal speech. He uses a combination of verbal …
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Amy Mayer: Engaging Students and Driving Inclusivity with EdTech Tools
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This week, we share Chris’s interview with Amy Mayer! Amy is the founder and CEO of friEdTech (https://friedtechnology.com/), a company that provides educational technology (EdTech) professional development for educators. Amy talks about her recent book, Beyond Worksheets, which provides resources for teachers to utilize EdTech tools and to inclusi…
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Karina Carter & Nicole Young: Teaching Language to AAC Users with Horses
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This week, we share Rachel's interview with Karina Carter and Nicole Young! Karina Carter is a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) at Children’s TheraPlay, where horses are used therapeutically to support children with disabilities and/or unique needs, including complex communicators! Nicole is the mother of TY, an AAC User who is one of Karina’s cli…
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Elisa Wern - The Importance of Including OTs During AAC Consideration & Implementation
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This week, we share Rachel’s interview with the amazing Occupational Therapist (OT) Elisa Wern! Along with being a school-based OT, Elisa speaks and writes about issues related to AAC and OT, including that OTs can have a critical role in the AAC consideration and implementation process! Elisa shares ideas for supporting students with sensory proce…
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Fairfax County Public Schools AT Team: Celebrating the Life of AAC Specialist Jeff Powers
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This week, we present Chris’s interview with some of the Fairfax County Public Schools AT Team: Jeff Sisk, Meaghan Tracy, Jennifer Carr, Ashley Kiley, and Colleen Kalamajka! They gather to share about the life of AAC/AT Specialist Jeff Powers, who passed away in 2023. They celebrate some of the many things he brought to his work with AAC, including…
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Yoosun Chung: Honoring an AAC User's Chosen Form of Communication
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This week, we share Chris’s interview with Dr. Yoosun Chung, former president of USSAAC, activist, professor at George Mason University, and AAC user! Dr. Chung shares about her journey from South Korea to the United States to learn English and pursue higher learning, her first introduction to high-tech AAC as a doctoral student in assistive techno…
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Chantelle Hutchinson: Supporting Adult AAC Users with Acquired Brain Injuries
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This week, we share Rachel’s interview with Chantelle Hutchinson (@dysphagiacommunity)! Chantelle is a Speech-Language Pathologist who works with adults with acquired brain injury and progressive neurological conditions. She shares about some of the factors that make working with clients with acquired brain injuries, like traumatic brain injury (TB…
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We’ve reached the final episode in our series about therapy planning across your school-aged caseload here on the SLP Now podcast! So far, we’ve used Dr. Ukrainetz’s literacy-based therapy framework to work through a month of therapy planning for five units: a play-based early language unit (slpnow.com/183), a picture book (slpnow.com/184), a ficti…
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Tiffany Joseph (Part 2): The Use of Gestalts in Acquiring Language as a Part-Time AAC User
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This week, we share part two of Rachel’s interview with Tiffany Joseph! Tiffany is an autistic mother of three neurodivergent teens, as well as an educator, advocate, and a part-time AAC User with inconsistent verbal speech. She shares about her experience as a gestalt language processor, how she thinks AAC could help students mitigate their gestal…
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A Month of Therapy Using a Science Experiment
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We’re nearing the end of our six-week series about therapy planning across your school-aged caseload here on the SLP Now podcast! So far, we’ve created a month of therapy plan for four units: a play-based early language unit (slpnow.com/183), a picture book (slpnow.com/184), a fiction article (slpnow.com/185), and a non-fiction article (slpnow.com/…
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Tiffany Joseph (Part 1): Educating and Supporting AAC Users as a Part-Time AAC User
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This week, we present Part 1 of Rachel’s interview with the amazing Tiffany Joseph (@nigh.functioning.autism)! Tiffany is an autistic mother of three neurodivergent teens, as well as an educator, advocate, and a part-time AAC User with inconsistent verbal speech. She explains more about situations when verbal speech becomes difficult, the ways that…
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A Month of Therapy Using a Nonfiction Article
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We’ve reached the next episode in our six-week series about therapy planning across your school-aged caseload here on the SLP Now podcast! For the last three weeks, we’ve used Dr. Ukrainetz’s five step literacy-based therapy framework to work through a month of therapy planning for three units: a play-based early language unit (slpnow.com/183), a p…
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Bob Sagoo: Empowering an AAC User as a Parent
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This week, Chris and Rachel interview Bob Sagoo! Bob is the father of Harchie, an 18-year-old young man with cerebral palsy who uses an AAC device with eye tracking to communicate (along with other modalities). Bob shares about Harchie’s AAC journey, Bob’s work to get Harchie mainstreamed in school, Harchie going to college, and more! Before the in…
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A Month of Therapy Using a Fiction Article
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Welcome to another episode of the SLP Now podcast! In the last couple episodes, we've been exploring literacy-based therapy plans that will help you target your students’ goals across multiple ages, group sizes, and skill levels. We covered therapy planning for an early language unit in episode 183, plans for a picture book unit in episode 184, and…
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Beth Moulam & Joanna Holmes: Recognizing AAC Users as Multimodal Communicators
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This week, we hear Chris’s interview with Beth Moulam and Joanna Holmes! Beth is a master student, former Paraolympian, a Trustee of Communication Matters (a branch of ISSAC), and patron of a charity called One Voice. She is a multi modal communicator who often uses AAC devices to communicate. Joanna (@mummyvsaac on Instagram) is the mother of Lucy…
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We’re back at it with another episode of the SLP Now podcast! Over the next several weeks, we're going to explore various units that are designed to engage and support your students across multiple age groups and skill levels. This week, we’re diving into the second of a six-week series about literacy-based therapy plans that you can use across you…
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Daniel O'Connor & Bradley Heaven: Creators of All Access Life, an Adaptive Product Nonprofit
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This week, Chris interviews Daniel O’Conner and Bradley Haven of All Access Life! All Access Life is a nonprofit that showcases the latest trends and movements in adaptive products and assistive technologies on their website allaccesslife.org. Daniel & Bradley share about how they met when Daniel was Bradley's Aide in high school (Bradley has nonve…
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A Month of Therapy Using an Early Language Picture Book
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We’re back at it with another episode of the SLP Now podcast! This week, we’re kicking off the first of a six-week series about literacy-based units that you can use across your whole school-age caseload. This week, we’re getting started with therapy plans for an early language book: Lola Plants a Garden. Early language books include simpler storie…
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After covering paperwork, data collection, and progress reports, it’s time to wrap up our March podcast series and dive into one of Marisha’s very favorite topics… How to Use Probe Data! In this episode, Marisha talks about: What a probe is and why it’s so valuable The best time to collect probe data How probe data influences your session plan Usin…
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181: 5 Tips to Streamline Your Data Collection as an SLP [Replay]
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Prepare to revolutionize your approach to data collection in therapy sessions! Marisha is here to share her top five tips to streamline this essential process. In the episode, we cover: Developing a Data Collection Routine: Marisha illustrates how she has structured her sessions for efficient data collection, highlighting the practice of using chec…
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Breea Rosas: Neurodivergent Affirming Practices for School-Based Practitioners
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This week, we share Rachel’s interview with Breea Rosas! Breea is a school psychologist who works with educators on how they can implement neurodiversity affirming practices and neurodiversity affirming psychoeducation! Breea shares about the neurodiversity affirming approach and three key areas she works with educators and practitioners to address…
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180: 3 Steps for Easy Progress Reports for SLPs [Replay]
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Let’s talk about something that scares many SLPs… progress reports. **** Progress reports may make some SLPs sweat, but hopefully there are others (like Marisha!) who think of it as a fun opportunity to celebrate student progress. After all, the point of working smarter is to have more time for the fun stuff, right?! Marisha actually thinks it’s ki…
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Kelley Coleman - Pushing Back Against an Incorrect AAC Evaluation
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This week, Rachel interviews Kelley Coleman, speaker, author, and advocate! Kelley talks about her family’s AAC journey and her role as the mother of Aaron, a complex communicator in the 4th grade who uses AAC to communicate. She shares about her new book, Everything No One Tells You About Parenting a Disabled Child, as well as some of the high- an…
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179: How to Build Your Paperwork System as an SLP [Replay]
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For all my SLP organization aficionados out there, join me today as I dive deep into tips and resources that will streamline your paperwork processes, especially for educators and therapists. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by deadlines and data, this episode is tailor-made for you. Let’s get started! In the episode, we cover: Mapping Out Due Dates…
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Heidi Rabe - Supporting Switch Use for Clients with Complex Physical Needs
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This week, Rachel interviews Heidi Rabe, an SLP who specializes in supporting AAC users with complex bodies who use switches and scanning to communicate! Heidi shares a wealth of information about scanning and switches, including how to evaluate if a student needs a switch, working with PT/OT to find the right switch spot, using partner-assisted sc…
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178. Literacy-Based Therapy Bootcamp: Step 5 (Parallel Story)
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Welcome to the final instalment of our Literacy Based Therapy Bootcamp series! Today we’re talking about parallel stories — which just might be Marisha’s favorite part of the whole literacy-based therapy framework. Parallel stories are an incredible way to integrate all of the skills that we've targeted throughout our literacy-based units. The goal…
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Caitlin Armstrong: Writing a Persuasive AAC Initiative Proposal for School District Admins
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This week, Chris has a discussion with Caitlin Armstrong, an SLP in New Hampshire who contacted Chris asking about writing up an AAC Initiative proposal for her K-5 school district! Chris breaks down how she should approach the mission statement, ideas for making a more persuasive argument, and things to avoid (e.g. too much research up front). Bef…
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177: Literacy-Based Therapy Bootcamp: Step 4 (Focused Skill Activities)
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It’s time to get into focused skill activities! So far, this Literacy-Based Therapy Bootcamp podcast series has covered choosing a book, pre-story knowledge/reading, and post-story comprehension. Today we’re getting into the fourth step of the framework, and start getting that focused practice in. In the episode, Marisha talks about: Increasing goa…
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Rachel Madel & Chris Bugaj: ATIA Recap 2024 (Part 2)
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This week, Rachel and Chris continue their discussion about the highlights and takeaways from ATIA 2024! They share some of their favorite presentations and poster sessions from Lauren Enders, Brenda Del Monte, Bruce Alter, Tina & Mateo Moreno, Karanveer Singh, EdTech, and more! Key Ideas this Week: 🔑 The Joy Zabala Fellowship is an organization th…
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176: Literacy-Based Therapy Bootcamp: Step 3 (Post-Story Comprehension)
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In today’s episode of the podcast, Marisha shares three different strategies she uses to embed comprehension activities into her literacy-based units. She talks about her approach to assessments — plus examples of scaffolding support based on the data collected — so that you know exactly how to put this information to work in your practice. 💪 In th…
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Rachel Madel & Chris Bugaj: ATIA 2024 Recap (Part 1)
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This week, we share Part 1 of Chris and Rachel’s recap of their recent trip to ATIA 2024! Chris and Rachel discuss a recent change to ATIA’s venue, share resources and takeaways from the conference, talk about what they covered in their own sessions, and more! Key Ideas this week: 🔑 A lot of discussion at ATIA was about “Assistive Technology Myths …
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