If you cannot see the images below, please click here

Free Instructional Resources
for faculty in higher education
(Summer, 2010)

The AAC-RERC is a U.S. Department of Education funded research center in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). We are pleased to provide the following free instructional resources for college and university faculty in communication sciences and disorders, education, and rehabilitation engineering.

AAC-RERC Webcasts

The AAC-RERC provides 13 free webcasts on a variety of AAC topics. Our webcasts include presentations by nationally recognized researchers on AAC topics such as
• Language Intervention for Young Childen
• Maximizing the Literacy Skills of Individuals who Require AAC
• AAC Interventions for People with Aphasia
We are also pleased to provide presentations by individuals who use AAC, describing their experiences in using AAC to support full participation in society. Featured webcasts include:
• AAC: A User's Perspective
• How Far We've Come, How Far We've Got to Go: Tales from the Trenches
• AAC and College Life: Just Do It!
We have recently add large screen video and open-captioned versions of the Michael Williams and Colin Portnuff webcasts.

AAC-RERC Webcast Quizzes

In order to support the use of the webcasts by faculty, we have developed on-line quizzes that can be used in conjunction with the webcasts. Students who successfully pass the quiz (80% or higher) can print a certificate of completion, and email their score to an instructor.
We have developed quizzes for the webcasts on
• AAC Interventions to Maximize Language Development for Young Children,
• Maximizing the Literacy Skills of Individuals who use AAC,
• Seating and Positioning for Individuals who use Assistive Technology,
• Supporting Communication of Individuals with Minimal Movement.

Literacy Instruction for Individuals with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, and other disabilities

http://aacliteracy.psu.edu provides guidelines for teaching literacy skills to learners with special needs, especially learners with complex communication needs. The site includes both descriptions of evidence-based practices as well as video-clips of early reading instruction for children with complex communication needs.

Early intervention for young children with autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and other disabilities

http://aackids.psu.edu provides guidelines for early intervention to maximize the language and communication development of young children with complex communication needs.

Augmentative Communication News

For over twenty years (1988-2009), Sarah Blackstone wrote and published Augmentative Communication News (ACN). All issues of ACN are now available as free downloads, and can be searched by topic or keyword.

Alternatively Speaking

For fifteen years (1994-2009), Michael B. Williams, a gifted writer who himself relies on augmentative communication tools and strategies, wrote and published Alternatively Speaking. All issues of Alternatively Speaking are now available as free downloads, and can be searched by topic or keyword.

ACOLUG

ACOLUG is an international Listserv of people who use AAC and families of young children who use AAC. In its second decade, there are more than 750 subscribers from almost every English-speaking country in the world who post an average of 250 messages each month. In addition, more than 120 students from 13 universities have subscribed to ACOLUG and have learned important lessons about AAC devices and the individuals who use them.

RESNA Student Design Competition Site

RESNA and the AAC-RERC have partnered to create the RESNA Student Design Competition site, with complete descriptions (some including videos) of the projects entered in the 2010 RESNA Student Design Competition.

AAC TechConnect

This website provides information on AAC technology, including:
• up-to-date on new AAC devices with "What's New"
• contact information for all major AAC Manufacturers
• product information on nearly 100 AAC Devices
• Device Assistant (free trial available) - helps you search for AAC devices based on features of nearly 100 devices, and provides a side-by-side comparison.

If you wish to be removed from this mailing list, please hit "reply" and type "remove" in the subject line

This is a publication of the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Communication Enhancement (AAC-RERC), which is funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research of the U.S. Department of Education under grant number #H133E080011. The opinions contained in this publication are those of the grantee and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Education.

http://aac-rerc.psu.edu/E_blast/8_10_Ed_resources.html