Andy Smidt's guest appearances

Andy Smidt

Talking With Tech AAC Podcast

Laura Hayes

Kim Albrecht

Brian Whitmer

Lateef McLeod

Laura Taylor

Erin Sheldon

Sarah Lockhart

Shannon Graham

Chris Ellis

Mark Brown

Mike Hipple

Megan Roberts

Carrie Baughcum

Kevin Williams

David Tobin

OwlTail

Mark Nichols

India Ochs

Lory Chrane

Tali Kellerstein

This week, we present Small Talks VI! “Small Talks” are short clips recorded with a previous guest that highlights one strategy or one idea in seven minutes or less. In this episode of Small Talks, we hear from Andy Smidt, India Ochs, Lory Chrane, Mark Nichols, and Tali Kellerstein!    Before the interviews, Chris and Rachel discuss Chris’s “design challenge” he helped create for some 5th graders to help figure out how to attach 3D printed AAC keyguards (i.e. overlays) to AAC devices without needing to remove the case (for warranty reasons). Chris talks about how this authentic problem got the students really excited, and he shares lots of great online resources for getting started with 3D printing keyguards (see links section below).    On this episode:   🗣️ Andy Smidt shares about universal design for learning, and how she is helping people see how UDL is something they already do in the classroom and there are benefits for educators as well as students in making the learning environment more universal.   🗣️ India Ochs talks about “tone policing”, a practice of criticizing the emotional manner in which a person has expressed a point of view, rather than addressing the substance of the point itself. Tone policing can occur when people are having a discussion about disability and ableism - by criticizing the person’s “tone”, they can avoid discussing any important changes.    🗣️Lory Chrane discusses Symbol-It,  (https://symbolspeak.co/symbol-it/) a paid app that will translate verbal speech directly into symbols that correspond to the person’s AAC.   🗣️ Mark Nichols shares three of his favorite AT solutions right now, including enabling live captions for all videos, using “accessibility checkers” like Grackle (or ones embedded in Office) to make sure our files are as accessible, and converting the text files we assign to students into audio files for them.    🗣️Talk Kellerstein describes how she uses set up and clean up of games to introduce more opportunities to practice using speech or language. She also describes why she avoids games with batteries.   Links from this week’s episode:   Volksswitch.org - 3D printing resource for AT, including keyguards   Jennifer Schubring (@jjschubring on Twitter) has lots of great info about 3D printing keyguards here: https://www.buildingaac.com/post/3d-printing-keyguards-an-epic-journey   Tinkercad.com - create digital 3D printing designs    “No, We Won’t Calm Down: Tone Policing is Just Another Way to Protect Privilege”, an informative comic on Tone Policing shared by India Ochs   Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!   Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we present Small Talks VI! “Small Talks” are short clips recorded with a previous guest that highlights one strategy or one idea in seven minutes or less. In this episode of Small Talks, we hear from Andy Smidt, India Ochs, Lory Chrane, Mark Nichols, and Tali Kellerstein!  Before the interviews, Chris and Rachel discuss Chris’s “design challenge” he helped create for some 5th graders to help figure out how to attach 3D printed AAC keyguards (i.e. overlays) to AAC devices without needing to remove the case (for warranty reasons). Chris talks about how this authentic problem got the students really excited, and he shares lots of great online resources for getting started with 3D printing keyguards (see links section below).  On this episode: 🗣️ Andy Smidt shares about universal design for learning, and how she is helping people see how UDL is something they already do in the classroom and there are benefits for educators as well as students in making the learning environment more universal. 🗣️ India Ochs talks about “tone policing”, a practice of criticizing the emotional manner in which a person has expressed a point of view, rather than addressing the substance of the point itself. Tone policing can occur when people are having a discussion about disability and ableism - by criticizing the person’s “tone”, they can avoid discussing any important changes.  🗣️Lory Chrane discusses Symbol-It,  (<a href="https://symbolspeak.co/symbol-it/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://symbolspeak.co/symbol-it/</a>) a paid app that will translate verbal speech directly into symbols that correspond to the person’s AAC. 🗣️ Mark Nichols shares three of his favorite AT solutions right now, including enabling live captions for all videos, using “accessibility checkers” like Grackle (or ones embedded in Office) to make sure our files are as accessible, and converting the text files we assign to students into audio files for them.  🗣️Talk Kellerstein describes how she uses set up and clean up of games to introduce more opportunities to practice using speech or language. She also describes why she avoids games with batteries. Links from this week’s episode: <a href="http://Volksswitch.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Volksswitch.org</a> - 3D printing resource for AT, including keyguards Jennifer Schubring (@jjschubring on Twitter) has lots of great info about 3D printing keyguards here: <a href="https://www.buildingaac.com/post/3d-printing-keyguards-an-epic-journey" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.buildingaac.com/post/3d-printing-keyguards-an-epic-journey</a> <a href="http://Tinkercad.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Tinkercad.com</a> - create digital 3D printing designs <a href="https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/12/tone-policing-and-privilege" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> “No, We Won’t Calm Down: Tone Policing is Just Another Way to Protect Privilege”</a>, an informative comic on Tone Policing shared by India Ochs Visit <a href="http://talkingwithtech.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">talkingwithtech.org</a> to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at <a href="http://patreon.com/talkingwithtech" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">patreon.com/talkingwithtech</a>!

Small Talks VI: Andy Smidt, India Ochs, Lory Chrane, Mark Nichols, and Tali Kellerstein

This week, we hear from Dr. Andy Smidt, a professor at the University of Sydney who teaches a number of courses related to communication and supporting people with severe intellectual disabilities. Andy shares about teaching pre-service professionals in unique ways, her “TEAM” taxonomy that can help write goals for emergent (presymbolic) communicators, and more!    Before the interview, Rachel and Chris talk about playing “The Mind”, a card game where you only use observation and nonverbal communication to sequence a set of cards together. They reflect on what they learned playing this game, including how essential nonverbal communication is to our everyday lives and how we can learn to observe very subtle signals. They also share about how we can observe nonverbal communication and then attach language to it in a therapeutic setting.   Key ideas this week:   🔑How do we support someone with severe intellectual disabilities who is presymbolic and may never become symbolic? We can presume their potential, but becoming a symbolic communicator may take a long time. How do we write goals to be worked on right now? Andy came up with the TEAM taxonomy for goal writing that is useful when working with pre-symbolic communicators:   T = Train, e.g. train communication partners E = Expand, e.g. expanding what the AAC use already does. Expand the people they interact with, the activities they participate in, the situation in which the person uses potential communicative acts, expand the people who can interpret these communicative acts. A= Augment, e.g. add something new. Allow the person to make choices in their daily routine. Add in new object symbols, community request cards, etc.  M= Move, e.g. for the person to move to become intentional or symbolic.    🔑In some cases, we need to regroup when we have hit a roadblock and look back at the TEAM framework. You might want to give it a few months and not add anything new - the AAC user may need a break to get comfortable with what they have already learned.    🔑Most clinicians feel they are doing family centered practice, but research indicates most families would say their therapy is not family centered. Family centered practice means going at the speed of the family, which may be slow if that is what they need.   Links from this Episode: Full Text of Andy's article on the TEAM process   The Mind Card Game   Visit talkingwithtech.org to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes!   Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at patreon.com/talkingwithtech!

This week, we hear from Dr. Andy Smidt, a professor at the University of Sydney who teaches a number of courses related to communication and supporting people with severe intellectual disabilities. Andy shares about teaching pre-service professionals in unique ways, her “TEAM” taxonomy that can help write goals for emergent (presymbolic) communicators, and more!  Before the interview, Rachel and Chris talk about playing “The Mind”, a card game where you only use observation and nonverbal communication to sequence a set of cards together. They reflect on what they learned playing this game, including how essential nonverbal communication is to our everyday lives and how we can learn to observe very subtle signals. They also share about how we can observe nonverbal communication and then attach language to it in a therapeutic setting. Key ideas this week: 🔑How do we support someone with severe intellectual disabilities who is presymbolic and may never become symbolic? We can presume their potential, but becoming a symbolic communicator may take a long time. How do we write goals to be worked on right now? Andy came up with the TEAM taxonomy for goal writing that is useful when working with pre-symbolic communicators: <ul><li>T = Train, e.g. train communication partners</li> <li>E = Expand, e.g. expanding what the AAC use already does. Expand the people they interact with, the activities they participate in, the situation in which the person uses potential communicative acts, expand the people who can interpret these communicative acts.</li> <li>A= Augment, e.g. add something new. Allow the person to make choices in their daily routine. Add in new object symbols, community request cards, etc. </li> <li>M= Move, e.g. for the person to move to become intentional or symbolic.</li> </ul> 🔑In some cases, we need to regroup when we have hit a roadblock and look back at the TEAM framework. You might want to give it a few months and not add anything new - the AAC user may need a break to get comfortable with what they have already learned.  🔑Most clinicians feel they are doing family centered practice, but research indicates most families would say their therapy is not family centered. Family centered practice means going at the speed of the family, which may be slow if that is what they need. Links from this Episode: <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344623062_TEAM_A_taxonomy_of_clinical_decision-making_for_communication_intervention_in_people_with_severe_intellectual_disability_including_AAC" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Full Text of Andy's article on the TEAM process</a> <a href="https://pandasaurusgames.com/products/the-mind" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Mind Card Game</a> Visit <a href="http://talkingwithtech.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">talkingwithtech.org</a> to access previous episodes, resources, and CEU credits that you can earn for listening to TWT episodes! Help us develop new content and keep the podcast going strong! Support our podcast at <a href="http://patreon.com/talkingwithtech" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">patreon.com/talkingwithtech</a>!

Andy Smidt: Writing Effective Goals for Emergent Communicators