Aphasia Advocacy and Community Education: Speaking Out! and Beyond

Speaking Out!, a unique co-sponsored national conference, was one of National Aphasia Association’s (NAA) best-known efforts. Recognizing the need to serve a wider aphasia community, NAA partnered with the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) Stroke Research and Training Center grant funded by the National Institute on Disability Research and Rehabilitation (NIDRR) to conduct regional conferences modeled on the Speaking Out! proven framework. In June 2010, the first regional Speaking Out! conference was held in Washington, DC. Conference models will be outlined with history and goals; outcomes/lessons learned will be discussed. State-of-the-art features will be summarized with implications for people with aphasia moving forward with their lives.

from Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation

Advocating for Optimal Listening in the Classroom

Hearing professionals need to be prepared for today’s students as the ultimate arbiters regarding acceptable hearing assistive technology (HAT). Current educational laws and acts along with best practice standards are in place for assistive technology teams to implement collaborative goals and objectives to improve student achievement and close the achievement gap for students with hearing loss. Although the benefits of HAT are documented, historically its use declines for older students and those mainstreaming to their home school with normally hearing peers. Not wanting to be different and/or not receiving acceptable benefit are issues of the past. Now, being different is the norm, and students can be more like their peers through the use of technology. HAT allows student access and connectivity to home, school, and community. In this article, guidelines are discussed as they pertain to the role of the audiologist on the school assistive technology team. It is the responsibility of the audiologist to bring new HAT developments to the assistive technology team and advocate for optimal listening in the classroom. Audiologists need to step up and embrace new technology trends and keep options attractive to students. Professionals can arm themselves for this challenge with the supportive documentation presented in this article.

from Seminars in Hearing

Promoting Healthy Self-Acceptance of Hearing Loss for Students in Schools

Educational audiologists and professionals who work closely with children who have hearing loss are in a unique position to help facilitate positive acceptance of hearing loss in a nonprofessional counselor’s role. To help in this role, it is important to understand how families and children with hearing loss cope with the hearing loss and how to reach the point of a healthy self-concept. Personal experiences of living with a hearing loss are discussed by the author. The importance of support groups for families and students with hearing loss and additional strategies are suggested.

from Seminars in Hearing

“Reach for the Stars”: Five Principles for the Next 25 Years of AAC

from AAC: Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Basing our work on the published writings of individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and their family members, we offer five principles to guide AAC assessment, intervention, research, and development: (a) The time for AAC is now; (b) One is never enough; (c) My AAC must fit my life; (d) AAC must support full participation in all aspects of 21st century life; and (e) Nothing about me without me. These five principles are individually important, but also interconnected, and are meant to provide clear goals for the field of AAC as we work towards the achievement of communication and participation for all.