Practical AAC strategies for autistic early communicators

AGOSCI Proudly Presents

The 2023 National Tour: Day 2 workshop

with international guest presenter

Dr Cynthia Cress

Workshop Overview

The process of developing effective AAC can be complex for autistic communicators who may not often initiate social interactions with partners for shared communicative purposes. There are implications of intervention approaches that are applied to autistic individuals that differ in their focus on social/communication, language/cognitive, or behavioral/speech skills. Capitalizing on the strengths and limitations of each of these types of approaches can maximize the effectiveness of multimodal interventions and provide mechanisms for adapting intervention when breakdowns or limited progress occurs.

This workshop session will present a variety of strategies for assessing and facilitating early augmented communication in autistic children and adults, focusing on the development of person-directed and symbolic communication skills. We will include specific strategies for incorporating intervention strategies that take advantage of interactive strengths of autistic communicators, including AAC strategies that optimise visual, predictable, and social routine aspects of early interaction. Commonly used intervention approaches for autistic communicators will be compared and adapted systematically to address specific communication goals in video and live demonstrations. 

Learning Outcomes

• Identify common sources of difficulty for AAC intervention with early autistic communicators
  
  

• Compare and contrast theoretical approaches and intervention models applied to autistic communicators
  
  

• Plan communication goals in small and achievable steps for early autistic communicators
  
  

• Identify strategies for working around complications introduced for autistic communicators who have complex communication needs
  
  

• Apply intervention strategies for planned early communication and symbolic goals in autistic communicators

Workshop Details

• This is a 1-day, in-person workshop. A recording will not be available.
  
  
• The AGOSCI 2023 National Tour offers two full-day workshops in your capital city, and one live-streamed online workshop. Each workshop is independent of the other, and can be attended in isolation as a 1-day event. 
  
  
• Discounts are available for those who wish to attend both days. 
  
  
• This workshop is fully catered with morning tea, lunch, and afternoon. Please ensure any special dietary requirements are listed in your registration.