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AAC in Action Meeting Minutes
4/7/2015
Attendees: Erna Alant, Lindsey Ogle, Ohoud Alhajeri, Sharon Hauss, Michael Ely, Annette
Champion, Erin Peabody, Beth Ahmad
AAC in Action’s Meetings for Spring 2015:
Our meetings for the fall semester will be in the AAC Lab (IUB School of Education, Room
2026). Please contact Lindsey Ogle ([email protected]) if you have any questions or require
any assistance.
 Tuesday, May 5, 2015
 Tuesday, June 23, 2015
 Tuesday, July 6, 2015
Upcoming Speakers & Events
- Tracy Kovach, PhD, CCC-SLP, will visit Indiana in Spring 2015
- Martin Pistorius, AAC user and author of Ghost Boy, he will be in Bloomington between
September, 28-October, 2 /2015.
- Arrangements are being made for Martin Pistorius:
o Finalizing programme and topics
o Committee to assist with organization
Current Projects
- Erna Alant’s book, “AAC: Participation and Engagement”
- Empathic Communication Project – Presentation at CIRCAS (12:30-1:00) RM ED3115
o Course being designed as multidisciplinary and focused on three populations:
people with severe communication problems, people with Alzheimer’s/dementia,
and people from multicultural contexts.
o Videos have been created at Better Day Bloomington with people with
Alzheimer’s/dementia and Stone Belt with adults with SCP
o Need videos of children with SCP communicating with a familiar partner
- Study of Competent AAC Users
o 12 AAC experts interviewed about perceptions
o Videos of Need to video interactions between AAC users and familiar
communication partners. Particular need for AAC users who are more advanced
in their communication ability.
AAC-in-Action project funding
- Working towards a funding submission (collaborative MCCSC, IU Special Education
and IU Speech & Hearing)
o AAC training and research
o AAC Summit
o Camp connections
AAC Course
- Fall 2015 –
Camp Connections
- Summer Camp will be held June 8 – 18/2015.
- Approximately 24 elementary-aged students expected to attend. Focus on creating
collaborative teams consisting of a Teachers, Parents, and IU faculty who will design
activities together. Interest expressed in providing music therapy for the campers as an
activity. Need for more volunteers – IU Grad students in S&H and SpEd. Michael invited
to visit the camp and may speak to the campers & their families.
Ohoud’s Internship in MCCSC schools
- Ohoud, a 2nd year doctoral student in Special Ed, will be observing Brenda Brannigan’s
classroom at Templeton Elementary and Chris McCouley’s classroom at Bloomington
High School South.
Lindsey Ogle’s project at Stonebelt
- Recordings