ISAAC hosts many informative and well-attended webinars each year.

Registration for live webinars is open to everyone.

All webinars, unless otherwise indicated, are recorded and will be made available for later viewing. Most are archived for members only. You can see the members only archive here.

Become a member of ISAAC to watch all of ISAAC’s webinars!

 

Upcoming webinars

 

 

   

 

Language Learning and AAC

Tuesday May 20, 2025 7 pm EDT

 

Gayle Porter		Linda Burkhart		Kathy Howery

 

Presented by: Gayle Porter and Linda Burkhart

Moderated by: Kathy Look Howery

 

About the presenters:

Gayle Porter is a Speech Pathologist with over 40 years hands-on experience working with people with complex communication needs in a range of community and specialist environments. This work has provided Gayle with the opportunity to interact with individuals using AAC from infancy to adulthood, clarifying the longer term aims of AAC interventions to enable people to autonomously communicate, to understand others and to be understood in all the activities of their daily life.

Gayle is one of the founders of the Cerebral Palsy Education Centre in Melbourne, Australia. She also has a private practice working with children, teenagers and adults with complex communication needs in their schools and community. Gayle is internationally known for her work developing the Pragmatic Organisation Dynamic Displays (PODD) communication books and page sets for electronic speech generating devices.  

In 1996 Gayle received the Speech Pathology Australia, Elinor Wray Award in recognition of outstanding clinical contribution to the profession of speech pathology, and in 2007 she was the first recipient of the Australian Group on Severe Communication Impairment (AGOSCI) award for services to Australian AAC.  In 2023 Gayle was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for her services to speech pathology.  

Linda Burkhart is an internationally known teacher and leader in the field of assistive technology, adaptive play, and augmentative communication for children who face severe challenges with more than 50 years experience in this field. She has developed numerous adapted materials and innovative strategies for teaching children to be active learners and to develop their abilities to participate in life. She is the author of a number of books and software titles on topics of assistive technology and augmentative communication. Linda was a classroom teacher for fifteen years. Then for eight years, she worked as an Augmentative Communication and Assistive Technology Specialist for the Center for Technology in Education, a joint project between Johns Hopkins University and the Maryland State Department of Education. Currently, Linda works as a private consultant, Assistive Technology and AAC integration specialist. She presents trainings and workshops nationally and internationally.

 

About the moderator:

Kathy Look Howery began her career over 40 years ago focusing on finding ways for students with the extensive support needs share their voices in the world.  She received her PhD in Special Education from the University of Alberta in 2017.

Kathy provides consultation to several Alberta school jurisdictions in supporting children and youth with CCN in developing communication, language and literacy skills. She has extensive experience in the areas of UDL and inclusive education. She has developed and is taught numerous graduate level courses including the Teaching Students with Complex Communication Needs Master’s Certificate at the University of Alberta. 

Most recently Kathy has been working under contract with Alberta Education as part of the Provincial Wide Low Incidence team with primary responsibility in the area of complex communication needs. Kathy is also the current ISAAC Canada President.

Kathy is thrilled to be sharing information about AAC whenever and wherever she can.

 

Webinar Description:

This webinar will explore language learning when using AAC. Children generally learn language as they attempt to understand others and be understood during interactions in their daily life.

In this webinar the following questions will be explored:

1. What does neurological research teach us about how language is learned?
2. How does the process of typical spoken language learning inform interventions for aided language development?
3. How do we differentiate the language learning experiences required by individuals who rely on AAC for expressive communication only and those who also rely on AAC to support receptive understanding?
4. How can we create language learning environments that privilege interaction and meaning making?
5. How does extending language in the classroom differ from supporting early language development through naturalistic interaction?
6. How can we help to ensure students who need AAC are appropriately accommodated for their current stage of language development?

We will share current perspectives on interventions using graphic symbol communication aids and devices to support the development and autonomous use of language from first words to complex syntax.

 

Webinar Objectives:

Participants will be able to:

• Delineate the differences of language learning experiences required by individuals who rely on AAC for expressive communication only and those who also rely on AAC to support receptive understanding.
• Explain the difference between early language learning and language-based instruction.
• Discuss the importance of interaction and meaning making in the creation of rich language learning environments for children who need AAC.

 

Time Ordered Outline:

5 min: Intro of speaker and topic – Kathy Howery

50  min: Webinar – Gayle & Linda

Time permitting Q & A – Kathy Gayle Linda

 

Disclosures

Gayle Porter

• Developer, Copyright & Trademark owner of PODD communication system resources
• Receives royalties from sales of PODD resources
• Honorariums for trainings on a range of topics

Linda Burkhart is self-employed with a small home consulting business. She is the author of several books and software activities that work with Mind Expxress (Jabbla). She sometimes demonstrates these activities at trainings, along with other software titles from a variety of vendors. Linda consults and presents trainings nationally and internationally on topics such as: Assistive Technology, multi-modal communication, AAC, and PODD (Pragmatic Organization Dynamic Display). She receives honorariums for workshops, trainings and consulting from the organization sponsoring each event.

Kathy Look Howery is self-employed through her consulting business. Kathy is a recently a PODD certified Trainer, providing trainings to Canadians. Kathy has received honorariums for workshops, trainings and consulting both nationally and internationally.

 

To register for this webinar please go to the following link:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_LfLaGLUhS46t_kiig2A04Q

Please note: Only the first 150 attendees to log into the webinar will be guaranteed spots.

 

 

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Challenges to Gestalt Language Processing

and Considerations for AAC

June 4, 2025

7:00-8:00 p.m. EDT

 

Presented by: Cheryl Fletcher, M.A., CCC-SLP, BCBA and Tiffany L. Hutchins, PhD

 

About the presenters:

Cheryl Fletcher is a licensed speech pathologist, Board Certified Behavior Analyst, holds a certificate in Assistive Technology Applications, and is a LAMP WFL certified professional (language and motor planning). She has over 30 years’ experience working with autistic clients and individuals with complex communication needs. She is certified in the Hanen Parent training programs and has run numerous programs for parents of children with communication delays. She has published and presented nationally and internationally on communication issues in autism and on AAC. She also provides independent educational evaluations (IEEs) for students, assessing their speech, language, social communication and AAC needs.

Dr. Hutchins has researched the relationships from parent-child interaction strategies to child language and social-cognitive development. Her work is broadly concerned with the social origins of language with the goal of understanding and supporting communication in neurodiverse populations. She has developed and validated new measures of social cognition that are widely used in research and practice and has investigated the efficacy of story-based interventions to support social cognition. Most recently, Dr. Hutchins examined the role of autobiographical memory in social communication and has designed translational practices to support its development and expression in autism. Dr. Hutchins teaches courses in the development of spoken language, psycholinguistics, and language disorders.

 

Seminar description: 

In this presentation we review fundamental challenges to the notion of ‘gestalt language processing’ in spoken development. These include definitional and conceptual difficulties, assessment issues, theoretical problems, a lack of an empirical base, and the nature of the language support recommendations arising from the Natural Language Acquisition (NLA; Blanc, 2012, 2022) protocol. We then argue that the application of NLA to AAC demands caution: AAC must be respected as a different modality that presents different constraints and affordances compared to spoken language. This, in turn, gives rise to specific concerns for adding ‘gestalts’ to a device that may prove counter therapeutic. We will describe the considerations that drive our concerns while urging caution around the application of NLA protocol to AAC. We will also address those areas in which we may sometimes agree with the therapeutic techniques promoted by some NLA advocates.

 

Moderated by:  Elizabeth Speaker-Christensen

 

SLPs who are USSAAC/ISAAC members may have their participation in this webinar reported for ASHA CEUs at no charge. Non-members must pay a $25 reporting fee.

This course is offered for 0.10 ASHA CEUs (Introductory level; Professional area).

 

Participants will be able to:

1. Describe definitional and conceptual problems surrounding the term “gestalt” in its application to the NLA framework.
2. Discuss the impact of the NLA approach on AAC systems and possible consequences of proposed preprogramming of systems.
3. Identify evidence based therapeutic techniques that support language development in young AAC users.

 

Time-ordered agenda:

  5 minutes:  Introduction of speakers, USSAAC and topic

10 minutes:  What is GLP? What are some challenges?

10 minutes:  Where is the theory? Spoken language? AAC use?

10 minutes:  AAC as a different modality and the constraints

10 minutes: The issues with adding gestalts

10 minutes:  Q & A

 

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) CEUs in speech-language pathology and audiology are awarded by the ASHA CE Registry upon receipt of the CEU Participant Form from the ASHA Approved CE Provider, USSAAC. CEU Participant Forms are available online at Registration or via the QR Code displayed during the presentation. ASHA CEUs are provided to full registrations. This program is offered for .10 ASHA CEUs (Introductory Level, Professional Area). Participants must stay for the entire presentation and complete the questionnaire at the end of the webinar.

 

ASHA Disclosures:

Speakers

Financial:

Cheryl Fletcher received an honoraria for a workshop on the topic of GLP and AAC

Tiffany L. Hutchins has no financial disclosures to report

Nonfinancial: 

Cheryl Fletcher has no non-financial disclosures to report.

Tiffany L. Hutchins has no non-financial disclosures to report.

 

Moderator

Financial:

Elizabeth Speaker-Christensen has no financial disclosures to report.

Nonfinancial:

Elizabeth Speaker-Christensen is a USSAAC member and on the Membership Committee.  She is a LAMP Certified Provider and an adjunct professor at DePaul University.

 

To register for this webinar please go to the following link:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9tWneviLQAC8sZq_1mG6ug

Please note: Only the first 150 attendees to log into the webinar will be guaranteed spots.

 

Download the flyer

 

USSAAC EDUCATION COMMITTEE:

Betsy Caporale, Kate DeJarnette, Nicole Gallagher, Richard Hurtig,

Mili Mathew, Michelle Phillipy, Wendy Quach, Sharon Redmon

 

 

 

 

 

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Information about ISAAC webinars