Minspeak Moments: Recent Episodes
Russell T. Cross
Stories and strategies from people in the field of Augmentative and Alternative Communication who use the Minspeak symbol-based system of language encoding.
Amanda Soper is a Speech-Language Pathologist in Washington, DC. In grad school, she worked with clients who used AAC and knew that this was the field she needed to be in.
Amanda has been working with students with complex communication needs using AAC for the past 11 years, but over the past few years, she has really focused on how to help her students with Cerebral Vision Impairment or CVI to use AAC.
She went back to school and recently finished a master’s program and is now also certified as a Teacher of the Visually Impaired. But her passion for AAC is always at the forefront and she enjoys passing along her knowledge as an adjunct professor at Gallaudet University.
Recommended Book: The Infinite Game by Simon Senik
Connect with Amanda via amandasoperslp@gmail.com
In this episode, we hear from my friend and colleague, Nigel Duckett, who is the Managing Director of PRC-Saltillo's Australian subsidiary, Liberator. Nigel began the company with three staff in 2007, and today as we head towards the close of 2022, it has 20 employee who have successfully established Unity & LAMP Words For Life as widely-used vocabulary options for people who use AAC. Over time, Nigel and his talented staff have developed their own Liberator "Rugged" device range for the demanding Autism sector.
Prior to this Nigel spent seven years managing the Assistive Technology Business Unit for Novita Childrens' Services. Here he became acquainted with the entire array of AT products available. Yet, it was Minspeak that triggered a far deeper awareness of AAC. He was fortunate enough to work alongside luminaries like Bruce Baker and Gail Van Tatenhove, bringing them Downunder for the first time.
Nigel actually started working in disability with an accessible taxi firm, driving many non-verbal clients out & about, before managing the radio room. He forged strong relationships & developed an enduring interest in key disability issues.
More information
Connect with Nigel via nigel@liberator.net.au
Liberator website: https://liberator.net.au
Liberator YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LiberatorAusAAC/videos
Siobhan Daley on "What is Minspeak?": https://youtube.com/watch?v=AprRP861dJc&feature=shares
Beth Speaker-Christensen is an SLP near Chicago who has been working in the field for over 25 years. Beth started her career working for a contract agency in a variety of schools and nursing homes, and was excited to begin working at Shriners Children's Hospital in Chicago. Whilst working there, she found many gadgets and gizmos used as assistive technology (all collecting dust) and realized quickly she would have to figure out for what they were being used. She started inviting vendors, manufacturer representatives and other professionals to expand her knowledge of AT. She continued to learn from others while moving to a job in a special education cooperative, a non-profit clinic, and now her own private practice, AAC Helper LLC, working with clients from 1-101.
Beth holds a certificate in Assistive Technology from the University of Illinois at Chicago and became a member of RESNA - Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America - in 2007. She went on to chair some special interest groups and professional service groups and now is a member of the Professional Standards Board, helping to maintain and update the Assistive Technology Professional certificate and examination. Beth is the chair of the membership committee of USSAAC (United States Society of AAC- the US chapter of ISAAC-International Society of AAC) and is a Lamp Certified Professional. She is part of the Minspeak Learning Community, and loves presenting at conferences to help others enjoy AAC as much as she does.
She tells everyone that her grandfather taught voice lessons, her father taught electronics, and she teaches electronic voices. And so What else do you do with the last name SPEAKER?
Contact Beth as easc.slp@gmail.com
Ainsley Vergara is a speech-language pathologist in Athens, Georgia. She was recently appointed Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Georgia where she provides clinical instruction and supervision for speech pathology students.
With regard to her clinical background, Ainsley has worked in a wide range of settings including schools, private practice, home health, and a nonprofit organization.
While working as an SLP in those settings, Ainsley partnered with Northern Arizona University's Institute for Human Development to provide AAC training for clients, their parents, therapists, and special ed teams.
She is most energized when teaching others and instilling the value that everyone really does deserve a voice.
Connect with Ainsley avergara@uga.edu
Debbie Witkowski is a Speech-Language Pathologist from Semantic Compaction Systems (SCS) in Pittsburgh, PA. She is one of the coordinators and presenters of the "Successful Outcomes in AAC" seminar series, which was formally known as the "Pittsburgh AAC and Language Seminar Series" or PALSS for short.
She has worked with Semantic Compaction Systems since 2011 but her introduction to Minspeak came much earlier, back in 1986, when she had the opportunity to tutor a local student to use Words Strategy, the original word-based Minspeak language system.
Debbie has always had a passion for working with individuals with complex communication needs and has spent her career supporting these individuals in various roles. In recent years, she had the opportunity to be one of the developers of "UNIDAD," the bilingual Spanish/English family of Minspeak vocabulary programs.
Connect with Debbie
dwitkowski@minspeak.com
Paul Andres, an Occupational Therapist in Germany who worked at Prentke Romich Deutschland, first as a consultant then as a Minspeak Application Program developer, creating the popular Quasselkiste vocabulary.
Later, he worked with Semantic Compaction Systems to take on a much broader role supporting the development and use of other non-english vocabulary sets. He was also instrumental in creating the Realize Language online AAC data analysis system for both the English- and German-speaking markets.
In this episode, Paul talks about his early years in AAC and some of the challenges in creating vocabularies in languages other than English.
Connect with Paul
Email: paul.andres@me.com
Recommended text
Nation, I. (2001). Learning Vocabulary in Another Language (Cambridge Applied Linguistics). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gail Van Tatenhove is known to many people in the field of AAC for her work with Minspeak® and people who use Minspeak® systems. She is also an expert in the practice of Descriptive Teaching and regularly presents webinars on this topic.
While Gail does a lot of different presentations in the field of AAC, she remains a working speech-language pathologist, still today providing direct AAC intervention. The majority of her practice has been with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, an area that she discusses in this podcast.
Connect with Gail
Website: https://www.vantatenhove.com
Email: gvantatenhove@cfl.rr.com
Meher Banajee is Associate Professor and Program Director of Speech-language Pathology Program at LSUHSC Communication Disorders Department. Her areas of interest include AAC, autism spectrum disorders, early intervention and complex communication disorders as well as degenerative neurological disorders. She has published articles on core vocabulary, AAC within the classroom, autism, and early intervention. She runs several social groups for adolescents and adults with autism. Meher is the vice chair for the speech and language pathology Council on Academic Accreditation (CAA) and the chair-elect for the CAA Nominating committee. She was also named an ASHA fellow in 2021.
Connect with Meher via mbanaj@lsuhsc.edu
Tracy Kovach is one of the presenters and co-ordinators of the Pittsburgh AAC Language Seminar series and she’s been instrumental in keeping this event running for many years. She is the author of the popular evaluation tool, the AACP - Augmentative & Alternative Communication Profile: A Continuum of Learning**, which is available online from the Pro-Ed website. In this episode, Tracy talks about her experiences as a clinician in Denver, her growth as an SLP, and being accountable for your AAC practice.
Connect with Tracy via kovachtracy@aol.com**