By Elisa Wern
AT and OT Consultant, Verge Learning
Owner at AT & OT Consulting and Coaching
May is always a busy month, filled with graduations, end of year transitions, and the end of school years. It’s also a month where we celebrate two important events around disability and inclusion. First, through the support of ASHA, we have Better Hearing and Speech Month.
Here is a link to download the Better Hearing & Speech Month logo from ASHA
https://www.asha.org/siteassets/bhsm/2021/2021-bhsm-logo.png
ASHA encourages those with questions about hearing, speech or language development, or literacy and learning to reach out to a Speech Language Pathologist. If you are interested in learning more in this area, XceptionalED has some courses that might be of interest to you.
Unlock the Secrets of the R Sound with Lifer Students or TOP 5 CAS Therapy Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them might be great resources for you. If you are interested in literacy skills, especially as they relate to Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), these courses are some at XceptionalED that you might benefit from checking out!
If you are a new parent (or grandparent) you might be interested in this resource about hearing development.
If you have concerns about your hearing or a student’s hearing in your world, this resource might give you some ideas.
Please take a moment to look at all the amazing resources out there at ASHA’s main site.
On Thursday May 20th, we also celebrated the tenth Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD)! The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion, and the more than One Billion people with disabilities/impairments. Accessibility comes in all different forms, but it’s important to be aware as content creators, in whatever role you play – as an SLP, OT, Special Education Teacher, or administrator.
GAAD shares some excellent accessibility resources at their site: https://globalaccessibilityawarenessday.org/resources/
Verge Learning is an accessible platform for students with disabilities/impairments. Both Verge Learning and XceptionalED are committed to digital accessibility across its spectrum of course offerings and teletherapy platform interventions. Digital Accessibility means that the platform, website, mobile app, or document can be navigated easily and understood by all users, including those with cognitive, motor, hearing, or vision related disabilities.
We hope you will check out these resources and comment on what resources you use to celebrate BHSM and GAAD!
