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Summa Academy is a premier Bay Area school serving students with the highest special education needs.

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Ascent Autism-Social Skills Group Therapy

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Ascent Autism-Social Skills Group Therapy

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We empower individuals with autism to enhance their social skills and form meaningful connections with peers through our proven program developed in collaboration with UCSF and Stanford Medical School. Over a thousand participants have benefited from our expert-designed approach, which curates supportive peer groups and provides a safe environment for practicing social skills, resulting in lasting friendships and enhanced social and emotional growth.

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Empowering Your Child To Build Meaningful, Lasting Friendships

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RCEB works in partnership with many individuals and agencies to plan and coordinate services and supports for people with developmental disabilities, family members and community leaders in the Alameda and Contra Costa counties

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The following RFP is now live: One (1) Specialized Residential Facility (SRF) or one Supported Living Services provider: This home is for individuals who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing [...]

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 provided the Department of Developmental Services (Department) $12.5 million for social recreation grants. RCEB is pleased to announce DDS approved three organizations [...]

In fiscal year 2019-2020, Regional Center of the East Bay (RCEB) received Community Resource Development Plan funding from the Department of Developmental Services to develop affordable housing units. RCEB has [...]

Learn more about our services and programs

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Advocates for children and adults with developmental disabilities.

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April is National Autism Acceptance Month, and the San Francisco Bay Area Autism Society is offering a variety of events. Check our their calendar.

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Events from April 6 - March 9 - Autism Society San Francisco Bay Area

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When: Saturday, March 9, 2024, 12:00pm to 12:45pm Where: Noe Valley Ministry, 1021 Sanchez Street, San Francisco 94114 What: :AZURE concerts feature performances by great artists in a format specifically designed for families with kids and young adults on the Autism spectrum. Come one, come all! Hold on to your hats, kids!

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Autism Parenting Magazine - For you and your child

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Get access to the latest autism, solutions, therapies, real life stories and news. Get your FREE ISSUE of Autism Parenting Magazine by visiting our site.

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ACEing Autism is on a mission to help children with autism to grow, develop and benefit from social connections and fitness through affordable tennis programming, uniquely meeting individual needs while filling a national void for this growing and underserved population.

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Due to the continuing risks and restrictions associated with Covid-19, we will have limited live program sessions this Fall. To keep your children engaged in tennis we have produced a virtual six-week Fall clinic series that will be available to all of our families at no cost. Please sign up for our newsletter HERE to receive our virtual clinic videos.

We hope you are all staying safe and want to welcome you all back to the courts as soon as we can. Visit your program location page for the most up-to-date live program offerings. Please check out what we are doing to ensure safety while at our in-person program sessions. Our COVID-19 Guidelines are listed below.

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Due to the continuing risks and restrictions associated with Covid-19, we will have limited live program sessions this Fall. To keep your children engaged in tennis we have produced a virtual six-week Fall clinic series that will be available to all of our families at no cost.

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Alameda Little League is proud to announce that we are fielding a team in the Challenger Division for 2019. Little League International established the Challenger Division in 1989. The Challenger Division is for boys and girls with mental and physical challenges and more than 300,000 players participate in the Challenger Division worldwide. In the Bay Area, more than 35,000 youth with disabilities have difficulty accessing parks, fields, and team sports. This, coupled with the ever-growing community of those with disabilities commensurate with population growth, and the current rise in autism, led Alameda Little League to establish the Challenger Division for the 2015 season.

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Everyone has something to say. Working closely with the Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) community, we build apps and share best practices to help you communicate with the world.

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Why focus on core words?

Studies across different languages and age groups have found that around 50 words account for 40-50% of our daily communication. 100 words account for 60%, and 200-400 words make up 80% of the words we use every day. Core words are usually verbs, adjectives, and pronouns, and less likely to be nouns.

By giving AAC learners quick access to these core words, we're providing them with a powerful tool to communicate whatever they want to say. Rather than relying on preprogrammed sentences or phrases such as "I want" and "I see", they can choose from a relatively small set of words to create their own sentences. They can express a wider variety of ideas, and work on grammar.

Core word vocabularies

There are several core-word based vocabularies available in apps (such as Proloquo2Go) or communication devices. In theory, these vocabularies should give an AAC learner 80% of the words he needs to communicate. The AAC learner would benefit more from learning how to find and combine core words to express personal thoughts and preferences.

Balanced vocabulary

Core words are just one important part of a communication system. All communication tools should be balanced with also quick access to fringe vocabulary and the alphabet. Access to all these words and letters lets AAC users learn to communicate for a wide variety of reasons.

Barriers to teaching core words

Why are core words often not provided or taught to AAC learners? One of the major barriers to using core words is that they can be hard to teach. Unlike nouns, most core words are not "picturable". We can use symbols or photos of most nouns to teach the meaning of the words and represent that meaning on an AAC system. But how do we teach and represent "is", one of the most frequently used words in English?

Model core words

Typically developing children learn language by hearing it spoken around them all day. They hear this in real-life conversations for years before they develop the ability to put together sentences. But often we hand a non-speaking child a communication device and expect him to use it after a short demonstration.

All AAC learners need to see what it looks like to communicate using their AAC systems in real conversations. This is called Modeling, or Aided Language Stimulation. The idea is to use the AAC learner's system, or another similar AAC system when you talk with the AAC learner.

You don't need to model every single word you say, especially at the beginning. This would be overwhelming for everyone. Instead, model one step above the AAC learner's current skill level. So if the AAC learner is not using the communication device to communicate in single words yet, model at the single word level.

For example, if you're leaving the classroom to go to the cafeteria, you can verbally say "It's time to go to the cafeteria" and press the "go" button on the AAC system when you say the word "go".

Once the AAC learner is at the one-word level, you can add a word when you model. So if you're leaving the house to go to see grandmother, you can verbally say "Let's go see Granny" and press "go" and "Granny" while you're speaking these words.

Teaching core words

Teaching core words is important. There are 4 key strategies we can take.

1. Choose core words based on communication functions

2. Choose core words based on the activity you are doing

3. Core words of the week

4. Using the Descriptive Teaching Model

For more ideas on teaching core words visit the AssistiveWare Core Word Classroom.

Communication for life with core words

In the end, most parents, teachers, and therapists have the same goal for the AAC learners - give them the ability to communicate their thoughts clearly to anyone they need to talk to.

We know that core words will give AAC learners access to about 80% of the words they will need. The remaining 20% are picturable and easy to learn. Why not spend most of our time teaching 80% of words that are needed most frequently but are harder to learn? Why not teach how to combine these words to form sentences we never anticipated they would want to say? When we do this, we are not just enabling AAC learners to demonstrate knowledge of academics - we are teaching them how to communicate effectively for the rest of their lives.

References

This article was adapted for our blog from a journal article previously published in the Communication Matters Journal, Vol. 29(1), April 2015.

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Teaching with Core Words: Building Blocks for Communication - AssistiveWare

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Studies across different languages and age groups have found that around 50 words account for 40-50% of our daily communication. 100 words account for 60%, and 200-400 words make up 80% of the words we use every day. Core words are usually verbs, adjectives, and pronouns, and less likely to be nouns.

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Abbey Neuropsychology Clinic transforms lives by providing comprehensive neuropsychological and diagnostic assessments, personalized treatment plans, Transformative Brain Training, and supportive therapy to help parents and children navigate the challenges of neurological and psychological conditions

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Understanding Neuropsychology and Diagnostic Evaluations Abbey Neuropsychology Clinic transforms lives by providing comprehensive neuropsychological and diagno

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Our high-tech speech-generating devices offer robust communication solutions complete with service and support that last a lifetime.

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Alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) systems, speech-generating devices and assistive technology.

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It all started with one struggling child. Today it’s a company committed to empowering different.