Throughout my 10 years as a speech-language pathologist (SLP), I have provided services via private practices, schools, and home visits. One of my favorite things about working in private practices and conducting home visits is the amount of direct parent contact (particularly for teaching how to implement augmentative and alternative communication [AAC]), which is typically 1 to 4 times per month. The parents are available at the end of the sessions for parent education that is built into the service time. Direct contact with parents in the schools, on the other hand, is typically limited to 1 to 4 times per year for the annual individualized education program (IEP) meeting and any observation time(s) parents specifically request. The reason for reduced parent contact could be due to scho[...]

Percentally Pro is back with version 2! In full disclosure, this means there's a separate app for the 2nd version of Percentally Pro. You might be asking yourself why is that. Well, the 1st version included dependencies on the iOS calendar and iCloud integration, both of which turned out to be very detrimental. First of all, users had to agree to let the app access their calendar in order to schedule sessions in Percentally Pro. Then, data in the app was not reliably transferred across devices by iCloud. Finally, and worst of all, users were losing student data. As a result, we had to build a separate app that removed the destructive dependencies. We built our own scheduling system, and we implemented local storage to store data in the app. Through testing, we found the 2nd version to be a[...]

Percentally Pro 2 is coming soon! Before it arrives, check out this video preview showing the iPad version. In the video, you’ll see how to collect data during a session, and how to export a student’s data for a select range of dates. Exporting data for a range of dates is very exciting, as it greatly improves the ability to report student progress quarterly and annually.

“Honey, please set the timer to ten minutes.” Whether you know it or not, when uttering these words, you’re speaking in developer terminology. A developer is a person who creates software such as apps. A developer writes code, which is a series of commands - otherwise known as instructions - for a computer to execute. Why would you even care about knowing this terminology? Software is all around us, in our personal and professional lives. As technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, new developments impact us whether we embrace them or not. As adults, we can choose to keep pace with these changes or do our best to ignore them. But, for the children we serve in our practice, there is an increasingly accepted feeling that learning about technology is a necessity, not a choice, if t[...]

When we heard about the death of the beloved Maya Angelou yesterday, one word immediately popped into our minds: fortunate. This may seem like an odd choice, but allow us to explain. We had the privilege of hearing Maya Angelou speak at the 2012 ASHA Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. She was humorous, captivating, and so incredibly wise. You couldn’t help but feel that you were in the presence of a great soul-- a kind-hearted woman who overcame tremendous obstacles by virtue of her fierce determination and positive attitude. The energy in the room pulsated with every story she told, every nugget of wisdom she bestowed upon us. It was a once in a lifetime experience for all who stood in line early in the morning, coffee in hand, to be electrified by her words. Among the many lessons she[...]