Supporting Literacy Development for Individuals with ASD
With Haley Usilton
In this video, Haley addresses literacy: the spoken and written language connection. Individuals with Autism who benefit from augmentative and alternative (AAC) tools and techniques can benefit from directed learning opportunities related to building literacy skills. This 15-minute video is going to demonstrate for you how reading and writing activities, as well as routines, can be adapted to support the needs of individuals who use AAC in developing symbolic (in some instances, specifically text) encoding and decoding skills required to achieve literacy.
Haley Usilton is a first-year graduate student pursuing a Master’s in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) at the University of Maine. Haley began her career at the University of Maine as an undergraduate majoring in CSD and minoring in Neuroscience, French, and Disability Studies. Haley has worked in the UMaine campus Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Lab for three years. As a graduate assistant, Haley works on a variety of projects to better support AAC use and understanding in both the clinical and research environment.