Using TD Snap to Build Multimodal, Inclusive Learning Environments

Hey Tek-ninjas! Today, I'm excited to share a guest blog post from my colleague Michelle Lassiter. Michelle is a speech therapist, and the Tobii Dynavox Solutions Consultant for South Carolina. She's super smart, and I loved this idea she had and shares with the SLPs she works with! Naturally, I asked her if she'd write up a post for me and you, and here it is!

Using TD Snap to Build Multimodal, Inclusive Learning Environments
As an SLP and AAC consultant, one of my favorite ways to enhance both therapy and classroom instruction is by integrating the Tobii Dynavox TD Snap Core Pageset with customized pages for articulation, phonology, and literacy support. Over time, I’ve built-out pages within TD Snap that function as my digital therapy toolkit. This allows me to be always organized, always accessible, and always ready to meet the needs of every student who walks through the door.

Using TD Snap during lessons and therapy helps not only me, as the SLP, but also my teachers and AAC teams feel confident navigating the software. And before you tell me it’s “too much work to learn another app,” hear me out, because this setup is designed to make your life easier, not harder. And it is a free tool for all SLP’s and AAC professionals!

A Reality Every School‑Based SLP Knows Too Well

Before moving into AAC full‑time, I spent years as a school‑based SLP with zero therapy budget. Like so many of us, I purchased countless materials from Teachers Pay Teachers, stayed up late laminating and cutting, and tried to build a library of visuals and activities I could grab quickly.

But the reality was:

• My preschool groups would pivot activities with no warning
• A new group would walk in needing completely different materials
• The laminated resources I spent hours prepping were never in front of me at the right moment

TD Snap completely changed that. Instead of scrambling for physical materials, I could preload everything directly into my free TD Snap for Professionals app. Therapy became smoother, more flexible, and far more responsive to the moment‑to‑moment needs of young learners and my busy SLP schedule.

Therapy Tools Right Where You Need Them

Inside the Topics section in TD Snap, I create one main button, which I typically labeled “Therapy Tools.”

 
That button opens to a dedicated page containing:

• Articulation & phonology pages for specific targets
• Literacy pages with book‑specific vocabulary
• Core‑based book supports that preload key words from stories or activities
• Quick‑access visuals, sound‑production videos, routines, and supports

The result is a neatly organized, instantly accessible digital therapy bag. So, no more digging through folders, losing materials, or juggling multiple apps!

Supporting Teachers and ELL Students
When teachers connect TD Snap to their smart boards, they gain immediate access to the same vocabulary students are using on their devices. This allows them to:

• Model AAC naturally during instruction
• Support ELL students with visual and linguistic scaffolds
• Aid students with learning and thinking differences
• Reinforce academic vocabulary in real time

Because therapy and instructional vocabulary live in the same place, AAC becomes a natural, consistent part of classroom learning and provides multi-modal learning supports for ALL learners while modeling AAC for those who need it!

Building Confidence for AAC Teams

Customizing Pagesets this way helps SLPs, teachers, and paraprofessionals learn the software without feeling overwhelmed. Embedding therapy and literacy materials directly within the TD Snap for Professional’s app system gives teams experience with the software providing:

• A predictable structure
• Familiar navigation
• Hands‑on confidence editing buttons, linking pages, and modeling AAC.

The result is a classroom where communication is supported across the entire day; vocabulary is accessible, and AAC becomes a shared language for everyone, and not just the student using it. All that from a tool I can access for free as an AAC Professional! Definitely a win-win in my world.

If you are a Speech Therapist, and you'd like to get your professional license of TD Snap, just reach out to your local Solutions Consultant, and they can help you out!

PCS playground sign GIVEAWAY!

 Hey Tek-ninjas! Are you back to school yet? Soon if not. Well, in anticipation of busy playgrounds, Tobii Dynavox has two give-aways that might interest you. Check it out!

They are giving away 2 signs - 1 for you, and 1 for a co-worker. Enter for a chance to win for your classroom or playground PCS playground signs—which help students express themselves through symbols on the playground. 

If you don't win, you can still get some for sale on the Tobii Dynavox website.

 Enter in 3 simple steps:

Follow their page
Like this post
Tag a fellow educator below the post here!

Terms: Contest ends 8/18/23 at 11:59PM EST. Winners will be notified 8/21/22 via Facebook.

Welcome back to school!

Core Skater Shoes!

 Hey Tek-ninjas! I've decided to shut down the Tek-ninja merchandise page, and some of you may notice the tab at the top of the page is no longer there. 

I have enjoyed the experience and sold almost 1,000 pair of Core Skater Shoes. Thank you so much for your support and interest. 

I have a relatively small assortment of women's sizes if anyone is interested, feel free to email me at jim@tek-ninja.com. 

Current Sizes (as of 12/11/2024):

7.5 = 8 pair

9   = 8 pair

10 = 3 pair

I'm asking $55 plus shipping on the remaining stock.

"His vocabulary has grown tremendously...."

Hey Tek-ninjas! A while back, I posted how Kiyah uses her AAC device to effectively navigate her life. More recently, Tobii Dynavox posted a short clip of a boy named Brock and how he uses the TD i110. I've shared it below.

I'm sharing Brock's video, because I believe many folks don't understand the power of AAC, and it is simply a joyous clip!  Similar to the video of Kiyah, this video of Brock provides a terrific look into AAC. On the linked page, Brock's mother is quoted saying: "His vocabulary has grown tremendously, and we love seeing our lil’ man finally being able to speak his mind". Those are powerful words!

Check out the link to read more about Brock's success, what life with Assistive Technology can look like, and the benefits of having a solid team helping our AAC users. 

Happy therapy!

South Carolina Solutions Consultant Position

 Hey Tek-ninjas! I have got another opportunity for YOU to help deliver voices with Tobii Dynavox. 

Unfortunately one of our Solutions Consultants needs to relocate, so our South Carolina position is open.

Perhaps this is the opportunity you have been waiting for! 

We prefer candidates with a Bachelor Degree and 2+ years of durable medical device sales experience OR clinical background. 

Maybe you ought to consider checking it out? You can read more here. Come work with me!

Create Tailored, Hands-On and Accessible Content for In-Home Learning

Hey Tek-ninjas! Living in Coronatopia, many of us are struggling with HOW to keep students engaged with hands-on activities that are access friendly and individualized. This is true, whether they are our own children, or kiddos we are serving remotely. Turns out Boardmaker has some great tools to help you deliver lessons that tackle these challenges. 

Check out the Activities-to-Go, an online platform that helps you to differentiate learning in fun and engaging activities. Activities-to-Go comes in units, and each unit has three levels of books. Because each unit focuses on one topic, you can use materials from any level to extend, enrich, and customize learning. You can learn more in depth here. 

There are over 200 interactive templates for hands-on learning. Learners can manipulate the activities you have created using a computer, iPad, or Tobii Dynavox device. Were I doing remote services, say with Zoom, opening these on a child's device, sharing their screen and working with them on this content could be a really powerful way to connect and teach. You can learn more about these hands-on learning tools here. 

If we were doing this on their personal AAC device, we would need to make certain the device was "unlocked" so it could access the internet. The fee to unlock most devices is $25 these days. The family would need to contact the vendor to get it unlocked if they've not done so. 

A significant aspect of these hands-on learning opportunities that I really love is that you can take into account access issues, and accommodate touch, scanning and eye gaze. This is explored more here. 

Not everyone has Boardmaker online, but currently they are offering a free 90-day trial. If you don’t have a Boardmaker Online account, here is a tutorial to get that 90-day trial. 

Wash your hands friends!!

Tools to Support Communication with Your Child

Hey Tek-ninjas! This post goes out to parents specifically. Clinicians, if you are working with families using AAC with a Core Language approach, this content may be useful, even if they are using other products. 

Just because you're at home doesn’t mean you have to stop working on growing your child’s communication skills. Tobii Dynavox offers some terrific ideas of how you can use core vocabulary to support communication with your child.

As you likely know, Core words have application throughout your child’s day, and they are words they hear others use all day long. Core words can also help your child understand the Coronavirus pandemic. 

Follow this structure for introducing core words to your child at home. 

Find It

This means showing your child where the core word is on the device. 

Use It

Once you and your child know where to find the word, you can start using it throughout the day. 

Read It

Use these free Core First Learning Books that target one core word per book. 

Want more information on introducing core words, implementation help, and a helpful video? Click here! 

To find all Tobii Dynavox Coronavirus related resources, click here. Additionally, Tobii Dynavox is offering a lot of free live web events. And don’t forget to check out their Learning Hub for free on-demand courses that also provide ASHA CEUs.

And finally, for more “At home learning” resources, click here.

And remember: wash yer hands!!

Core Tour Follow up!

Hey Tek-Ninja’s! On January 27th I posted the blog below. Very quickly this event has filled to maximum capacity. Since then, we opened the seats from 100 to 125.

As of this morning, there are only 19 available seats! If you are interested, and I’d encourage you to consider attending, get signed up soon. We will not be able to expand beyond 125 seats.

If you are coming, please be sure to say hello to me!

Hey Tek-ninjas! I am so excited by this opportunity! I get to work with some incredibly smart and engaging folks. I’m always wishing more people could get an opportunity to learn from the Tobii-Dynavox Learning Team. Well, here’s your opportunity!

Join the Tobii Dynavox team in person on the 2020 Core Tour here in Chapel Hill, NC, my home town!

What’s a Core Tour? It's a free, full-day session where we will explore evidence-based approaches for supporting both communication and literacy development for children with complex communication needs. We will discuss Snap Core First communication software and associated Tobii Dynavox literacy tools to support symbol-based communicators and their communication partners. We will target specific strategies that can positively impact engagement, literacy, and growth. Following the course, you will have an opportunity to visit our AAC stations for hands-on application.

Who is this event for?
Parents/Family members, Caregivers , SLPs, OTs, PTs, & Assistants Teachers/Special educators/paraprofessionals

Where:

The Event Center at Extraordinary Ventures
200 S. Elliott Road – Great Hall
Chapel Hill, NC 27514

When:

Thursday, February 27, 2020 

9:00am - 4:00pm

Questions?

Contact: Jim Tignor
Email: jim.tignor@tobiidynavox.com
Phone: 919-260-3756

Register now! This event is going to fill up quickly, so don’t wait to register!

Registration will begin at 8:00am. Session will start promptly at 9:00am and conclude by 4:00pm. Learners may stay until 5:00pm for additional time with staff for demos, hands-on time with devices, and Q&A. Lunch will be provided.
Registration on a computer rather than a mobile device is recommended. 
This course will be offered for 0.55 ASHA CEUs (Introductory level, Professional Area)



View invite in browser.

Discounts and continued growth...

Hey Tek-Ninja’s! So here’s some exciting news... In honor of AAC Awareness Month, Tobii-Dynavox is going to be offering 15% off Snap + Core First and Communicator 5.  Considering that Snap + Core First is already $200 to $250 less expensive than any of the other comparable AAC offerings in the App Store, this is pretty cool.

This will be an ONLINE ONLY sale and will run from October 7 through October 31st.

Customers can purchase through the iTunes store, the Windows
store, myTobiiDynavox.com, or TD.com (for Communicator).

Tobii Dynavox has always been committed to growing and improving their software offerings. This is evident in the steady addition of languages and data tracking tools for Snap + Core First over the last year and a half. Similarly, they've recently added a lot of new features to Communicator 5 like:

• New Windows Access page sets: Windows Mouse Horizontal and Windows Mouse Vertical
• Phrase prediction update that includes all phrases that contain the text in the message window, not only phrases that start with it
• Windows Access now available for eye tracking users with Switch activation method

Look for a deeper examination of these new features in coming blogs.

Happy Therapy!