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their students. Due to this, we send out a google drive link af- ter a training so participants can have access to all the materials in the other symbol sets. By doing this, participants have the ability to apply the information shared at the training with their knowledge of how to create the materials to ensure all of their students have access to the appropriate supports. As one par- ticipant shared through a post-survey, “I am enjoying using the materials and being able to look back to make new ones.” Having read how we structure our MATerial training series and the benefits it has provided to our staff and students, take some time to consider if this type of professional development could be of benefit to your teams. One way to do that is by uti- lizing a professional development planning guide, such as the Quality Indicators of Assistive Technology (QIAT) Assistive Tech- nology Guiding Document (bit.ly/2QU0Nmh) and Planner (bit. ly/2K4Oovk). Systematically reviewing the areas of need for your staff and district through planning guides supports the creation of an effective plan for professional development. If after re- viewing these documents you feel a MATerial training initiative could be a valuable support, there are a variety of ways to imple- ment such a program. We decided to create the trainings from scratch so to tailor it to the specific needs of our staff. We started with doing research, reading articles, watching webinars, and at- tending other high-quality professional development to ensure we were presenting up-to-date best practices. From there, we decided which materials to include and then designed and cre- ated them.
However, that is just one way to create a make-and-take training. There is a plethora of high quality, free webinars and training resources available around the topics of AAC, commu- nication, and literacy that could be utilized to structure a pro- fessional development offering. Some of the resources we find ourselves frequently referencing are the Project Core webinars (bit.ly/31dYQFY), the POWER AAC modules (bit.ly/2K1EWIV), Lit- eracy for All webinars (bit.ly/2yk7CX6), and the Angelman Foun- dation Communication Training Series webinars (bit.ly/31jPFEa). Utilizing one or more of these resources and pairing them with materials to make-and-take is another way to structure a MATe- rial training. Furthermore, there are resource materials available for down- load that could easily be paired with a presentation to incorpo- rate the material component for this type of training. For exam- ple, ConnectAbility’s Visual Engine website has a variety of free visual support resources, such as picture cards and templates for schedules, choice boards and first/then cards, which could be used during the make-and-take portion of a visual supports MATerial (bit.ly/2tKysnr). Saltillo has manual communication boards with alphabet and fringe word supports for download from their website (bit.ly/2EW0mTu), and the AAC Language Lab has a variety of manual communication boards available (bit. ly/2WifqAQ) that could pair well with a MATerial training around the topics of AAC and communication development. The Dy- namic Learning Maps website has a variety of alternative pencils available to download that could address the material making
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