Ainsley Vergara is a speech-language pathologist in Athens, Georgia. She was recently appointed Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Georgia where she provides clinical instruction and supervision for speech pathology students. With regard to her clinical background, Ainsley has worked in a wide range of settings including schools, private practice, home health, and a nonprofit organization. While working as an SLP in those settings, Ainsley partnered with Northern Arizona University's Institute for Human Development to provide AAC training for clients, their parents, therapists, and special ed teams.  She is most energized when teaching others and instilling the value that everyone really does deserve a voice.  Connect with [email protected]

Debbie Witkowski is a Speech-Language Pathologist from Semantic Compaction Systems (SCS) in Pittsburgh, PA. She is one of the coordinators and presenters of the "Successful Outcomes in AAC" seminar series, which was formally known as the "Pittsburgh AAC and Language Seminar Series" or PALSS for short.She has worked with Semantic Compaction Systems since 2011 but her introduction to Minspeak came much earlier, back in 1986, when she had the opportunity to tutor a local student to use Words Strategy, the original word-based Minspeak language system.  Debbie has always had a passion for working with individuals with complex communication needs and has spent her career supporting these individuals in various roles.  In recent years, she had the opportunity to be one of the developers of "UNIDAD," the bilingual Spanish/English family of Minspeak vocabulary programs.Connect with [email protected]

Paul Andres, an Occupational Therapist in Germany who worked at Prentke Romich Deutschland, first as a consultant then as a Minspeak Application Program developer, creating the popular Quasselkiste vocabulary. Later, he worked with Semantic Compaction Systems to take on a much broader role supporting the development and use of other non-english vocabulary sets. He was also instrumental in creating the Realize Language online AAC data analysis system for both the English- and German-speaking markets.In this episode, Paul talks about his early years in AAC and some of the challenges in creating vocabularies in languages other than English.Connect with PaulEmail: [email protected] textNation, I. (2001). Learning Vocabulary in Another Language (Cambridge Applied Linguistics). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Recommended MoviesMr. Symbol Man – YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAjOJFEFbuIApplying the Four Strands: Paul Nation YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-mA5jFBF0UMon Oncle (1958) – YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l-iCZiA6tYTokyo Story (1953) – YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CFtITPEvZM

Gail Van Tatenhove is known to many people  in the field of AAC for her work with Minspeak® and people who use Minspeak® systems. She is also an expert in  the practice of Descriptive Teaching and regularly presents webinars on this topic. While Gail does a lot of different presentations in the field of AAC, she remains a working speech-language pathologist, still today providing direct AAC intervention. The majority of her practice has been with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, an area that she discusses in this podcast.Connect with GailWebsite:  https://www.vantatenhove.comEmail:  [email protected]

Meher Banajee is Associate Professor and Program Director of Speech-language Pathology Program at LSUHSC Communication Disorders Department. Her areas of interest include AAC, autism spectrum disorders, early intervention and complex communication disorders as well as degenerative neurological disorders.  She has published articles on core vocabulary, AAC within the classroom, autism, and early intervention. She runs several social groups for adolescents and adults with autism.  Meher is the vice chair for the speech and language pathology Council on Academic Accreditation (CAA) and the chair-elect for the CAA Nominating committee. She was also named an ASHA fellow in 2021.  Connect with Meher via [email protected]

Tracy Kovach is one of the presenters and co-ordinators of the Pittsburgh AAC Language Seminar series and she’s been instrumental in keeping this event running for many years. She is the author of the popular evaluation tool, the AACP - Augmentative & Alternative Communication Profile: A Continuum of Learning, which is available online from the Pro-Ed website. In this episode, Tracy talks about her experiences as a clinician in Denver, her growth as an SLP, and being accountable for your AAC practice.Connect with Tracy via [email protected]