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Current Event

October 4, 2013: Symposium on Activity-Based Approaches to Communication

This is a one-day symposium focusing on play-based communication and social interaction designed to be of interest to clinicians, teachers, researchers and caregivers.

"Video Games, New Literacies, and Redesigning Communicative Competence"

Invited Speakers

James Paul Gee

James Paul Gee is the Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies at Arizona State University. He is a member of the National Academy of Education. His books include: Sociolinguistics and Literacies (Fourth Edition 2011); An Introduction to Discourse Analysis (Third Edition 2011; What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy (Second Edition 2007); How to Do Discourse Analysis (2011); Woman as Gamers: The Sims and 21st Century Learning (2010) and Language and Learning in the Digital World (2011), both written with Elizabeth Hayes. The Anti-Education ERA: Creating Smarter Students through Digital Media appeared in 2013. Prof. Gee has published widely in journals in linguistics, psychology, the social sciences, and education.

Elisabeth R. Hayes

Elisabeth R. Hayes is Professor and holds the Delbert & Jewell Lewis Chair in Reading & Literacy at Arizona State University. She has published widely on the topics of literacy, gender, gaming, and learning; her recent books include Women and Gaming: The Sims and 21st Century Learning (2010), Language and Learning in a Digital Age (2011), both co-authored with James Gee, and Learning in Video Gaming Affinity Spaces (2012) (co-edited with Sean Duncan). Prof. Hayes is currently the co-director of Play2Connect, a research and outreach project that aims to promote intergenerational learning, communication, and well being through video games. One of her current studies is an investigation of how joint media engagement in Hispanic families, particularly around games, might enhance literacy development and problem solving skills.

Sponsors

• Speech and Hearing Science Department, University of Illinois
• Focal Point Grant, Graduate College, University of Illinois
• College of Education, University of Illinois
• The Center for Writing Studies, University of Illinois
• The Autism Program (TAP) of University of Illinois
  

Symposium Schedule

Lunch Small Group Sessions

1. Title: Using Technology to Maximize Literacy Skills in Individuals Using AAC
   Facilitator: Tracy S. Gunderson, M.S. CCC-SLP, Clinical Instructor in Speech and Hearing Science, University of Illinois
   Description: The development of literacy skills is critical to compete in the educational system, job market and for leisure activities. Individuals that use AAC may have difficulty developing writing and reading skills. The use of electronic books, software, computers and communication devices can be essential components to literacy development. What resources are available to parents, teachers, and consumers? This discussion will look at some of the tools and approaches that are being used successfully for literacy skill development.

2. Title: AAC and Multiliteracies: Creating a Nexus for Opportunity
   Facilitator: Charis Lauren Price, Ph.D. Student in Early Childhood Special Education, University of Illinois
   Description: Multiliteracies is a term coined by the New London Group (1996) that calls for a need to unveil the diversity of our literacy practices. Traditional study of literacy focuses on isolated skills, such as coding and decoding of written words. Multiliteracies, however, highlights the multi-modal nature of literacies and the whole range of practices involved in using texts This lunch session will focus on the importance of understanding Alternative & Augmentative Communication (AAC) within a multiliteracy framework. We will endeavor to understand how to view AAC and multiliteracies through a “both-and” lens, as opposed to an “either-or” approach.

3. Title: Technology and CSD: Device Apps in Clinical Practice
   Facilitator: Naomi Gurivich, PhD CCC-SLP
   Description: This lunchtime discussion will address the general benefits, and identify caveats, of using mobile apps in clinical practice. Additionally, we will outline types of useful applications with an aim towards (1) helping us sift through the multitude of available apps; and (2) getting the most out of this resource.

4. Title: Engineering Challenges of mediating talk
   Facilitators: XiSong, Yang, Dr. Mark Hasegawa-Johnson, ECE.

5. Title: Summit Afterschool Program
   Facilitators: Andrew Moss, MiKyung, Chuck Jackson, Megan-Brette Hamilton
   Description: This group will present our perspectives on developing Summit Afterschool Program, which serves public school children of diverse linguistic abilities and cultural backgrounds. We will discuss the benefits and challenges of incorporating many different kinds of “diversity” – cultural, linguistic, racial, and language ability – into one program, and focus on the ways technology plays a role in our activities and goals.

6. Title: Mediating Real-World Communication Environments
   Facilitators: Katie, Hillary, Maeve, Mariana

7. Title: Multimodality—in talk, text, and practice.
   Facilitator: Dr. Paul A. Prior, CWS
   

Location:

i-Hotel and Conference Center (tentative) * 1900 S. First Street * Champaign IL 61820

Continuing Education Credits should be available for:

• Educators (ISBE)

Certificates of completion vailable upon request

Cost:

• $45 early registration (received by 9/30/2013)
• $90 late/at the door registration

Maximum attendance 70 people

To Register:

• Register online
• You will be emailed a copy of your form. Print it and mail along with your payment to the address below.
• Make checks payable to: University of Illinois
  

Focal Point Symposium
Department of Speech and Hearing Science
901 S. Sixth Street
Champaign, IL 61820
Attn: Julie Hengst

If you have any questions, please contact one of us:

• Julie Hengst, Associate Professor, 217-244-6149, hengst@illinois.edu
• Laura DeThorne, Associate Professor, 217-333-2230, lauras@illinois.edu