Poetry for All: Empowering Voices with AAC, AT, and AI

Presenter(s)

Event Details

Topic:

instruction, literacy & inclusion

Format:

lecture

Subject Level:

beginner

Age Span:

grades 7-12
adult

Target Audience:

AT specialist
autism specialist
consultant
educator
family member / caregiver
occupational therapist
paraprofessional
special educator
speech language pathologist

Professional Development Credits

IACET CEUs:

0.01

ACVREP CEs:

1

Presentation Length: 1 hour

Location:

Atrium 7

Description:

Poetry offers an engaging and accessible pathway to early literacy for secondary students with complex disabilities. This session highlights how poetry supports phonological awareness, vocabulary, oral language, and expressive communication, particularly for AAC users. Participants will be introduced to a variety of poetry sources including Readtopia units featuring Amanda Gorman and Casey at the Bat, along with practical strategies for extending instruction through acrostic, repeated-line, and visual poetry. The session also includes AT and AI tools, including Gemini Storybook, NotebookLM, Word Mover, and Poetry Machine, to support emergent poets. Attendees will leave with ready-to-use ideas that promote access, participation, and authentic student voice.

Learning Outcomes:

As a result of this activity, participants will be able to:

• As a result of attending this session, participants will be able to:
Identify three ways poetry supports early literacy development.

• As a result of attending this session, participants will be able to:
Design and implement two AAC-supported poetry activities for emergent communicators.

• As a result of attending this session, participants will be able to:
Apply at least two assistive technology or AI-based tools to scaffold poetry reading or writing for students with complex communication needs.

Disclosures:

Financial disclosures: Beth receives a salary from LessonPix. She receives royalties from sales of Inclusive Learning 365, EdTech Strategies for Every Day of the Year. She receives fees for speaking and consulting.
Non-financial disclosures: Beth is a member of ASHA, CEC, ISTE and ISAAC. She is a board member forAACcessible.org
Financial Disclosures: Sharon Redmon is a Special Education Teacher working in the K-12 public education system. She has her ATP from RESNA and consults as an Assistive Technology consultant for her private practice. Sharon has presented webinars for Building Wings and the Special Education Tech Center (SETC) in Washington State and CTG Webinar series for financial compensation. She receives compensation from CTG for pre-conference presentations. She receives funding from the AAC Leadership grant (U.S. Department of Education, H325D220021) at Pennsylvania State University.
Non-Financial Disclosures: Sharon Redmon serves as a member of the Education Committee for USSAAC, and The Wisconsin AAC Network and is a founding member of WATRN. She has presented past webinars for AAC in the Cloud and Closing the Gap.
Financial disclosures: Kelly does small contract work and training for educational agencies and for several A.T. companies, but is not a full-time employee of a company or receiving any compensation from those companies for presenting this content. She is the co-author of 2 Books on QIAT: Quality Indicators in Assistive Technology.
Non-financial disclosures: Kelly is a volunteer leadership team member of QIAT, the Joy Zabala Fellowship and the Wisconsin AAC Network.. She is a member of CEC, ISTE, RESNA, and USSAAC/ISAAC.