Lotus & Bananas Chris McDonald and Brandi Wentland

In this episode, Dr. Amanda Blackwell SLPD, CCC-SLP shares how a series of missionary trips and work during her PhD, led to becoming a Bilingual Speech Language Pathologist based in Antigua, Guatemala since 2013. Since then, her call to Central America has led her to work with a wide variety of organizations, universities and research products:
-Supervisor at FUNDAL Guatemala https://fundal.org.gt/ and Down Guatemala https://www.downguatemala.org/
-Co-Founder of LUNA Autismo on Instagram @LunaAutismo and FB LUNA Legado Universal del Autismo
-Co-founder an VP of the Guatemalan Association of Speech Therapists (@SomosTLgt)
Adjunct Faculty Member at: 
-Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, IN (Autism)
-Minot State University in Minot, ND (AAC)
-University of Redlands in Redlands, CA (Language development) 
-Amanda is currently in her last semester of EdD program at Murray State University with a goal to open a University of Allied Health Professions in Guatemala
-Spanish content creator at SLP Toolkit
-Currently participating in research study about international AAC with ISAAC president Juan Bornman and researchers in South Africa, Penn State, and Sri Lanka
-Participated in research with Penn State about AAC education for professionals in Guatemala 
-Doctoral research using static VSD with adults with complex communication needs in Guatemala

For more info on the show sponsors, check out We Speak AAC and PicSeePal.

In this Episode, Brandi Wentland and Chris McDonald discuss Global Symbols, innovation and ideas to expand AAC accessibility. 
 
Global Symbols is a place to discover and publish Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) symbol sets.

For more info on the show sponsors, check out We Speak AAC and PicSeePal

Katie Yonker is a user of AAC from Arizona and shares a bit of her story. She's a hip hop dancer, model, and merchandising employee. She discusses her perspectives on AAC, education and a little about her thoughts on Valentines Day 2021.

For more information, visit Katie Yonker's Store: Katie's Krazy Hearts and check out the podcast sponsors: PicSeePal and We Speak AAC.

Welcome to the first podcast of Lotus & Bananas: A podcast by PicSeePal and We Speak AAC. In this episode, Brandi and Chris sit down with Dan Philips, founder and director of the Tech Resource Center Marin, providing AAC and AT to over 19 school districts in California. Dan discusses a life-altering experience in South Africa that led to co-founding the Nika Project which Chris describes as a “global empire of goodness.” Dan explains the project as a non-profit that “takes tools we were throwing away in the US” to help make an “impactful difference” through “building relationships of trust, transparency, and collaboration around the globe.”

If you're interested in more information, here are a few links for the Nika Project and our sponsors, PicSeePal and We Speak AAC.