Dana Sahian SLP

07/19/2023

We are hiring an Assistive Technology Facilitator! Please share with your networks, friends and family!

Assistive Technology Facilitator

Are you passionate about empowering individuals with disabilities to unlock their full potential through technology? Do you want to work closely with highly experienced SLPs and other team members who are passionate about learning and assistive technology? If so, we encourage you to apply.

Responsibilities:
Implement treatment plans and strategies designed by an SLP to educate clients with disabilities on how to effectively use assistive technology tools and devices to support their learning and other accessibility needs.
Provide support to clients (Grade One to Post-Secondary), addressing any challenges they may encounter in using assistive technology.
Take comprehensive notes during client sessions, documenting progress, challenges, and any adjustments that might need to be made to the treatment plan.
Collaborate closely with the SLP, providing regular updates, and seeking guidance when needed.

Qualifications:
Communicative Disorders Assistant, SLP student or someone with a bachelor's degree in Psychology, Education, Special Education, or related field.
Lived experience with learning disabilities and/or assistive technology an asset.
Experience working with individuals with learning disabilities, ADHD, ASD and other disabilities.
A good understanding of different assistive technology applications for access to the curriculum.
Strong organizational skills and attention to detail to maintain accurate and thorough session notes.
Excellent communication and teamwork abilities to effectively collaborate with the supervising SLP and other team members when necessary.


Job Details:
Position: Assistive Technology Facilitator
Work Location: Virtual
Working Hours: Flexible (ability to work some evenings and weekends is essential)
Employment Type: Part-time (varies throughout the year)
Compensation: Competitive hourly rate
Supervision: Work under the supervision of a licensed Speech Language Pathologist
Training: Comprehensive job training will be provided. Please note that this is unpaid time.

If interested, please send your résumé to:
dana@slp4all.com

Company info:
SLP4ALL
www.danasahian.com
647-926-4255
info@slp4all.com

Where Speech Language Pathology and Assistive Technology Come Together to Help People with Learning Differences.

04/20/2023

Did you know that my passion for assistive technology started when I was a research assistant in grad school in Boston Northeastern University? I was involved in a study that helped babies born with disabilities interact more effectively with their caregivers (and vice versa). That was almost 30 years ago! The Nintendo Power Pad was used to create different sounds that the babies would respond to with babbles and movements. It was so innovative for the 1990’s!
Read more about how I got started in the field of assistive technology, and why I’ve stayed in it all these years, in my book, “Cool Tools for School: Assisted Learning in the Digital Age”, now available on Amazon.

Cool Tools for School: Assisted Learning in the Digital Age https://a.co/d/5llWot6

08/22/2021

Welcome Josh Sahian , a third year University of Guelph student, to SLP4ALL!!
Meet our newest assistive technology trainer and executive functions coach. With over 13 years of experiencing using assistive technology himself, Josh is excited to share his skills, knowledge and passion for all things technology with other students. In addition, Josh is a master with executive functions skills such as planning, organization, time management, note taking and task initiation!
Josh is excited to join our team and looks forward to sharing everything he has learned over the years with other students.
And yes, he is my son 🙂

08/09/2021

In search of someone who knows how to format and publish a book on Amazon.

I have written a book for teachers, parents, students, clinicians, and other educators on how to use 21st century strategies and assistive technology tools to support students’ learning. The book is about 250 pages (might be longer once its formatted properly) and loaded with visuals.

I have decided to go the self-publishing route, but am totally overwhelmed by the technical requirements!

Please let me know if you, or someone you know, might be able to help me with the task of formatting my book properly in order to publish it on Amazon.

Thank you in advance!

11/24/2020

Sharing with permission.

And this is what it’s all about! The reason I do what I do.

Email received today from a client’s mom:

Hi Dana
I just wanted to let you know that this tech stuff has been a lifesaver in our house! Seeing our son actually DOING work has been amazing and he seems so much happier than before in terms of schoolwork issues. He says it’s made things so much easier for him — I was shocked at how much he had figured out on his own following the assessment, even before your first training session with him. That’s more motivation than I’ve ever seen in him! So thank you for introducing this world — I give you a huge amount of credit as he was not very willing to entertain this idea at the outset but because of HOW you showed him online, coupled with your personality - it actually made him excited to try this! Not many people have ever inspired him in that way so kudos to you!

This has been a great experience and I’m so very grateful to both Dr. XX for specifically suggesting YOU, and for your approach to teaching a stubborn teen boy - miracles apparently DO happen!! 🙂

Thank you again and please know how much we appreciate your help!

04/10/2020

SLP4ALL IS STILL HERE FOR YOU & YOUR CHILDREN DURING THIS PANDEMIC -

Over the past few weeks, I have been trying to come up with different ways to help families, as parents and children are left to navigate this unfamiliar type of schooling. Given how new on-line schooling it is to all of us, figuring out exactly what kind of support each student might need has be...

04/03/2020

Parents-as-Teachers tip! I was helping my daughter with her Grade 7 Science this morning. I was totally clueless as to how to help her. We used the app “Socratic by Google” to help us research and find information. I highly recommend this to all students and parents-as-teachers! It is A. May. Zing!!!
It doesn’t give you the answers. It helps you to understand the question and helps to narrow down the sources of information in a very child-friendly way.

03/22/2020

Listening to books is a great way to read (I call it “ear reading”). Many kids and young adults say they don’t like to read, but when asked if they like to LISTEN to books being read to them, most respond with a resounding “Yes!”. Whether you are ‘eye reading’ or ‘ear reading’, you are READING!
Here are some great resources to help keep your kids reading while schools are closed:

Epic!
Epic! is an amazing app, with loads of amazing books for kids. There are picture books, story books, novels, etc. Some of the books are meant to be ‘eye read’, others ‘ear read’. It has been made free for students, but they (might) need to be part of a class. Ask you child’s teacher to start an account and send invites to all of his/her students. I have started an SLP4ALL school account and would be happy to add your kids. Just PM me and I will send you an invite.

Audible
Audible has made their kid’s books free while schools are closed. They have a great selection for kids of all ages, including tweens and teens. They have also made a lot of their adult books free as well.

Free stories for kids of all ages. Audible Stories is a free website where kids of all ages can listen to hundreds of Audible audio titles across six different languages—English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Japanese—for free, so they can keep learning, dreaming and just being kids.

11/12/2019

Just completed an assistive technology training session on-line with a 12 year old boy who lives in British Columbia.
If you have friends or family living outside of Toronto who would benefit from an assistive technology assessment and training (conducted by a Speech Language Pathologist) please have them contact me at info@slp4all.com!
I welcome students of all ages (Grade 1 to Post Secondary) who need accommodations in order to be as productive as they are smart!

Check out the screenshot of a picture he drew in Notability at the end of our session!

I use a program called Zoom which allows us to share our screens with each other. So cool!!!