Northeast AAC Summit: Worcester

The 6^th Northeast AAC Summit: AAC Through the Lifespan – It Takes a Village took place on April 3, 2025 at the Easter Seals Massachusetts location in Worcester, MA. Participants experienced a jam-packed day filled with multiple mini presentations by local professionals, meet-and-greets with local Ambassadors, opportunities to connect with PRC-Saltillo access and product experts, and a variety of opportunities to ask questions, connect, share, and learn with each other.

Our local PRC-Saltillo Ambassadors Mackenzie Sanders, Matt Huggins, and Nick Tsitos were present throughout the day to learn from the presentations, socialize with attendees, answer questions, and share their advice.

Northeast AAC Summit Presentations

Special thanks to the following professionals for presenting:

• Kristi Peak-Oliveira, Zoie Vieira-Perry, Lianna Friedman, Catherine Kingman from Easter Seals Massachusetts
• Melisa Mulvey and Leila Denna from The Cotting School and Consulting in Lexington
• Lori McCarthy from Lowell Public Schools
• Laura McGloine from Waltham Public Schools
• Nicole Williams from Spaulding Rehabilitation
• Kim Ho from Northeastern University

The variety of intentionally interactive presentations ensured that everyone left with new information, skills, and ideas! The day opened with our signature Town Hall which set the tone for open sharing, followed by a session with the Easter Seals team about strategies for engaging and empowering families and care teams in a variety of home/school/residential settings.

Melissa Mulvey from Cotting Consulting then chimed in with her enthusiastic sharing of strategies for supporting caregivers of School-Age AAC users. Next, we heard about two local school districts who have implemented a successful “Systems First” model in their school districts with Laura McGloine sharing about use of TouchChat® with WordPower® in Waltham Public Schools, and Lori McCarthy sharing about the journey with LAMP Words for Life® in Lowell Public Schools. Leila Denna wowed the crowd with thought-provoking information about AI in AAC and education.

The closing town hall was facilitated by our local AAC Professors and Mentors: Kim Ho, Melissa Mulvey, Kristi Peak-Oliveira, and Nicole Williams, who were then upstaged by our AAC Ambassadors. It seemed to be everyone’s favorite part of the summit and an engaging and informative way to end the day leaving inspired and full of joy!

Northeast Summit Participant Feedback

Feedback about the event from attendees was overwhelmingly enthusiastic:

• “I liked the open dialogue and informative but not lecture style of the event.”
• “The presentations were very engaging and I loved the feedback from your ambassadors.”
• “The variety of presentations was great!”
• “I really enjoyed that we had a decent amount of time to engage with our peers and time to meet AAC users and get firsthand thoughts/advice from those using these programs.”
• “I had no idea what to expect, but I’m very pleased with the wealth of info and questions I hadn’t even though of!”

Stay connected between the summits and continue learning. Check out these opportunities:

• Join our newly created Northeast AAC LinkedIn Group and continue the conversations with your local AAC peers.
• Join our Open Office Hours every Tuesday at 8:30 - 9:00 a.m.
• Contact your local consultant with questions and ideas for future professional learning opportunities
• Visit aaclearningjourney.com to explore your options for eLearning and in-person regional events

With this AAC Summit in Massachusetts, we have now successfully completed a summit organized by each of your PRC-Saltillo Northeast Consultants. Since it has been such a valuable experience for AAC professionals, ambassadors, and our PRC-Saltillo team, we are doing it all again!

Save the Date for the Fall 2025 Northeast AAC Summit

Our 7^th Northeast AAC Summit will take place at SUNY Albany, NY on Friday, October 3, 2025. Learn more about the Fall 2025 Summit and make plans to join the conversation!