Bridge School

Bridge To Life (BTL): 1. serving individuals with physical and/or communication impairments from birth through adulthood, locally, nationally and globally. 2. providing professional development opportunities in our areas of expertise. 3. contracting with families, agencies and school districts to offer direct services to students with severe physical impairments and complex communication needs to address: receptive and expressive language, augmentative and alternative communication, Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI), positioning and seating, access through assistive technology, self-determination and futures planning, literacy. Currently we are offering: CVI assessments and training packages, Receptive and expressive language assessment and therapy, Consulting on positioning and seating, Direct speech and language services for users of augmentative and alternative communication

Outreach and Dissemination: The Bridge School's mission is to improve the quality of life for individuals how use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and assistive technology (AT) globally. Key to achieving this mission is the global dissemination of effective intervention strategies developed and tested in our educational program to parents, professionals, and users of AAC/AT. Various avenues are used in our dissemination efforts including and international teacher-in-residence program, our AAC by the bay conference, our adult activity group, and our information-rich website. Our staff presents at numerous professional conferences; we publish articles in referred journals; we train individuals from universities and every other year, we host a professional from a developing country as a teacher-in-residence. This professional studies with our staff form 7 to 10 months, attends local university classes, visits comparable educational programs, and participates in professional conferences. When the teacher-in-residence returns to his/her home country, they work with their local support network to disseminate the strategies they have learned from their experiences during their residency. The Bridge School follows up with an in-country visit to provide site-specific training, conduct local and regional workshops, provide demonstration teaching, respond to radio and TV interviews, and participate in organized conference events. All of our outreach and dissemination efforts are designed to have global impact on the education of children with severe speech and physical impairments.

Transition & Others: Research Program