Bridging Voice AAC specialists Abby Marx and Annie Roche will be leading three sessions at the 2025 ASHA Convention, taking place November 20–22 in Washington, DC.

Each session offers a deep, practical look at communication support for people with ALS and other progressive neurological conditions. Whether you’re new to AAC or an experienced clinician looking to expand your toolkit, these sessions offer evidence-based strategies, real-world insights, and immediately applicable clinical skills. Below is a look at what we’ll be sharing at ASHA this year.

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The Communication Journey in Progressive Neurological Conditions: Looking Ahead at the Possibilities

Session #1480: Friday, November 21 at 1:30pm

Progressive neurological conditions—such as ALS, MS, Parkinson’s Disease, and others—require thoughtful, responsive, and compassionate communication support. This session offers a comprehensive overview of communication needs across the entire progression of these conditions.

We will guide participants through:

• Early-stage AAC considerations like voice cloning, traditional voice banking, and message banking
• Introducing and supporting multimodal communication, including paper-based tools, tablets, or manual boards
• Matching access methods as needs change—from handwriting supports to eye tracking and switch scanning
• Partner training and advocacy to ensure clients maintain communication autonomy
• Environmental and cognitive factors that influence AAC use over time
• The essential role SLPs play in supporting end-of-life communication, ensuring individuals can express their needs, values, and stories with clarity and autonomy

This session serves as a foundation for clinicians who support individuals with degenerative neurological conditions and provides practical resources to guide AAC decision-making across the journey.

Resources from this session:

Handouts

Bridging Voice Manual Communication Boards (English & Spanish)

Previous Bridging Voice Trainings

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Voice Preservation Beyond Recording: How to Use Your AI Voice

Session #1769: Saturday, November 22 at 9:30am

Voice preservation is evolving rapidly, and so is the SLP’s role in supporting it. This session explores how clinicians can help clients not only record their voice, but use it meaningfully throughout their lives.

We will cover:

• The differences between message banking, voice banking, and AI voice cloning, and how each supports identity, autonomy, and emotional connection
• Counseling strategies to help clients prioritize what to record (and when)
• The latest advancements in AI-generated voices, including options for people with sudden speech loss
• How to integrate preserved voices into AAC apps and SGDs
• Real-world tips for improving buy-in, transitioning from natural speech to AAC, and maximizing functional communication
• Ethical considerations in using AI to support communication while honoring personal authenticityuals can express their needs, values, and stories with clarity and autonomy

This session is built for clinicians who want a clear, updated roadmap for voice preservation and who want to help clients use their voices for everything from phone calls to speeches to everyday conversation.

Resources from this session:

Handouts

AI Voice Cloning with ElevenLabs

Voice Banking & Cloning Overview

Previous Bridging Voice Trainings

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The SLP’s Role in Effective Access to Communication via Eye Gaze

Session #1887: Saturday, November 22 at 1:30pm

Eye gaze technology can open the door to rich, independent communication. But when it stops working—or never works well in the first place—many clients are left without a reliable way of communicating. This session equips SLPs with the knowledge and confidence to troubleshoot and optimize eye tracking at a clinical level.

Attendees will learn:

• How common medications (like baclofen, gabapentin, or anticholinergics) and medical factors impact eye movement and tracking
• How conditions such as ptosis, cataracts, nystagmus, and strabismus alter performance—and how to identify them through calibration results
• Practical adjustments to calibration, dwell time, target size, and selection type that can dramatically improve accuracy
• How to pair low dwell settings with automatic pauses for clients with reduced control
• Strategies to reduce technology abandonment by tailoring systems to the individual’s medical history, motor profile, and communication goals
• Tools and demonstrations for supporting communication beyond face-to-face interactions, including computer access, environmental control, and more

Through hands-on examples, videos, and case-based discussion, Abby and Annie will demonstrate how thoughtful feature matching and troubleshooting can restore access to communication, even in the most complex cases.

Resources from this session:

Handouts

Eye Gaze Troubleshooting Guide

Eye Health & ALS

Previous Bridging Voice Trainings