We’ve had lots of requests for the January edition of Rachael Langley’s calendar of core word practice ideas. Many thanks to this wonderful clinician and AAC supporter for her generosity in making these and allowing us to share them. Happy January, all! Thank you, Rachael!
Let’s face it. Good AAC implementation takes commitment and requires a lot of effort from those who are with the AAC learners throughout the day. Sometimes an AAC tool or strategy that seemed promising at first, doesn’t pan out to be as successful as expected. Other times, it’s a challenge to keep up with the demands of the classroom, therapy session, and life and still find the energy to consistently implement good AAC practices. In the real world, teams struggle with these issues every single day. So when Rachael Langley, a Michigan-based SLP and AAC specialist, offered to provide insight into what that process has been like in classrooms she supports, I was thrilled. Rachael’s original post about using PODD in the classroom and her follow-up post on implementation tips gave us insight into the journey that one elementary school classroom team is taking to better serve their students with little or no... [Read More...]
Hats off to Rachael Langley for taking time to develop and share another calendar with ideas for core word practice. As with previous calendars, she’s included lots of fun and easy ways to highlight and practice some of the July words from the first Year of Core Words list.
Ice cream, watermelon, and camping! It must be prAACtically summer vacation. We are so grateful to Rachael Langley for continuing to share these monthly calendars with ideas for targeting core words from our Year of Core Vocabulary series. You can get Rachael’s June calendar by clicking on the image below. Happy almost summer!
Michigan-based SLP Rachael Langely is at it again! She developed a wonderful calendar of activities for those following along with our Year of Core Words. In addition, she provided some sample sentences that can be modeled, using Touch Chat as an example for the staff in classrooms that she supports. Enjoy! May Calendar (Click on the image to download) Examples of Things to Model (click to download or visit the AAC eToolbox, Downloads area) Note that these are just examples, and not a sequence of sentences to teach or practice as homework.
We return to Michigan today to hear more from school-based SLP, Rachael Langley. In this post, Rachael shares some prAACtical thoughts on making PODD books always available for communication. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The PODD system offers a complete language approach through carefully organized symbol sets. Because the PODD system promotes a language immersion model, there is no pressure on our language-learners reproducing specific words or patterns at a specific rate. The primary requirement is that adults are modeling PODD for our language-learners. In order to be sure that the PODD books were being used throughout the day, the books had to be PORTABLE, WEARABLE, and COMFORTABLE. Forget any of these three features and PODD books are at a high risk of being stuck on a shelf. My new hobby has become collecting other people’s ideas for how to make PODD books comfortable to carry around. I’ll spare you the pictures of my... [Read More...]
Today we welcome SLP Rachael Langley, who has been working in the public schools as a speech-language pathologist for over 12 years. Currently working as an AAC Specialist in Mid-Michigan, Rachael tells us that she strives to spread the message about the importance of AAC and unlocking the communication potential of all students. In this post, Rachael shares some of her best tips for building communication with learners who are getting started with PODD books. The PODD system offers a complete language approach through carefully organized symbol sets. Because the PODD system promotes a language immersion model, there is no pressure on our language-learners reproducing specific words or patterns at a specific rate. Here are some quick tips I share with classroom teams who are starting out with PODD: Input before output! Model, model, model! – Without digging too deep into the importance of Aided Language Stimulation, we want to make sure... [Read More...]
Core vocabulary resources are the focus of today’s post. In 2013, when schools and other clinical programs were expanding their emphasis on teaching core vocabulary words, PrAACtical AAC published a set of resources for families and professionals that included symbol cards, sample sentences to model, activity suggestions, and more. All of these were based on a small set of core words for each month (see that post here). We followed that with a second set of Year of Core Vocabulary Word resources for a new list of words (click here for that post). Over the years, the resources were expanded and grew to include a wonderful series of calendars with daily activity suggestions developed by AAC SLP and co-founder of Talking AAC, Rachael Langley. Many other contributors over the years added to these efforts. In 2020, a new series was launched, School Year of Core Vocabulary Words, authored by guest contributors... [Read More...]
Planning for comprehensive core vocabulary instruction? The Year of Core Vocabulary Words and The School Year of Core Vocabulary Words, two series of monthly resources for core vocabulary teaching, both have resources that can be helpful to therapists, educators, and families. We’re reprising those posts for anyone interested in following along and utilizing the resources developed by quite a few people in the AAC community. The initial series was based on a small set of core words for each month (see that post here). We followed that with a second set of Year of Core Vocabulary Word resources for a new list of words (click here for that post). Among the many resources are the activity calendars created by AAC SLP and co-founder of Talking AAC, Rachael Langley. There were many other contributors over the years who added to these efforts. The School Year of Core Vocabulary Words, authored by... [Read More...]
If you’re in a role that requires you to provide support to a team and strengthen their AAC practices, today’s post may have something of value. Take a look. Tech Tools for Supporting AAC Team Collaboration AAC Team Leadership Supporting Young AAC Teams: 5 Considerations for Facilitating Growth Teaming with Related Services to Support AAC Users Strategies for Supporting Team Buy-in and Implementation PrAACtical Research: Meta-synthesis of AAC Team Members’ Voices On AAC Training: Skill Building for AAC Team Members Helping the General Education Team Support Students Who Use AAC How I Do It with Rachael Langley: PODD in the Classroom – Quick Tips for Teams On the Same Page: Helping Team Members Recognize and Respond to Unconventional Communication Signals AAC in Secondary School: Collaborative Teaming for High School Students Who Use AAC AAC Teamwork: Encouraging Colleagues #1 (downloadable) AAC Teamwork: Encouraging Colleagues #2 (downloadable) AAC Teamwork: Encouraging Colleagues #3 (downloadable)... [Read More...]