Hopes and aspirations. Intentions and plans. Acceptance and celebration. Enjoy this next leg of your journey, AAC friends. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Be like a tree. Stay grounded. Connect with your roots. Turn over a new leaf. Bend before you break. Enjoy your unique natural beauty. Keep growing. (J. Raptis)
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Happy New Year, AAC friends. If your day calls for some AAC content, we have a few suggestions for you. Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Top AAC Videos of the Year: 2023 Thursday – School Year of Core Vocabulary Words – Older Student Lessons: Resources for January ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Interested in a few more articles to browse? Here’s a selection to choose from. Got Holiday Cards? 5 PrAACtical Suggestions AACtual Therapy with Deanna Wagner: Why Cook When You Can’t Eat? Communication Access Cards Holiday Talk: AAC Conversations Using Partner-focused Questions Holiday Photos in AAC Learning: 3 Ideas for Using Them to Build Language Best wishes for a safe, healthy, and happy start to 2024!
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Welcome to the first post in the School Year of Core Vocabulary Words – Older Student Lessons Series! In this post, guest authors Michaela Sullivan and Lindsay Dougherty focus on a selected set of words to highlight for the month. In addition to their wonderful slide decks with activity ideas, they also share helpful implementation tips for using descriptive teaching/talking. Finally, don’t miss the data collection forms specific to Level 1 and Level 2 words. SCHOOL YEAR OF CORE- Older Student Lessons INTRODUCTION- January 2024 Happy New Year! Welcome back to a new School Year of Core Series, School Year of Core – Older Student Lessons (SYOC-OSLs), which was created for individuals in middle school through adulthood. We hope that this new year brings joy, peace, and fulfillment to you and your learners. Thank you for continuing to pursue new ways to support your students and adult learners to communicate... [Read More...]
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Happy Sunday, AAC friends, and good Christmas Eve to those who celebrate this holiday. If you have some time, here are a handful of posts that may be of interest. Monday – School Year of Core Vocabulary Words: Introducing “Lessons for Older Students” Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: About School Year of Core Vocabulary Words Older Student Lessons by Michaela Sullivan & Lindsay Dougherty Thursday – January Year of Core Vocabulary & School Year of Core Vocabulary Words Friday – An AAC Christmas Tale ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: If you have some extra time, stick around and check out these posts from the archives. AAC Devices & Apps Without an Evaluation: A Few Questions to Ask Teaching Prelinguistic Communication to Beginning Communicators 5 Resources for Your AAC Toolkit Text-based AAC Beginning Communicators: Learning Through Touch Cues
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With Christmas Eve just around the corner, we thought we’d celebrate the season with an AAC take on this treasured tale. ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas A Visit from St. Nicholas ‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the town Not a creature was stirring, they were all safe and sound. The stockings were hung by their chimneys with care, In hopes that AAC Elves would soon visit there. The teachers were nestled all snug in their beds, With visions of lesson plans banished from their heads. The therapists with data sheets and the strategies they love best, Had just settled in for a good winter-break rest. When outside the schoolyard, there arose such a clatter I rushed toward the window to see what was the matter. Stepping on Legos (does that pain ever fade?) I ran to the window and lifted the shade. With her silvery face, the... [Read More...]
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Looking for resources to support 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, remain popular with 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. Many other contributors added to these efforts over the years. The School Year of Core Vocabulary Words, authored by guest contributors Michaela Sullivan, Alisa Lego,... [Read More...]
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For over a year, we’ve had an interest in a version of the School Year of Core Vocabulary Words suited for students in middle school, high school, and beyond. Michaela Sullivan and her colleagues have been hard at work at that, and we’re excited to share the addition of those monthly posts starting in just a few weeks. Look for target words for two levels of communicators, symbol grids, activities for teaching and practicing those words, data collection forms, and helpful information on implementation strategies each month. Today, Michaela and Lindsay Dougherty introduce you to their newest version of these wonderful resources. School Year of Core Vocabulary Words: Introducing “Lessons for Older Students” by Michaela Sullivan and Lindsay Dougherty Welcome back to a new School Year of Core Series – SYOC-Older Student Lessons by Michaela Sullivan, M.A. CCC-SLP and Lindsay Dougherty, M.S. CCC-SLP To the parents, teachers, Speech-Language Pathologists, Para... [Read More...]
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Happy Sunday, AAC friends. We have some posts you might enjoy. Monday – Cultural-Linguistic AAC: Bilingual Literacy & AAC Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Collaborating on AAC-friendly Healthcare Information Thursday – Throwback Thursday: AAC & Peer Relationships ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: If you can squeeze in a few more, take a look at some of these posts from the archives. PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: Hello, Holidays! How We Do It: Using AAC to Repair Communication Breakdowns Data Collection for the Beginning AAC User: Essential Things to Measure AAC & ASD: Beyond Scripting More Words, Please! Expanding Our Manual Communication Boards Activity Schedule AACtion Wishing all of you the magic of the season!
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Looking for ways to support relationships between AAC users and their peers? These past posts may give you some ideas. Promoting Friendships Between Users of AAC & Their Peers AAC in General Education: Incorporating Peer Modeling AAC Goes to High School: The Power of Peers Beyond Requesting: Let’s Chat with PeersThe PrAACtical Power of Peers Building Friendship Skills with Peer-A-Mids PrAACtical Resources: Teaching Peers About AAC Teaching Peers to Interact with Young Children Who Use AAC
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Our yearlong series on multilingual AAC support, guest-authored by BilingüeAAC, is drawing to a close. In today’s post, Melissa Tapia and Sarah Lee address AAC, bilingualism, and literacy. BilingüeAAC is a group of SLPs with a shared belief in providing evidence-based intervention strategies and resources to bilingual Spanish AAC clients, families, caregivers, and professionals. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Bilingual Literacy & AAC Welcome back to our Bilingue AAC Series! You can find our previous posts linked here, which wonderfully highlight best practices in bilingualism and AAC. (Post 1, Post 2, Post 3, Post 4, Post 5). We are excited to dive into our topic of bilingualism, literacy, and AAC and how we can effectively provide literacy intervention in culturally affirming ways with our Bilingual* AAC users. *Clarification: We address “bilingual populations”; however, the resources discussed are specifically for Spanish/English speaking populations. Several of the suggestions can be broadly applied to other languages. The goal... [Read More...]
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