April 15, 2025
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Tuesday, AAC friends! Once a week, we invite you to share your own AAC-related content, product news, or anything else that you’d like others in the AAC community to know about. It may be a recent post you’ve written, a slide deck from your AAC presentation, a handout, video, or meme that you’ve posted online, an AAC product you’ve created, an announcement for an AAC course or conference, or any other prAACtical content you developed and want to share with the AAC community. . To post your own link, scroll all the way down to the bottom of this post and complete the form. Enter the URL and the name/title in the boxes provided below. If you are on a mobile device, click over to the full website version to do this. . The AAC Link Up is moderated to keep us from being spammed, so it may take... [Read More...]
Filed under: AAC Link Up, Featured Posts
April 13, 2025
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. We have some posts you might enjoy. Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: AAC Tools Explained by Those Who Use Them Thursday – Resource Roundup: AAC-friendly Earth Day Materials Also, if autism is an area of interest, consider joining us at this free webinar by Dr. Petere Vermeulen on Autism & Happiness: From Neurodiversity to Neuroharmony (registration link here). :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Have time for a little more browsing? Check out these past posts. When Helping Isn’t Helping-Prompt Awareness in AAC Instruction Administratively Speaking: 5 Considerations for Recruiting and Retaining AAC SLPs AAC In the Classroom: Considerations for Modeling Core Vocabulary How I Do It: A Year of Core Word in Action AAC in the High School Classroom: Where Core Vocabulary Meets Life Skills
Filed under: Featured Posts
April 10, 2025
by Carole Zangari -
Since 1970, people in the US have marked April 22 as a day to honor our planet and demonstrate support for environmental protection. Here are some AAC-friendly ideas and materials to celebrate Earth Day. Learn about the importance of Earth Day with this book from Boardmaker. Getting to the Core of Earth Day Let’s Read Let’s Create Earth Day vocabulary sort from Leona Wilcox on LessonPix. Write an acrostic poem like this one by Donna O’Reilly. Make infused water for a planet-friendly drink using these resources from the AAC Language Lab. Play Earth Day BINGO with these LessonPix materials by Liz Sturgill. Let’s Go Outside! Do some easy Earth Day crafts with these links curated by Special Learning House. Nature Walk Scavenger Hunt by Lori Binko on Lesson Pix. Recycling Vocabulary Sort by Teaching Autism on Teachers Pay Teachers. Make some Earth Day waffles with this recipe from Shevi Greebel.... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts
April 6, 2025
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. Here are some posts you might enjoy. Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Addressing Complex Access Needs Friday – PráctiCAAmente Conectados: Conferencia de ISAAC Español ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: In recognition of Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month, here are some autism-related posts to get you in the mood to celebrate those around us who have autism. Building Engagement in Young Students with Autism AACtual Therapy: Making Core Words Fun for Students with Autism Evidence-based AAC Strategies for Students with Autism with Betsy Corporale Before you go, enjoy the ABC’s of Autism support…
Filed under: Featured Posts
April 4, 2025
by Carole Zangari -
On the first Friday of each month, we publish a post in Spanish by guest author Claudia Marimón to highlight AAC work being done in Spanish-speaking countries and offer translations of material that can help families and service providers. In this month’s post, Claudia tells us about an upcoming AAC conference hosted by ISAAC Español. With presenters from 5 Spanish-speaking countries, this conference is sure to offer a wealth of learning experiences. Please support this work if you can. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: El mes pasado hablamos de ISAAC y los invitamos a conocer sobre el Capítulo de ISAAC Español, que reúne a profesionales, usuarios y familias de los países de habla hispana. Este mes de abril queremos invitarlos a la Jornada de ISAAC Español, un evento diseñado para compartir conocimientos, experiencias y avances en el campo de la Comunicación Aumentativa y Alternativa (CAA). La comunidad hispanohablante de ISAAC Internacional se reúne en... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts
March 30, 2025
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. Here are some posts you might have missed. Monday – PrAACtical Considerations: Prestored Messages in AAC, Part 2 Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Supporting Part-time AAC Users Thursday – April Year of Core Vocabulary Resources :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Looking for some resources to use in your AAC work? Check out some of those listed below. AAC 101 Flipbook Communication Partner Data Collection Form AAC Skills: Caught or Taught? AAC Modeling Handout Repairing Communication Breakdowns
Filed under: Featured Posts
March 27, 2025
by Carole Zangari -
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...]
Filed under: Featured Posts
March 24, 2025
by Carole Zangari -
Last week, we discussed the important role that prestored messages can play in a robust AAC system. As an exclusive way to store messages in an AAC tool, they are overly limiting, but when used together with single words and spelling, they can make communicative exchanges more timely, efficient, and effective. Today, we dive into different categories of messages that AAC users and their service providers should consider when customizing speech-generating devices and AAC apps. For most individuals, emergency messages are a high priority and focus on the health, safety, and well-being of the individual. After identifying an initial set of time-sensitive situations for which emergency messages should be added, it can help to review these periodically and adjust them as needed. We hope the examples shared here provide a range of ideas, though the particular messages should, of course, be individualized based on the person’s needs. Medical Conditions “My... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts
March 23, 2025
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. We have some posts you may enjoy. Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Unspoken Voices and More Thursday – PrAACtical Considerations: Prestored Messages in AAC, Part 1 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Looking for some AAC materials? We pulled out a few from the AAC Toolbox just for you. Spelling Boards & FlipBook– Letter boards (alpha & QWERTY) used at Camp Alec; Created by Tina Moreno Communicare Language Board Templates – Communication board templates for the post “How We Do It: Using Language Boards to Support AAC Use” Colorful Connections – Templates for teaching modified Fitzgerald Key and Goossens’, Crain, & Elder color-coding schemas And here’s a post from the past that you might like. Readiness: 7 Days of AACtion
Filed under: Featured Posts
March 20, 2025
by Carole Zangari -
Prestored messages are an important tool in any AAC user’s communicative toolkit and, when included in thoughtful ways, can enhance conversations and build vital interaction skills. Today, we introduce a series of posts to explore their role. Prestored messages are utterances longer than a single word that have been programmed into an SGD, AAC app, or appear in a communication book or board. These can be stored as: Phrases (e.g., We are out of…; I want to wear my…; Can you help me with…?); Sentences (e.g., I am 7 years old; Please get my medicine out of my purse. It’s in the front pocket of my backpack; My address is 123 Daisy Lane); and Narratives (e.g., I communicate with this special iPad. I can understand everything you say. It will take me about a minute to respond. Please wait quietly when I am composing my message; We had so much... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts