July 8, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. Here are some posts you may have missed. Monday – PrAACtical Resources: Core Vocabulary Flipbook for July Words Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Independence Day, AAC style! Thursday – 5 Visual Supports for Emotions and Feelings ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Looking for a couple of additional posts to explore? Check out these selections fromt the archives. PrAACtical Suggestions: How to Get Started with a New AAC Client Visual Schedules 411 How to Use Magnets to Promote Language Development Visual Supports for Places We Go (downloadable template) From Disney Princesses to Houseplants: More on Building Communication Opportunities
Filed under: Featured Posts
Tagged With: language therapy, summary post, visual schedules
July 5, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
“I wish he could tell me what he is feeling.” Families and professionals often share the desire to help AAC learners become more proficient at expressing their emotions. Goals for identifying and/or labeling emotions are common in beginning AAC users, but even communicators with more advanced language skills can benefit from expanding their vocabulary of terms related to feelings. In this post, we share visual supports that can be helpful in increasing the emotional vocabularies of individuals with AAC needs. Click on the title to get downloadable copies of each visual support. Inside Out Chart Emotion Wheel Plutchik Wheel Emotions Wheel Worksheet from Childhood 101 Primary and Secondary Emotion Wheel
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: emotions, feelings, visual supports
July 3, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Tuesday, AAC friends! Once a week, we invite you to share your own AAC-related content so that others may learn from you and benefit from your efforts. Schedules are often a little more relaxed in the summer, so share away! 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 camp 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. The AAC Link Up is moderated to keep us from being spammed, so it may take a little while for your link to show up. Note: If you... [Read More...]
Filed under: AAC Link Up, Featured Posts
July 2, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
Following along with our Year of Core Words or another approach to building core vocabulary? Our latest flipbook has suggestions for sentences you can model throughout the day. This set corresponds to our Year of Core Vocabulary July words but can be used with any AAC system that contains these words. You can print them in black and white or colored paper for a bit of fun. Click here for the link to download this file.
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: A Year of Core Words, download
July 1, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
Is it really time to turn to another page on the calendar? Time is flying by! Here are some AAC posts you may have missed in your busy week. Monday – PrAACtically July: AAC Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Putting Aided Language Into Practice Thursday – Using Vest Displays with Preschoolers on the Autism Spectrum ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Looking for some more AAC for your day? Here are some things that may be of interest. New Word Teaching: A Peek Inside Some PrAACtical Therapy Sessions PrAACtical Questions: “What Should I Program on the AAC Device?” Vocabulary Instruction: When Definitions Don’t Work 5 Ways to Use PowerPoint in AAC Intervention Thoughts on Teaching Core Vocabulary (downloadable template) :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Filed under: Featured Posts
Tagged With: intervention, language therapy, summary post
June 28, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
We’re so pleased to welcome back Dr. Carol Goossens’, an AAC pioneer who is an internationally-recognized consultant, SLP, and Special Educator from New York. Throughout her career, she has consulted extensively in a variety of classrooms serving the full spectrum of children with special needs. Dr. Goossens’ has presented both nationally and internationally about her collaborative work with teachers, therapists, and families. In today’s post, she shares a treasure trove of ideas on using wearable AAC. Learn more about her approach to using vest displays in this extensive post. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Using Vest Displays with Preschoolers on the Autism Spectrum When working with students on the spectrum, we often struggle to gain and maintain their attention, especially during group activities such as Circle Time/Morning Meeting. The songs offered during Circle Time, however, create a great forum for working on a variety of communication skills, e.g., claiming a turn, announcing a song, choosing... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Carol Goossens', communication displays, no tech, preschool, visual supports
June 25, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
Know anyone who has access to AAC tools but doesn’t yet use them throughout the day? Keiran has a new AAC app that is well-populated with core vocabulary. Gabbie has had an SGD for awhile but doesn’t use it as frequently as her team had hoped. Hudson is transitioning from PECS to an AAC device with more robust language. While different in many ways, each of these learners has a common need: frequent opportunities to learn about and use core vocabulary. To accomplish this, their SLPs, teachers, and families select a dozen or so core words and pay special attention to those each month. That allows them to highlight this small group of words using focused language stimulation, aided language input, and specific activities designed to teach or practice them. In previous years, we shared lists of some core words to help you do just that. Set 1 (A... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Another Year of Core Words, Year of Core Words
June 24, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
Hello, AAC friends! Hope your week went well. Here’s what we’ve been up to… Monday – 5 Ways to Use Books to Build Interaction with AAC Learners Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Be More with Core Thursday – PrAACtical Resources: Eye Gaze Set-up and Software :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Still hungry for a little more AAC? Here are a few tasty morsels to explore. When Students are Reluctant Communicators: 5 Things to Try Build Friendship Skills with Peer-A-Mids A Recipe for Friendship On Friendship: Supporting AAC Learners AAC Goes to Summer Camp ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Filed under: Featured Posts
Tagged With: Friends, summary post
June 21, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
Working with people are beginning to use eye gaze for communication? If so, you may be interested in these helpful guides from CALL Scotland. Enjoy! Eye Gaze Software Eye Gaze Set-up
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: CALL Scotland, eye gaze
June 18, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
Looking for more ways to build AAC skills? Book reading can be incorporated into therapy sessions and instructional lessons, as well as part of the daily routine at home. Here are some ideas for using books to support AAC and language learning. Choosing a book: In most cases, we want the AAC learner to have the autonomy to choose a book. However, we can make this part of the AAC learning process by teaching the skill of choosing something to read and talking about it before the learner makes his/her choice. Goal Areas: We can use this time to build basic turn-taking skills, requesting, sentence-building, and new vocabulary, among other things. It’s also a great opportunity to develop more advanced syntax using words like ‘since’ and ‘because’ (e.g., “I want to read about sport because it is World Cup time.”) and various sentence structures (e.g., “First, let’s read a sports... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Books, reading