February 26, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
Do the AAC users in your life use only a fraction of the core words in their SGD, AAC app, or communication board? One way to help them move forward is to make a concerted effort to use, highlight, and provide additional teaching on a variety of words. It’s hard to do this without getting overwhelmed, so find a strategy that works for you. A few years ago, we decided to approach this by focusing on 12-16 core words each month. (If this is too much for the teams with whom you work, that’s not a problem. Just cut it back to 4-6 words/month.) Each month, we can highlight those words in our conversation (aided language input), direct intervention, and home programming activities with AAC learners. The repeated experiences with those 12-16 (or 4-6) words helps our AAC learners develop new skills, and keeps the team focused on the same destination. It’s... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
February 25, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
It’s a beautiful Sunday morning in our part of the world – just perfect for catching up on some posts from the week. Here’s what we’ve been up to: Monday – PrAACtical Resources: Scholarly Articles on Aided AAC Wednesday – Video of the Week: Creating AAC Implementation Plans Thursday – Dealing with Feelings: 5 Ways to Encourage Emotion-related Expression by AAC Learners Some of our AAC friends are beginning to prepare for upcoming IEPs so our thoughts have been turning to the classroom, curriculum, and academics. Here are some of the posts we’ve been revisiting. Take a look. Integrating AAC Instruction with Curriculum Standards Research Tuesday: Literacy Instruction for Students with Significant Disabilities Educating Students with Complex Support Needs in a Standards-Aligned System PrAACtical Partnerships: AAC and Academics Helping the General Education Team Support Students Who Use AAC
Filed under: Featured Posts
Tagged With: summary post
February 22, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
Words for emotions and feelings are pretty common in AAC devices and non-electronic communication aids, like PODD books and eye gaze boards. It’s wonderful when our clients can tell us they are sad or angry with words rather than using challenging behaviors or suffering in silence. What can we do to further their skills in this area? Here are some suggestions to get us thinking. Beyond the Basics: Consider going beyond the basic feeling words (i.e., happy, sad, mad, tired, scared) and including additional emotion words in the AAC system (e.g., frustrated, embarrassed, disappointed, lonely, worried). Don’t assume that this is inappropriate just because an individual has lower language levels or cognitive delays. To learn language, we have to have access to it. Model, model, model: Use these emotion words throughout the day to express your own feelings, and narrate your observations of how others are feeling (e.g., “Joey’s crying... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: emotions, feelings, visual supports
February 19, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
Today we are excited to share a wonderful collection of articles that help to expand the theoretical underpinnings and empirical knowledge base in AAC. The Augmentative and Alternative Communication journal is providing free access to six articles that are part of an ongoing international collaboration of researchers and clinicians in 16 nations. You can access articles from this project, entitled “Becoming an Aided Communicator: Aided Language Skills in Children aged 5–15 years: A Multi-site and Cross-cultural Investigation,” below. Kudos to the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC) and the journal co-editors (Drs. Martine Smith and Bronwyn Hemsley) and Dr. von Tetzchner for making this special issue so widely available. We hope you enjoy reading Aided Language Processes, Development, and Use: An International Perspective.
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: aided communication, language development, research, theory
February 18, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
It was a week that started out like any other, but ended in heartache and tragedy for our South Florida community. Thanks to all who reached out with words of kindness and support. Monday – PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: Yo! Yes? Wednesday – Video of the Week: Using Apps to Engage Young AAC Learners From the Archives: No Words – “We’re Hurting, Too” ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Reading is a welcome distraction from pain and sorrow. If you have an appetite for a little more AAC, check out these past posts on assessment. Parent’s Guide to AAC Assessment AAC Assessment by Pat Ourand PrAACtical Resources: AAC Assessment Modules AAC Assessment Corner with Vicki Clarke: Standardized Tests For AAC Users AAC Assessment Forms ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Filed under: Featured Posts
Tagged With: assessment, summary post
February 12, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
Karen Natoci’s first book of the year is packed with fun and AAC potential. Karen is currently an AAC Supervisor with The Speech Pathology Group in Walnut Creek, California. Over the years, Karen has supported AAC learners in several capacities. You can see previous posts that Karen contributed here. Today, she talks about ways to build language and communication in this flexible book. Enjoy! ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Book: Yo! Yes? By Chris Raschka (Orchard Books, Scholastic, Inc. New York) It’s February, the beginning of the second half of the school year. Let’s make a new friend! This beautiful book was first shared during the Literacy Intensive Course with coached by the wonderful Karen Erickson and David Koppenhaver in Michigan. It is a book with few words but with much emotion. Here are some ways to use this book in your classroom. You can read this as is by using core words exclusively It offers... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Karen Natoci, reading
February 11, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. It’s prAACtically Valentine’s Day and a perfect time to show some AAC love where you work, live, or play. While you’re at it, check out our posts from this week. Monday – PrAACtically Valentine’s Day: 5 Activity Ideas for AAC Learning Wednesday – Video of the Week: Supporting Leadership Development in People Who Use AAC Thursday – Resources to Review from the #ATIA2018 Conference Ready for more to explore? Here are a few past posts for you to peruse. PrAACtically Valentine’s Day: Core Vocabulary Activities 14 Valentine’s Day Activities: Love, Literacy, & Learning 4 Things to Consider When Embracing a “New Normal” Using Structure to Support Participation Core Vocabulary: Making Sense of Symbols
Filed under: Featured Posts
Tagged With: summary post
February 8, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
Last week’s ATIA Conference in Orlando was packed with AAC energy, excitement about tools, and enthusiasm for learning ways in which professionals are supporting AAC learners at home, in school, and in the community. We’ll be sharing takeaways from that event over the next few weeks. Here are a couple of resources and handouts on access, professional development, and accessibility to get you started. The Access Learning Process (ALP) for AAC introduced a wonderful framework for supporting AAC learners who use alternative access. Power Up Your Professional Development with AT Focused Social Media Creating Inclusive Classrooms with Microsoft Accessibility Did you attend a session or learn about an AAC resource that needs to be shared? We’d love to hear about it.
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: accessibility, alternative access, ATIA
February 5, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
The novelty of a holiday creates the opportunity for fun and motivating activities that we can use to teach and practice language, literacy, and AAC skills. If you’re looking for a few more Valentine’s Day activities, we have some ideas for you to explore. Core Words to Target Pronouns: I, you, it, we Action verbs: do, go, give, get, help, know, like, open, read, see, take, want Phrasal verbs: put in/on, take out Locatives: here, there Modifiers: bad, big, fun, good, little, more, some Social words: hi, thank you Determiners: this, these Interrogatives: how, what, who, where Activity-specific Words to Target Colors, shapes People: boy, girl, child, teacher Verbs: paint, squeeze, write Descriptors: nice, smelly, squishy, sticky Nouns: marker, orange (fruit), paint Activity Suggestions Do some Heart Stamping Get gooey while making and playing with Valentine Slime Read a book about kindness like The Nice Book, The Invisible Boy, or Somebody... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AAC activities, Valentine's Day
January 29, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
As prepare to bid January a fond farewell, we’re looking ahead to ways we can highlight more of the core vocabulary words in our clients’ AAC devices and communication aids. One approach to boosting practice opportunities is to select a dozen or so core words to focus on each month. Throughout the month, we can then pay special attention to that small group of words by highlighting them with focused language stimulation, aided language input, and specific activities designed to teach or practice those words. In previous years, we shared lists of some core words to help you do just that and every month we share some ideas for prioritizing a small set of words. You can use these materials to remind yourself which words to highlight this month, with using aided language input and focused language stimulation. What else? Here are some ideas to get you started. Print them and... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: core vocabulary, downloads, resources