May 15, 2023
by Carole Zangari -
We’re so pleased to welcome back PrAACtical AAC friend Vicki Clarke to these pages for another article in the AAC Implementation Framework series. Vicki heads up an AAC-focused private practice, Dynamic Therapy Associates, and is also the Director of DTA Schools. Today’s post includes ‘next step’ information to guide others in implementing AAC along with some helpful AAC posters for you to download, and a video with implementation tips. If you are new to this series you can find the earlier posts through the links below. Steps to Learning Step 1, Determining the Target Step 2: TRAIN Step 3: Take In AAC 101: Steps To Learning Step 4: Try It! As we know, Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is an essential tool for individuals with speech and language disabilities to communicate effectively and engage in social interactions. Our 4th Step: Try It is about supporting our students as... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts
May 14, 2023
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends, and a very happy Mother’s Day to those who are celebrating today. If you are up for some AAC content, check out these posts. Monday – Mother’s Day, AAC Style Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: AAC Skills for Success in the Real World Thursday – Throwback Thursday: Materials for Teaching & Using AAC :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Have time for a little more reading? Maybe one of these suggestions will interest you. Let’s Go Outside! 5 PrAACtical Ideas Structured Play Groups Using Visual Scene Displays to Build Language and Literacy Aided Language Input During Play From Solitary Play to Interaction: 5 Things to Try With Kids Who Love Their iPad Games
Filed under: Featured Posts
May 11, 2023
by Carole Zangari -
In today’s edition of Throwback Thursday, we’ve rustled up some posts that address AAC materials in some fashion. Take a look. When Materials Aren’t Effective in AAC Teaching: 5 Things to Try Making AAC Core Vocabulary Materials Book Adaptations: Resources and Materials PrAACtical Resources: AAC-friendly Materials for Hurricane & Storm Preparation Five Places for Shared AAC Materials Goodbye, Summer! A Clinician Preps AAC Materials for the New School Year PrAACtical Resources: Activities and Materials to Download or Explore How I Do It: Using an App to Create AAC Materials & Visual Supports Back to School with AAC: Materials for the Start of the Academic Year AAC Fair Testing Practices: Test Materials
Filed under: Featured Posts
May 8, 2023
by Carole Zangari -
Here in the US, we’ll be celebrating Mother’s Day soon. If you’re looking for resources that you can incorporate into your AAC work, we have some ideas for you. These are great for highlighting core vocabulary, such as these: Pronouns: I, you, she, we, her, our Verbs: can, do, give, help, like, love, make, read, see, write Adjectives: good, nice, pretty, smart, strong Conjunctions: and, because, but, with Time Words: later, now, today, tomorrow Questions: what, who, where ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS Read about Mothers and Mother’s Day with some of these books. Mother’s Day Book for Early Communicators by AAC with Annie Mother’s Day book highlighting core words ‘like’ and ‘give’ from Speech by Carrie. You can also check out this one which focuses on the words ‘help’ and ‘make’ and offers practice with several pronouns. From Boardmaker From Tarheel Reader (SDJ) From Tarheel Reader (Nicolaus) Cards and letters... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts
May 7, 2023
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. We have a few posts for you. Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: A Focus on Self-advocacy Friday – PráctiCAAmente Conectados: CAA Con Links Mayo 2023 Have time for a little more? Here are a couple of suggestions. AAC Funding Help Building Your AAC SLP Toolkit: Obtaining Free Apps for AAC Evaluations Check Your Knowledge of AT History AACtual Therapy: Making Core Words Fun for Students with Autism AAC Goes to Summer Camp
Filed under: Featured Posts
May 5, 2023
by Carole Zangari -
Each month we feature a Spanish version of our AAC Link Up, CAA con Links. If you have AAC-related announcements, materials, or videos in Spanish that you would like others to know about, we’d love to have you add that information below. Also, please share this with anyone who might be interested in contributing to or using the materials that get added to these posts. You’ll find the place to add that information at the very bottom of this post. Organized by Claudia Marimón, these monthly posts also feature AAC work being done in Spanish-speaking countries and offer translations of material that can help families and service providers. Today, she focuses on the vital role played by communication partners. Enjoy the post, and remember to scroll to the bottom to add your link and see what others are sharing. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Comienza Mayo y queremos compartir con nuestra comunidad hispanohablante un... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts
May 2, 2023
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 a little... [Read More...]
Filed under: AAC Link Up, Featured Posts
April 27, 2023
by Carole Zangari -
We’re back with core vocabulary resources and focusing on a new set of words for May. 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. There were many other contributors over the years who added to these efforts. In 2020, a new series was... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts
April 25, 2023
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 a little... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts
April 24, 2023
by Carole Zangari -
One of the most exciting trends in higher education is a movement to support the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities on college campuses. In today’s post, we’re sharing a resource that is not specific to AAC but may be of interest to many readers. Think College is a program of the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. They are a national technical assistance, research, and evaluation center dedicated to developing, expanding, and improving higher education options for students with intellectual disabilities. Think College addresses four main areas: raising awareness, increasing post-secondary options, conducting research on best practices, and providing training. Here are some of the ways they can be helpful. You can search a database of more than 300 post-secondary programs. They have a helpful guide to selecting programs that might be a good fit for an individual student. There’s also a Self-Advocates Guide... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts