August 6, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
How was your week, AAC friends? If meetings, classes, clients, paperwork, or other things kept you busy, you might want to check out some of these posts. Monday: 5 AAC Downloads To Use and Share Wednesday: Video of the Week: Supporting AAC Learners in the Classroom We’ve been doing a lot of learning, making, and doing around the topic of emergent literacy lately. If that topic is of interest, here are some posts that you may want to browse through. Supporting AAC Learners in Emergent Writing: 5 Helpful Resources Using an Alphabet Flipbook for Writing Building Communication Skills During Book Reading A PrAACtical Literacy Activity for Beginning Communicators As They Grow: Books for Beginning Readers of Any Age Happy reading!
Filed under: Featured Posts
Tagged With: summary post
July 31, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
Need a handout on AAC modeling? Want some AAC swag for your wall? Looking for a way to assess classroom communication opportunities? Today we revisit some tools from previous posts. Feel free to download and share. AAC: Model It! Handout by the AT Team at Orange County Public Schools Caught or Taught? Recognize someone who supports AAC Teach AAC Facebook Cover Image Classroom Observation Tool (COCOA)
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: download
July 30, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
Therapy sessions, interviews, classes, make-and-take, hands-on strategy practice, report-writing….It’s been an action-packed week around here, full of AAC and literacy learning. If you also had a busy week, you probably missed a few of these posts. Monday: PrAACtically August – AAC Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary Words Wednesday: When Helping Isn’t Helping-Prompt Awareness in AAC Instruction Thursday: Throwback Thursday – Support for Beginning AAC Communicators :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Looking for a few other posts to browse through? Here are some on AAC assessment that might be of interest. AAC Skills Assessment for Direct Selectors Observational Assessment of Beginning Communicators AAC Assessment for Children Who Speak AAC assessment modules AAC Assessment Forms See you next time!
Filed under: Featured Posts
July 27, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
Do you work with people who are just starting to get the hang of communicating with symbols and using SGDs? Today. we’re revisiting some posts that may have some helpful information on ways to support beginning users of AAC. Recommended Practices for Beginning Communicators Using Symbols with Beginning Communicators 5 Facebook Groups for Families of Beginning Communicators Helping Beginning Communicators Expand Their Sentences A PrAACtical Literacy Activity for Beginning Communicators
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: beginning communicator
July 24, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
The summer is flying by here in Florida and we’re starting to think about heading back to school. Teachers, therapists, and aides play a pivotal role in helping AAC learners develop skills with core vocabulary so that they have a body of words that can be used across activities, environments, and communication partners. There are lots of ‘right’ ways to support these students. Among them is an instructional approach in which a new set of core words is introduced every few weeks in order to build their experiences with AAC. Our Year of Core Words materials has two versions, one from 2013 (12 words/month) and one from 2014 (16 words/month; Different than the previous year’s core words). If you’ve been following along, or are just getting started, these resources may be of interest. Set 1 (2013) Words: any, bring, day, fall, give, hot, job, know, other, sick, sorry, together Set 2 (2014) Words: aide, animal, clothes,... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: A Year of Core Words, Another Year of Core Words, downloads
July 23, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
The hot and hazy days of summer are upon us but the AAC work continues. Here are some posts that may be of interest. Monday: 5 Ways to Make Semantic Maps More Effective in AAC Therapy Wednesday: Video of the Week: AAC Teaching Tips on Scaffolding and Visual Supports ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: If you’re looking for ways to build AAC and language skills during book reading, here are some suggestions from guest bloggers. Erin Sheldon on books for beginning readers of any age Karen Natoci’s series on classroom lessons based on various books Sara Barnhill and the AT Team at Children’s Hospital of Virginia on Pete the Cat Rocking My New School Shoes, Bear Wants More, Bark George, and Sometimes I Feel Sunny. Happy reading!
Filed under: Featured Posts
July 17, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
Graphic organizers, such as semantic maps, are a well-established means of teaching word meanings. Both SLPs and educators frequently use this research-supported strategy to build word knowledge when working with AAC learners. Like any instructional tool or strategy, though, the learning gains our students make are tied to how we implement this kind of graphic organizer in our teaching and therapy. Here are some thoughts in maximizing the effectiveness of this powerful tool. Don’t expect graphic organizers to be the primary way that students learn their new vocabulary words. These tools are most effective when supplemented with other intervention strategies, like focused language stimulation. Make it interactive. While some professionals use graphic organizers as a worksheet that is completed in school or assigned as homework, that probably isn’t the best approach for AAC learners. Instead, plan to complete the graphic organizers WITH your student, so that you can guide the... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Graphic Organizers, semantic instruction
July 16, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
Hope your weekend is going well. Here are some posts from our prAACtical week. Monday: 3 Presentation Handouts on Core Vocabulary Implementation Wednesday: Video of the Week: Parent Collaboration in AAC Therapies Thursday: Core Vocabulary, AAC Resources and Beyond Looking for activities for adolescents, teens, and adults? The AT Team at ChoR has some great ideas for us! Scrapbooking and computer Nailpolish and magazines Cooking (with picture recipes) You can see all their AT Recipes for Success here. Have a great week!
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Tagged With: summary post
July 13, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
Things move more slowly in the summer and that makes it a good time to play catch-up. Here are some posts that may be worth a second look. Getting ready for a core vocabulary journey Make It Monday: Manual communication boards with core vocabulary Make It Monday: More words, please! Expanding our manual communication boards Super Size It: 5 ideas for making large communication boards Beyond requesting: A week of routines to increase AAC use at mealtimes 5 ways to build understanding Free resources for making AAC and visual supports 5 places for shared AAC materials What else are you catching up on these days? —
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: download, resources
July 10, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
Looking for ways to up your game in implementing core vocabulary? Here are some presentation handouts that may give you some additional ideas. Jennifer Ro and Amy Thomsen on core in the classroom Megan Brazas on the Core Vocabulary Exchange System Gail Van Tatenhove on core in the classroom Were there AAC-related presentations or resources that inspired you recently? We’d love to hear about them!
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: core vocabulary, good implementation, handouts