Hope you had a sweet week of AAC love! Here are some posts you may have missed. Monday: PrAACtical Resources: Downloadable AAC Posters Tuesday: Happy Valentine’s Day! Wednesday: Video of the Week: Using Structure to Support Participation Thursday: Data Collection for the Beginning AAC User: Essential Things to Measure to Expedite Progress
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It’s exciting to see more and more teams on the road to implementing AAC in therapy and in the classroom. Often, though, our initial expectations for student progress don’t pan out. Consider these examples. Aleksander’s SGD has robust vocabulary that is customized specifically for him. He uses it consistently at snack and lunch time, but rarely uses it in other activities. Ariel uses her AAC app to ask for things, make comments, and answer questions but rarely goes beyond the single word level to express herself. Jayson had a PECS book for over a year and learned to request his favorite foods but not much else. His team switched Jayson over to a more robust AAC system, and while he learned to communicate for other reasons, he still doesn’t use his communication book very frequently unless he’s prompted to do so. Do these situations seem vaguely familiar? Helping AAC learners become... [Read More...]
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Tagged With: beginning communicator, data collection
Show some AAC love this week! Photo credit: Roman Drits
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Tagged With: holiday
Looking for some additional AAC-related resources? CALL Scotland has some wonderful resources that can be displayed as posters, and/or used as handouts for meetings/trainings (click here). Here’s a sampling of what you’ll find. And don’t miss this interactive flyer that takes you to PowerPoint books. ‘Thanks to the wonderful team at CALL Scotland for making and sharing these terrific resources.
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Tagged With: AAC apps, Android, download, eye gaze, resources
Happy Valentine’s Day, prAACtical friends! Hope there’s a lot of AAC love in your week. Monday: Make it PrAACtical: Switch Mounts Wednesday: Video of the Week: Designing & Using Visual Supports for Older Students Thursday: PrAACtically Valentine’s Day: Core Vocabulary Activities
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Looking for ways to build fluency with core vocabulary as you prepare for Valentine’s Day festivities? Here are a few suggestions. Making Cards: Get your crafting on and make some cards, like these from Christine Dunbar. Core word practice: pronouns (I, you, it, they); verbs (do, make, get, help, like); descriptors (pink, little, some), prepositions (on), determiners (this, that, these, those); interrogatives (what, where) Deliver the Cards: Have some fun being a mail carrier, delivering Valentine cards, and interacting with all the recipients. We love this mini schedule by the Considerate Classroom. Core word practice: pronouns (I, you, it, we); action verbs (go, give, get, see, take); locatives (here, there); social words (hi, thank you); determiners (this, these); interrogatives (who, where) Play Valentine Bingo: Thanks, Katie Millican and Jessica Maldonado! Core word practice: pronouns (me, my, he, she); verbs (can, have, need, get, want, play); descriptors (big, round, red); interrogatives (where,... [Read More...]
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Tagged With: holiday
If you haven’t been following the AT Makers movement, you might want to check out the wonderful projects and activities of this group. In this post, founder Bill Binko shows us how to use 3-D printing to adapt camera mounts for switches to make an affordable solution for those with access difficulties. Wait, what? You don’t have a 3-D printer? We love Bill’s suggestion of collaborating with robotics clubs and STEM groups at local high schools, scouting organizations, or community agencies who have the skills and equipment to make this happen. They are usually quite receptive to projects that help others. The design for this adaptation is shared freely with a Creative Commons/Attribution/Share license, making it a great project for students, church groups, scouts, and others. If you give this a try, be sure to go to their Facebook page to share your project. Tag us so we can see what... [Read More...]
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Tagged With: access, assistive technology, DIY, makers, mounting, switch
Happy February, all! Anyone interested in some online AAC conversation? I’m looking forward to connecting with AAC stakeholders from around the world this Thursday on Twitter, as I host the #USSAACchat (Feb 9, 7:00 pm ET). Our topic is ‘Beyond Awareness: Building a Culture of AAC Support.’ All are welcome! If you are new to Twitter or Twitter Chats or just don’t ‘get’ how it can support professional growth, you can learn more about that here. Even if you are an infrequent Twitter user, or if you are more of a lurker than a participant, we welcome you to join us. Lots of AAC in your busy week? Here are some posts you may have missed. Monday: PrAACtically February: Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary Words Wednesday: Video of the Week: Mobilizing the Power Of Special Interests Thursday: Privacy and AAC: A Few Reflections
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Helping people become effective communicators through AAC involves having intimate knowledge about them, their experiences, what they like and do, where they go, and how they feel, among other things. In short, we’re privy to information from and about our clients that can be sensitive. There are several privacy implications for our work with AAC learners, some of which is governed by laws and regulations. In this post, we explore some of those issues. Vocabulary and Message Selection Until our clients are fully literate or competent with a linguistically robust AAC system, they depend on others to select the words, phrases, sentences, and questions that populate their communication devices/aids. This means that we have to obtain intimate knowledge of their lives in order to know what they might want to say and find ways to provide access to those words. We sometimes end up knowing things about our clients and their... [Read More...]
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As we tick off the final days of the month, 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... [Read More...]
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Tagged With: A Year of Core Words, Another Year of Core Words, prAACtically