December 27, 2024
by Carole Zangari -
Looking for resources to support core vocabulary instruction? The Year of Core Vocabulary Words and The School Year of Core Vocabulary Words remain popular with therapists, educators, and families. We’re reprising those posts for anyone interested in following along and utilizing the resources developed by quite a few people in the AAC community. The initial series was 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). Among the many resources are the activity calendars created by AAC SLP and co-founder of Talking AAC, Rachael Langley. Many other contributors added to these efforts over the years. The School Year of Core Vocabulary Words, authored by guest contributors Michaela Sullivan, Alisa Lego, and Beth Lytle, was first published in 2020. Finally,... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts
December 26, 2024
by Carole Zangari -
Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, or some combination of holidays, these events offer rich opportunities for building language in people who use AAC. There’s a good chance that someone took photos which can be a terrific source of motivating materials. In this post, we’ll look at a few ideas for using those to strengthen language and communication skills. Collect them into a photo album: Use PowerPoint, Keynote, or an app to pull the photos together into a collection that can serve as a highly motivating context for language learning activities. With these albums we can: Page through them together to practice making comments (e.g., cold; I see tree, That is pretty), Co-create a narrative about the picture, Work on morphological goals such as pluralization and verb tenses, and, Build longer sentences (e.g., ‘hot chocolate’ becomes ‘drink hot chocolate’ or ‘make more hot chocolate’). Create a photo collage: Work with the... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts
December 22, 2024
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. If you have time for AAC reading before the holidays, here are some posts to check out. Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Using AAC to Support Late-Talking Toddlers ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: If you can squeeze in a few more, take a look at some of these posts from the archives. PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: Hello, Holidays! How We Do It: Using AAC to Repair Communication Breakdowns Data Collection for the Beginning AAC User: Essential Things to Measure AAC & ASD: Beyond Scripting More Words, Please! Expanding Our Manual Communication Boards Activity Schedule AACtion
Filed under: Featured Posts
December 8, 2024
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. We have some posts you might enjoy. Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Understanding the Impact of Ableism on People Who Use AAC Thursday – December Year of Core Vocabulary & School Year of Core Vocabulary Words Friday – PráctiCAAmente Conectados: Celebramos la Navidad Still have time for a little more AAC? Here are some of our suggestions. Personal Narrative Writing & AAC Helping Beginning Communicators Expand Their Sentence Length 5 Ways to Make Semantic Maps More Effective in AAC Therapy PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: The Family Book How I Do It: A Year of Core Words in Action Have a great week, everyone!
Filed under: Featured Posts
December 6, 2024
by Carole Zangari -
Is it really December already?! On the first Friday of each month, we publish a post in Spanish by guest author Claudia Marimón to highlight AAC work being done in Spanish-speaking countries and offer translations of material that can help families and service providers. In today’s post, Claudia shares some fun ways to connect in celebration of the Christmas holiday. Enjoy! ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Iniciamos el mes de Diciembre invitándolos a un evento especial de Navidad y CAA, donde la magia de las fiestas se mezcla con el espíritu de la inclusión y la comunicación. Te esperamos para compartir juntos un tiempo lleno de alegría, música, juegos y muchas sorpresas. Será una oportunidad para disfrutar de la compañía de amigos de diferentes países, expresando nuestros deseos y sentimientos de una manera accesible para todos. En esta actividad, nos unimos para celebrar la Navidad utilizando Comunicación Aumentativa y Alternativa para compartir nuestras experiencias... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts
December 1, 2024
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. It’s a beautiful day to connect around AAC topics. Monday – School Year of Core Vocabulary Words – Older Student Lessons: AAC Resources for December Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Celebrating AAC with Out of My Mind Thursday – A PrAACtical Thanksgiving :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Looking for a few other AAC articles to read? We’ve got plenty for you to choose from. Video of the Week: AAC for Paraprofessionals PrAACtical Guessing: 5 Apps for Interactive Inferencing Supporting Children in the Pediatric ICU 5+ Things to Do to Help AAC Learners Communicate About Illness or Injury “What’s Wrong?” AAC Messages for Negative Emotions and Feelings
Filed under: Featured Posts
November 28, 2024
by Carole Zangari -
Here in the US, we’re celebrating a day of gratitude with friends and family. To honor the occasion, we’re reprising two posts you might enjoy. Although Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated everywhere, we share the opportunity to feel grateful. Wishing each of you a day of peace and thanksgiving. PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: I Eat Thanksgiving Dinner Video: ‘Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving
Filed under: Featured Posts
November 26, 2024
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... [Read More...]
Filed under: AAC Link Up, Featured Posts
November 25, 2024
by Carole Zangari -
Before we turn our attention to the Thanksgiving holiday, let’s take a look at the wonderful resources that guest authors Michaela Sullivan and Lindsay Dougherty put together for the December core words. This dynamic team continues to share some terrific ideas for your older students who are building their skills with core vocabulary. Their slide decks have a wonderful selection of activities that teachers and therapists can use to highlight December’s target core vocabulary words. In the post below, they also share helpful information on customizing and personalizing the student’s AAC device. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: SCHOOL YEAR OF CORE – Older Student Lessons Access & Copy below: Weeks 1-2 Google Slides Weeks 3-4 Google Slides INTRODUCTION- December, 2024 We hope the School Year of Core (SYOC-OSL) resource has supported you and your students in learning and using core vocabulary through thematic activities, icebreakers, and daily life. This colorful, joyful, and magical time... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts
November 24, 2024
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends, and a good Thanksgiving to those who celebrate that holiday this week. In the meantime, we’ve got some posts you may want to look through. Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Getting Ready for December School Year of Core Vocabulary Words Older Student Lessons Thursday – PrAACtically Thanksgiving: AAC-friendly Resources for Turkey Day Fun ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Looking for a few more places to browse? Here are some selected posts on making and using visual supports. Free Resources for Making AAC and Visual Supports How I Do It – Using an App to Make AAC Materials and Visual Supports AAC Teaching Tips on Scaffolding and Visual Supports Designing and Using Visual Supports for Older Students 5 Visual Supports for the AAC Classroom Wishing a meaningful week to all of our readers!
Filed under: Featured Posts