February 24, 2022
by Carole Zangari -
Planning for comprehensive core vocabulary instruction? The Year of Core Vocabulary Words and The School Year of Core Vocabulary Words, two series of monthly resources for core vocabulary teaching, both have resources that can be helpful to 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. There were many other contributors over the years who added to these efforts. The School Year of Core Vocabulary Words, authored by... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
February 22, 2022
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
February 21, 2022
by Carole Zangari -
It makes a regular appearance at Circle Time and Morning Meetings. It’s part of our casual conversation on a daily basis. We learn about it in Science classes and it often plays a role in the books we read. Everyone talks about the weather. How can we take advantage of this ubiquitous topic to strengthen AAC learning? Here are a few ideas of language concepts to address. Core Vocabulary: Weather-related discussions offer many opportunities to model and elicit core words, both by themselves and in the context of longer sentences. Single words: Feel, it, like, look, see, that, what Multi-word combinations: I can see rain/snow/sun. Look at that. What is it like outside? Can you feel it? I don’t like when it is ___. More Advanced Vocabulary: Many AAC users have vocabularies that are smaller than we would expect, even when no cognitive issues are present. Talking about the weather... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
February 20, 2022
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. Here are some posts that you might enjoy. Monday – AAC Love: 5 Moments to Savor Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: AAC Tips & Tricks That Aren’t Tricky Thursday – Throwback Thursday: Visual Supports & AAC ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Before you head off, take a look at some of these posts from the archives. Alphabet Books & AAC Implementation 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, PrAACtical Thinking
February 17, 2022
by Carole Zangari -
Visual supports are so flexible, easy to create and use, and have such a nice evidence base that it’s something we use in almost every AAC therapy or instructional session. In today’s Throwback Thursday, we’re revisiting five of our past posts on what they are, how to create them, and how they can be implemented. Enjoy! PrAACtically Visual: More Supports for Your Toolbox Visuals, Timers, & Zoom Addressing the Social, Communication, and Behavioral Needs of Secondary Students with ASD using Visual Supports AAC Teaching Tips on Scaffolding and Visual Supports 5 Visual Supports for Emotions and Feelings
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
February 15, 2022
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
February 14, 2022
by Carole Zangari -
On Valentine’s Day, our thoughts turn to love. Whether you’ve been doing this work for 3 months, 3 years, or 3 decades, there are some special moments in supporting people who use AAC that never lose their shine. Here are some of our favorites. Finding out that your client, student, or loved one is approved to get their first AAC device Overhearing someone you’ve trained tell another team member something positive about AAC Learning that your client or student who uses AAC advocated for themselves or got into ‘good trouble’ Being invited into a situation where the AAC user, family, school team, and private therapy providers are all pointed in the same direction Sharing happy tears with a family whose child just used their AAC system to say ‘I love you’ for the first time Joy, relief, a sense of accomplishment, gratitude, pride, excitement, self-efficacy…Today is a great day to... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
February 13, 2022
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends! Here are some posts that you may have missed in your busy week. Monday – Some Thoughts on Using the Terms ‘Nonverbal’ and ‘Nonspeaking’ Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Considerations in Switch Assessment Thursday – Throwback Thursday: AAC-friendly Resources for Black History Month ———————————————————————————————- Before you leave, here are a few more past posts to check out. Visual Supports for Places Around School (downloadable) Visual Supports for Places We Go (downloadable) AAC Intervention for Children with ASD Teaching Communication Partners Through Video Self-modeling Bilingual AAC Assessment Tips
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
February 10, 2022
by Carole Zangari -
Here in the US, we’ve celebrated Black History Month each February for several decades. It’s a time for learning, reflection, and celebration. Today, we’re reprising a past post with resources that can be incorporated into your AAC teaching or therapy. Learn with BrainPop and BrainPop, Jr which offers videos, writing and drawing activities, graphic organizers, worksheets, jokes, and more. Brown vs Board of Education Civil Rights Fannie Lou Hamer Harriet Tubman Jackie Robinson Jim Crow Malcolm X Martin Luther King, Jr Mohammed Ali Reconstruction Rosa Parks Ruby Bridges Slavery Tuskegee Airmen From BrainPop Jr 2. Read “The Poet Diaries,” a guest post by inaugural National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman. View a video of her reading her poem, Rise Up as One, California. 3. Explore a virtual exhibition at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
February 8, 2022
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