October 25, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. We’ve rounded up some posts that may be of interest. Monday – How I Do It: Supporting Spanish-speaking AAC Learners Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: AAC Explainer for Descriptive Teaching Thursday – How I Do It: Functional Ideas for AAC Use at Home :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Looking for a few more posts to browse? Take a look. PrAACtically Halloween! Considerations for an AAC-Friendly Holiday Halloween Recipes for Cooking AAC Style 5+ Fun AAC Things to Do to Get Ready for Halloween The Communication Book is Ready! Now, What? AACtual Therapy: Teaching the Use of Social Phrases and Comments
Filed under: Featured Posts
October 22, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
Speech-language pathologists who serve individuals with complex communication generally have less time than they’d like to support families in implementing AAC at home. In today’s post, guest author Jesse Kleinman shares her ideas for using functional activities to support AAC learning. As an SLP in Brooklyn New York, she provides in-person and remote therapy to students with AAC needs. Enjoy! ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: How I Do It: Functional Ideas for AAC Use at Home During this time, we have all been spending a lot of time at home to stay safe. It has been a trying time in these past couple of months, but as therapists, we are always adapting. As a speech-language pathologist, I was thrown into the world of teletherapy for about 6 months, and I’m now doing a hybrid approach where I see some of my students in person and others remotely. I’ve been seeing a majority of my... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: communication opportunities, downloads, Families caregivers and home
October 19, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
We’ve been on a mission to add our support to the population of AAC users from Spanish-speaking communities, so when AAC SLP Deanna Wagner shared this piece she wrote on strengthening her Spanish language skills, we knew we wanted to share it. Here in the US, where speaking a second language isn’t as highly valued as it should be, many professionals struggle to become confident in languages other than English. In this post, Deanna shares her tips for strengthening her Spanish so that she can better serve the families she supports. In addition, she provides a helpful table of AAC apps that are available in Spanish that you won’t want to miss. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Building Spanish Language Skills As an AT professional who supports families who speak Spanish at home, I am always looking for ways to brush up on my AAC vocabulary and Spanish terminology. I am not a native... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Bilingual AAC & Multilingualism, Spanish, Therapist & Therapy
October 18, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. Here are some posts that might be of interest. Monday – TELL ME About It: AAC Learning with ‘I Know a Lot!’! Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: AAC Team Leadership Thursday – School Year of Core Vocabulary Words: AAC Resources for Month 3 (October) by Michaela Sullivan, Alisa Lego, & Beth Lytle ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Is there room for a bit more AAC in your day? If so, take a look at these past posts. Support for Beginning AAC Communicators Narrative Skills in People with ASD Helping People with AAC Needs Develop Personal Narratives Using Animated Shorts in AAC Language Therapy Building Linguistic Competence in AAC Learner: 3 Areas to Consider Targeting
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: language therapy, TELL ME
October 15, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
Welcome to a new post in the School Year of Core Vocabulary Words series! Each of these posts, guest authored by Michaela Sullivan, Alisa Lego, and Beth Lytle, focuses on a selected set of words along with a suggested order in which to teach them. The Activity Packets, containing sheets on highlighting these words in a variety of activities, and Data Collection Forms. For October, they’re discussing a third key intervention strategy, following the learner’s lead. If you are new to this series, you may want to review the introduction that our series authors created before delving into this month’s target words. You can see the guest authors’ overview here. Let’s get started! A SCHOOL YEAR OF CORE WORDS: OCTOBER by Michaela Sullivan, Beth Lytle, & Alisa Lego To the parents, teachers, Speech-Language Pathologists, Para Professionals, friends, and other curious professionals or communicators – welcome back to the monthly School... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: A Year of Core Vocabulary Words, core vocabulary, downloads, Language experiences and activities
October 13, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Tuesday, AAC friends! Before we get to our user-submitted content, here’s another look at the AAC app sales that are happening in celebration of AAC Awareness Month. AAC SLP and AT specialist Lauren Enders continues the tradition of tracking these sales and putting together graphics to spread the word. This year, she’s made the image interactive so that you can click on the individual sale picture to go right to the app store for more information. You can go to that version of the image here. If you click on the version below, you’ll be able to download the graphic as a PDF. Thank you, Lauren, for sending this along and allowing us to share it with our PrAACtical AAC readers! AAC Link Up 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... [Read More...]
Filed under: AAC Link Up, Featured Posts
October 12, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
It’s time for another post with book-related ideas for supporting core vocabulary learning in preschool classrooms. Jeanna Antrim and Maggie Judson are back with another guest post in support of preschool teachers who are implementing the TELL ME program with their young students. Maggie and Jeanna are speech-language pathologists who work in the Assistive Technology Department for the Belleville Area Special Services Cooperative (BASSC) in southern Illinois. They are AT/AAC facilitators and provide evaluations, direct therapy, consultations, and trainings with school teams. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: TELL ME About It: AAC Learning with ‘I Know a Lot!’ by Stephen Krensky TELL ME About The Book The second book in this new series is “I Know a Lot!”. If this is a new title for you, you will LOVE the adorable illustrations, simple text, repeated phrases, as well as the focus on adjectives! And remember last month how we talked about following the CAR (Comment... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: TELL ME
October 11, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. We have some AAC posts that you may be interested in. Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: AAC Learning with Photo Albums Thursday – How I Do It: Building & Using Language Kits :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: If you’re in the mood to browse around the AAC universe a bit more, here are some posts to explore. They each link to handouts from AAC-related presentations by various researchers and practitioners. Core Vocabulary Implementation AAC and Literacy The World’s AAC Conference AAC Implementation AAC in the Classroom
Filed under: Featured Posts
October 8, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
Our community is so fortunate to have talented AAC clinicians who generously share their tips for working smart and being efficient. Today, we welcome SLP Krista Hadeed, owner of Utter Brilliance Therapy Services, who is sharing her experiences in creating language kits that can be used in AAC therapy and instruction. Krista specializes in AAC and serves individuals with complex communication needs in South Florida. She has some great ideas for organizing materials in ways that make our work more efficient. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Let’s talk Language Kits! This year has been a challenging time for all of us, but it has also provided us with the opportunity to rethink our approaches and solutions to some common problems. While these problems are not exclusive to therapy during a pandemic, the shift in daily routine has certainly influenced the way we approach AAC communication partner training and support. The research shows us that... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: core vocabulary, Language Intervention and Therapy, materials
October 6, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Tuesday, AAC friends! Before we get to our user-submitted content, here’s another look at the AAC app sales that are happening in celebration of AAC Awareness Month. AAC SLP and AT specialist Lauren Enders continues the tradition of tracking these sales and putting together graphics to spread the word. This year, she’s made the image interactive so that you can click on the individual sale picture to go right to the app store for more information. You can go to that version of the image here. If you click on the version below, you’ll be able to download the graphic as a PDF. Thank you, Lauren, for sending this along and allowing us to share it with our PrAACtical AAC readers! AAC Link Up 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... [Read More...]
Filed under: AAC Link Up, Featured Posts