December 10, 2019
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 camp 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: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: ATIA
December 9, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
A picture may well be worth 1,000 words, as the saying goes, but we can boost the AAC learning power by making that image interactive. ThingLink is a site that allows you to upload images and create hotspots that users can click on for more information. Free accounts, with limited features, are available. The hotspots can be simple text boxes or you can turn them into multimedia launchers by linking to a website. In the examples below, I used static images of popular AAC apps and hyperlinked some of the cells to videos of songs that highlight those words. In this example, the target core vocabulary words link out to videos from Speech and Language Songs, Super Simple Songs, and Ms. Marlowe. This can be used during instructional activities or we can send the link to families for use at home. To explore these examples, move your cursor over the... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: instructional materials, intervention ideas
December 8, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. Here are some posts that you may have missed in your busy week. Monday – Mindmapping Software/Apps for AAC Intervention Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Personalizing Core Vocabulary Systems Thursday – Developing a New AAC Resource: The TAT4AAC (Thinking About Thinking for AAC) ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Before you go, here are a few more posts to check out. Holiday Photos in AAC Learning: 3 Ideas for Using Them to Build Language It’s PrAActically Chanukkah! Holiday Talk: AAC Conversations Using Partner-focused Questions
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: cognition, Graphic Organizers, holidays
December 5, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
How do you consider the cognitive demands of using an AAC system when making recommendations and planning instruction? Today, we feature a wonderful new tool developed at the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). Join us as we learn about the TAT4AAC team and their efforts to create an instrument that helps us think through these complex issues. The TAT4AAC was designed by members of the REKNEW team at OHSU) in Portland, OR, USA. The team is under the direction of Melanie Fried-Oken, an SLP, AAC specialist and professor at OHSU. Melanie leads the REKNEW team. Aimee Mooney, the project team leader, is an SLP and assistant professor at OHSU. She specializes in cognitive rehabilitation. Michelle Kinsella, an OT with a specialty in vision and cognition, in another member of the team along with Deirdre McLaughlin, an SLP with a passion for AAC and young kids. Developing a New AAC... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AAC decision-making, cognition
December 2, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
We’re all about the visual presentation of concepts, whether it is through aided language input, graphic organizers during vocabulary instruction, timelines for facilitating narrative development, or a host of different situations. There’s something about the visual layout that clarifies and inspires. Over the past few years, there has been a huge increase in the number of software programs and apps that allow us to visually depict the relationship between things. You can create mind maps and flowcharts in Google Slides and Powerpoint, but sometimes you just want a dedicated, specially designed program to create them. Here are some free or low-cost options to explore. Mind Meister MindMup Connected Mind (Chrome extension, app) Text2MindMap Transno Bubble.us Are you using mind mapping software/apps in your AAC work? Please comment or get in touch with us. We’d love to hear about it.
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: visual support
December 1, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. If the holiday hustle and bustle has been keeping you busy, you might have missed our AAC posts from this week. Monday – Fringe Vocabulary: How to Select and Not Neglect Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Building AT Capacity Thursday – A PrAACtical Day of Thanksgiving Friday – PrAACtically December: Some AAC Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary Before you go, we have a few more posts that may be of interest. PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: I Eat Thanksgiving Dinner PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: Hello, Holidays! 5 Different Gifts to Give To A Classroom PrAACtical Ideas: AAC Core Vocabulary Practice for Workshops and Inservices Video of the Week: Helping Students with Autism Prepare for Non-routine Events
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: fringe vocabulary, reading
November 29, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
With Thanksgiving behind us, it’s time to look ahead to the month of December. A few years ago, we suggested that one way to help strengthen learners’ abilities with core words is to take a different set of 12-20 core words each month and focus on them for a few weeks. How? By modeling those words, making resource materials (like word cards with the symbols), creating activities in which those words figure prominently, posting them in the classroom/therapy room, reading books that have heavy use of these words, sharing them with families, write stories using them, etc. Core words are a great addition to the highly motivating, learner-specific words that many AAC users start with. If you are looking to expand to more robust language, this approach may be of interest. Here are the specific words we are focusing on in December. Set 1 (2013): ask, favorite, goodbye, hear, of,... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: core vocabulary
November 28, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
grat·i·tude /ˈɡradəˌt(y)o͞od/ noun the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness In the spirit of our American tradition of Thanksgiving, we pause to reflect on our blessings and offer thanks. We’re grateful for: The people who use AAC and their families for all they do to help us get better at this business of supporting communication Service providers in homes, schools, clinics, hospitals, and community agencies The university programs that have a dedicated AAC class, especially if they have a permanent faculty member with expertise in this area Bonus thanks to those that also offer supervised clinical or student teaching experiences with AAC mentorship opportunities or an AAC lab with SGDs, AAC apps, switches, and mounts. The professional and service organizations that support AAC through professional development opportunities, grants, mentorship programs The power of e-communication platforms for the AAC support on listservs, blogs, groups, threaded... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
November 26, 2019
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 camp 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
November 25, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
When we first started writing about core vocabulary, it was partly because most of the AAC systems we came across in our clinical work were heavy on nouns and/or prestored messages. Now that core vocabulary plays a more central role in so many AAC systems, it’s important that we not lose sight of the important role that fringe vocabulary plays for the vast majority of people with AAC needs. In today’s post, guest author Susan Todd, a doctorate student focusing on AAC at the University of Kansas, shares thoughts and strategies for selecting fringe words. An SLP, Susan practiced for four years in outpatient setting completing AAC evaluations and implementing AAC interventions. Susan is also the author and creator of AACtualTalk, a blog aimed at providing advocacy and education in the area of AAC. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Fringe Vocabulary: How to Select and Not Neglect Core vocabulary gets a lot of attention... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: fringe vocabulary