May 6, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Are you ready for some reading, AAC style? In today’s edition of PrAACtically Reading, Karen Natoci and Karen Baca share a preschool book about farm animals. Karen Natoci is an AAC Supervisor who is well-known to the readers of this site (see her wonderful contributions here.). Her colleague Karen Baca is an AT and AAC Specialist with over 30 years in the field of AT, specializing in AAC, alternative access, and literacy for all students with disabilities. They both work for The Speech Pathology Group in the San Francisco Bay area. Book: Over on the Farm by Marianne Berkes and illustrated by Cathy Morrison (Copyright © 2003, Little, Brown and Company; Hachette Book Group, www.lb-kids.com) Vocabulary focus: All core words Fringe Vocabulary focus: horse/foals/neigh, cat/kittens/meow, cow/calves/moo, goat/kids/maa, chicken/chick/cheep-cheep, owl/owlets/hoot-hoot, mouse/pups/squeek, turkey/poults/gobble-gobble, duck/ducklings/quack, pig/piglets/oink Actions: peck, nibble, swish, wash, gallop, hide, fly, strut, waddle roll Communication Matrix (Rowland, 2009) level: I-VIII... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Books, emergent literacy, preschool, reading
May 5, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends! Here are some posts that may be of interest. Monday – PrAACtically May: More AAC Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary Words Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Looking at AAC Modeling Thursday – How We Do It: Coaching AAC Use in the Natural Environment :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Before you go, check out these posts from the archives. It’s PrAACtically Mother’s Day- 5 Activities that Support Communicating with Mom Using Vest Displays with Preschoolers on the Autism Spectrum Aided Language Input During Play Five Resources for Making and Using Visual Scene Displays From Solitary Play to Interaction: 5 Things to Try With Kids Who Love Their iPad Games
Filed under: Featured Posts
Tagged With: play, summary post
May 2, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
If it’s May, it must be Better Hearing and Speech Month (#BSHM), and we’re thrilled to kick off the festivities by two Illinois-based SLPs, Dr. Jill Senner and Matt Baud. They have a wealth of AAC experience and have generously shared their expertise here in several previous posts. Today, we welcome them back as they share some advice on helping staff use AAC in natural settings. Enjoy! ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Put Me in, Coach: Coaching AAC Use in the Natural Environment “Help, I already trained the team and the device is still not being used outside of my sessions.” Sound familiar? We hear this a lot. This actually is quite common if one key training element is missing. In fact, without this critical instructional component, there’s only about a 5% chance that the strategies you’re teaching will actually be used in the natural environment. What is the essential ingredient to maximizing your... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: coaching, Jill Senner, Matt Baud, partner training
April 30, 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 while... [Read More...]
Filed under: AAC Link Up, Featured Posts
Tagged With: AAC Link Up
April 29, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
It is just about time to flip the calendar to a new page, and that means it’s time for a new set of core words to model, elicit, and practice. In this post, we have a number of resources for those who are ready to try their hand at implementation. Thanks to all who’ve reached out with questions, comments, and words of appreciation for the Year of Core Vocabulary series. Here are some helpful resources for those who are using the words in Set 1 ( Year of Core Words) or Set 2 (Another Year of Core Words). If you are contemplating this approach, feel free to jump in at any time. The best time to start (or re-start) is right now. Don’t worry about retracing steps, or not ‘doing it right.’ The best way to get better at core vocabulary instruction is just to keep at it. It takes... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: A Year of Core Words, core vocabulary, downloads
April 28, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends! It was good to see some of you at the fabulous AAC by the Bay Conference last week (if you missed it, look for this event again in 2021). Whether you were on-site at Cisco or at one of the many remote locations around the world, it was wonderful to learn together with you and the many insightful presenters. If you need to catch up on some AAC reading, here are a few suggestions for you. Monday – Word Count: Looking at AAC Language Samples Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Getting Started with AAC Thursday – Throwback Thursday: AAC Assessment Corner ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: While you’re here, see if one of these past posts piques your interest. PrAACtically Reading: Over in the Garden with Karen Natoci Talking Mats: A PrAACtical Tool Using Metaphors to Support Vocabulary Teaching AACtual Therapy: “At first I... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AAC groups, reading, summary post, Talking Mats, vocabulary instruction
April 25, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
It’s another Throwback Thursday and today we’re turning our attention to assessment. Join us as we revisit “AAC Assessment Corner with Vicki Clarke.” Ready, SETT, AAC Evaluate! AAC Skills Assessment for Direct Selectors Standardized Tests For AAC Users AAC Assessment for Emergent Communicators The Eyes Have It-Assessment Considerations for High Tech Eye Gaze Access Is AAC Feature Matching Still Relevant? Thinking Inside the Box for AAC Evaluations Procedural Resources Evaluating Skills for Use of Comprehensive AAC Dynamic Display SGDs Language Representation Elements – Noun Symbol Use for Functional Communication
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AAC assessment, assessment, Vicki Clarke
April 23, 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 while... [Read More...]
Filed under: AAC Link Up, Featured Posts
Tagged With: AAC Link Up
April 22, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Have you worked with students like these? 19-year-old Jaclyn has used a number of SGDs over the years with a moderate degree of success. Her language is very predictable and the team is concerned that Jaclyn’s progress has stalled. Judging by his progress on IEP goals, 9-year-old Mason has made wonderful strides in learning to use his AAC app. Of the hundreds of words that are available to him, Mason has only ever used about 50 and uses far fewer than that in day-to-day life. Sloan is fairly proficient with her AAC device and can easily answer questions, relay information, and share her thoughts and ideas. Her language is much less sophisticated than her middle school peers, though. While they often integrate some of the academic vocabulary words that they learn in science, language arts, math, and other classes into their conversation and writing, Sloan tends to stick to the... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: generalization, language sample, lexical diversity, vocabulary
April 21, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Easter and Passover, AAC friends. Enjoy your day and stop back to check out these posts from our prAACtical week. Monday – Autism Acceptance Resources for Children Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: How To Speak When You Don’t Have a Voice Thursday – How Much Do We Understand When Context Cues Are Removed? :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Ready for some more reading? Here are a handful of suggestions. PrAACtical Passover and Easter Supports Let’s Read: Getting to the Core of Earth Day Let’s Create: Getting to the Core of Earth Day PrAACtically SLPs: Hungry for Bilingual AAC
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: bilingual AAC, Earth Day, easter, Passover, summary post