Monday – Summer Reading: Five AAC Suggestions Tuesday – How I Do It: Helping Clients Who Use AAC Connect with their Grandchildren by Rebecca Bright Wednesday – Video of the Week: Using AAC Facilitation Strategies Thursday – PrAACtically Reading: Over in the Garden with Karen Natoci
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Karen Natoci is back with another wonderful book and plenty of ideas for AAC implementation. Enjoy! Book: Over in the Garden, by Jennifer Ward, Illustrated by Kenneth J. Spengler Core Vocabulary focus: LOOK, IT, LIKE, NOT LIKE, IN, UH-OH OR OOPS. Literacy Level: Emergent COMMUNICATION Matrix Level: I-VII Four Block focus: Shared Reading and Working with Words (at the alphabet/rhyme level) —————————————————— It is spring at our school in Michigan and everything is green and the plants are beginning to grow, fast! I couldn’t wait to share my favorite book to sing: Over in the Garden! We found the nearest plant, gathered a few plastic bugs, adapted the book with some cut out fringe words (each type of bug) and I sang into the microphone! I decided to sing the book and play with sustaining certain words as you will see in this very short video. The rhythm, rhyme and... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Karen Natoci, reading
When a grandparent uses AAC, it can be challenging for them to reconnect with the children in the family. Today, we welcome UK-based SLP Rebecca Bright. Rebecca, who leads the award-winning app development team at Therapy Box, is passionate about helping people with acquired communication disabilities use technology to achieve their goals. In this post, Rebecca shares tips for creating meaningful and successful interactions between grandparents and grandchildren. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: I came across a question posed by a person with ALS on a patient support forum that really got me thinking. The person was asking for the shared wisdom of forum users, to help him with the difficulty he was having with his young grandkids getting used to him using an iPad app as his means of communication after his voice had deteriorated. This got me thinking about how as SLPs we often focus on how our client uses a device and how perhaps... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: grandchildren, grandparents, Rebecca Bright
It is sunny and hot where we live, and we’re honoring the tradition of using beach and pool time to catch up on some of the books and articles that have been piling up throughout the year. Are you looking for summer reading material that goes beyond magazines and light fiction? Here are a few AAC selections to round out your summer reading list. The Impact of IQ on Using High-tech Augmentative Alternative Communication AAC in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder by Drs. Rana Zeina, Laila Al-Ayadhi, and Shahid Bashir AAC in the Schools: Best Practices for Intervention by Drs. Nancy Robinson and Gloria Soto Aided Augmentative Communication for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder by Dr. Jennifer Ganz Critical Issues Using Brain-Computer Interfaces for Augmentative and Alternative Communication by Dr. Katya Hill, Mr. Thomas Kovacs, and Sangeun Shin Real-Life Challenges in Using Augmentative and Alternative Communication by Persons With Amyotrophic Lateral... [Read More...]
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Tagged With: reading
Monday – PrAACtically June: Core Word Calendar by Rachael Langley Tuesday – AACtual Therapy: Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag with Dr. Jill Senner and Matthew Baud Wednesday – Video of the Week: Core Vocabulary Overview Thursday – 5 Ways to Use Magazines in AAC Therapy
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Magazines are one of my favorite therapy materials for AAC learners. There is a lot to love about these inexpensive, engaging materials. They’re readily available, novel, and easy to tote around. But most importantly, they work really well because you can find a magazine on practically any topic. From Justin Bieber to sharks to the Miami Heat and everywhere in between, there is likely to be a magazine that is age respectful and aligns with the interests of any AAC learner. There are so many options for using magazines in our AAC therapies. Here are some ideas to get you started. Beyond choicemaking: We all love to give our clients choices to promote engagement and support personal autonomy. (What’s the point of AAC if people aren’t also learning to speak up and use their voices to impact their lives?) Offering a choice of magazines is a fine, of course, but in... [Read More...]
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Tagged With: language therapy
Jill Senner and Matthew Baud are back to share some of their favorite therapy activities. In this post, they discuss how they build language while making ice cream. Summer is almost here and we’re already thinking about making our favorite frozen treat, ice cream in a bag. No special equipment is required. With a couple of plastic zipper bags and 5 ingredients already in your kitchen, kids can shake milk into ice cream in just 5 minutes. Free picture recipes can be downloaded here. As with many of the cooking activities we love, there are lots of natural opportunities for language use before, during and after cooking. Before cooking we read the recipe and check the kitchen to see if we have the ingredients. If any are missing, we write shopping lists of ingredients we need. We can take a community field trip to the grocery store where there... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AACtual therapy, implemention, intervention
Ice cream, watermelon, and camping! It must be prAACtically summer vacation. We are so grateful to Rachael Langley for continuing to share these monthly calendars with ideas for targeting core words from our Year of Core Vocabulary series. You can get Rachael’s June calendar by clicking on the image below. Happy almost summer!
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Tagged With: A Year of Core Words, Calendar, Rachael Langley, resources
Monday – On Memorial Day Tuesday – How I Do It: Conversation Practice with Teens and Young Adults with Angela Adams Wednesday – Video of the Week: Intro to PBS Thursday – Core Vocabulary Resources for June
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
It’s prAACtically June and that means we are preparing for a new set of core words to focus on. Join us in highlighting a set of core words for the month and helping our AAC learners become more fluent in using them on a day-to-day basis. Whether you are following along with the 2013 Year of Core (12 words/month) or the 2014 A(nother) Year of Core: (16 words/month; Different than the previous year’s core words), or just getting started, the resources linked in this post may be helpful. Our June words are listed below. 2013 List: after, am/be/is, because, can, cold, fast, fun, have, hungry, let, need, talk 2014 List: about, back, buy, grandmother, hand, inside, lose, move, okay, people, quiet, short, show, two, water, yellow Resources Templates for you to plug in your own symbols: 2013 words, 2014 words Minspeak/Unity version: 2013 words PCS versions: 2013 words, 2014 words Symbol... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: A Year of Core Words, AAC Resources, Another Year of Core Words, download