April 30, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
Many of you have reached out to say how much you’ve appreciated the prAACtical suggestions provided by Nerissa Hall and Hillary Jellison, New England-based SLPs and owners of Commūnicāre, LLC. We’re excited to have them back, especially because they are talking about something near and dear to our hearts: Implement a core vocabulary approach in their AAC therapy. In this post, they give us a peek into the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of making and using communication boards that are rich in core words. In their typically generous fashion, they also share templates for the boards that they make. How We Do It: Using Language Boards to Support AAC Use There are a number of different strategies one can use to support an individual’s use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). We know that aided language stimulation, augmented input, and AAC modeling are important and effective ways of supporting AAC use. By using... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Communicare, Hillary Jellison, language boards, Nerissa Hall, resources
April 28, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
Michigan-based SLP Rachael Langely is at it again! She developed a wonderful calendar of activities for those following along with our Year of Core Words. In addition, she provided some sample sentences that can be modeled, using Touch Chat as an example for the staff in classrooms that she supports. Enjoy! May Calendar (Click on the image to download) Examples of Things to Model (click to download or visit the AAC eToolbox, Downloads area) Note that these are just examples, and not a sequence of sentences to teach or practice as homework.
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Calendar, implementation ideas, Rachael Langley, Year of Core
April 27, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
Like many of you, I enjoy using fun websites in AAC therapy sessions. Word clouds are popular therapy tools, both because of their versatility and because they are fun and easy to make. Word clouds are images composed of words on a given topic, where the frequency of use of a word determines its size in the word cloud image. There are lots of websites and apps for this, and most are free. If you are looking for a way to build literacy into your language therapy activities, this may be an option worth exploring. Here are some ideas for prAACtical things to do. Build word knowledge: Use the word cloud to define new words, provide examples, and given synonyms. Once created, you can print these out for a word notebook or display on a vocabulary word wall. You can also keep a digital copy for a vocabulary notebook that... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: implementation ideas, intervention, language therapy, word clouds
April 26, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
Monday – Let’s Create: Getting to the Core of Earth Day Tuesday – From Solitary Play to Interaction: 5 Things to Try With Kids Who Love Their iPad Games Wednesday – Video of the Week: Progress Monitoring for AT Thursday – More PrAACtical AAC Goals That Matter
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
April 23, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
While we may play a variety of roles, a commonality among those of us on teams serving individuals with AAC needs is that we often struggle with developing goals that are meaningful. Let’s work together to develop a list of potential goals that we can reflect on as we work with our clients and their families on a plan for becoming more competent communicators. There are two sections in this post: Qualifiers (for information applying to all goals) and Goal Areas (for actual goals). This is not meant to be a comprehensive list but rather a starting point for a collaborative document. Please join the effort by adding goals in the comment area below or reaching out using our contact form. SECTION 1: QUALIFIERS Each goal can be prefaced with a description of the communicator’s AAC system or the elements of that system can be named. Terms used in this document... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: goals, objectives
April 21, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
“But my kid wants to use the app on his own terms, not with ME!” Ever faced this conundrum? There are so many wonderful apps that are terrific for building interaction and language skills, but some of our prAACtical friends don’t want us to interact with them during iPad play**. Today, we’re thinking about strategies to use when kids would rather engage in solitary play as opposed to welcoming us as interaction partners in their iPad games. How can we help them increase their tolerance for interaction when playing on the iPad? Here are a few things to try. Make expectations clear with visual supports. It’s hard to cooperate when you don’t have an understanding of what’s supposed to happen. When kids are used to playing games, reading books, or watching videos on their own, they sometimes resist our participation out of the fear that they won’t get to do... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: iDevice, implementation ideas, interaction, visual supports
April 20, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
Working with core words? Whether or not you are following along with our Year of Core Words or using some other approach, Earth Day is the perfect time to practice those reusable, recyclable words. Last week, we talked about using our April core words (2013 List: big, busy, do, drink, feel, he, in, make, out, some, tell, who) in literacy activities. Today, we’ll talk about using them in arts and crafts activities. Let’s create with core words! Choose your craft project. A quick Pinterest search yields lots of possibilities. Consider which words to focus on. Some of the April words (do, make, out, some) work well with any craft project. Review the project through the lens of your goal: Modeling and eliciting core words. Decide how you will implement it so that the focus is the core words, not the art itself. Make an activity schedule showing the steps for... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: art, core vocabulary, crafts, implementation ideas, intervention, Year of Core
April 19, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
Monday – Let’s Read: Getting to the Core of Earth Day Tuesday – Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month: 5 Videos for Kids Wednesday- Hearing Their Voices: Vic Valentic Thursday – AACtual Therapy with Shareka Bentham: Let’s Get Popping!
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
April 16, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
We are headed to Barbados with this post, to hear how SLP Shareka Bentham and her prAACtical friends are making popcorn and building language skills. You can see Shareka’s earlier posts here. I love the ease and versatility of this activity which could be a fun way for AAC learners to practice core vocabulary with a manual communication board/book, SGD, or PODD book. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: I revisited this activity this week and thought that it would be a great one to share. It’s fun, functional and filling! What more do you need? Making popcorn together is not only one of the best group activities I’ve done, it’s also one of the most fun, and interactive AAC activities I’ve done. It’s a chance to learn and use new vocabulary, take turns using the AAC device and to do some requesting and describing. Initially, when I worked on this activity I only used a... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: activities, implementation ideas, Shareka Bentham
April 14, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
Looking for ways to help kids in your community understand a bit more about autism? Here are some videos that might be helpful. My Autism and Me Just Like You A is for Autism, F is for Friend Asperger’s Syndrome Explained for Children We All Fit
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Autism Acceptance, Autism Awareness