Welcome to PrAACtical Peek, an occasional series which features photos of therapy materials we use. This one is interactive, so have fun exploring the hot spots. Also, we’d love to have YOU get in on the fun. Send us a photo of some of your AAC materials for a future PrAACtical Peek post.
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: peek, therapy materials, visual supports
Frustration. Fear. Helplessness. Being with a child in pain is an awful experience no matter what the circumstances. When a child has communication difficulties, the problems are magnified. In this video, we go to the Canadian Association of Paediatric Health Centres for an informative discussion about pain in children with developmental disabilities. Knowing what to look for is a first step in helping reduce pain and increase the coping skills of children with AAC needs. Direct Link to Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-CzjHl1aqo
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
This week in Teach Me Tuesday we’re learning more about Avaz, a comprehensive AAC app. Here are the learning resources we’ll be using. Help Resources Take a Tour Videos Video If you know of other applicable resources, please add them in a comment below. See you next time!
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AAC app, Avaz, Teach Me Tuesday
Well, it’s a prAACtical New Year and we are ushering in a few new tweaks in 2014. Among them, a weekly wrap-up. Here’s a look at our prAACtical week. Sunday: 10 Tips for Using a Natural Aided Language Board by Gail Van Tatenhove Monday: Tracking Early Communication Skills – A PrAACtical Resource (free download) Tuesday: It’s PrAACtically a New Year Wednesday: Ringing in the New Year with an AAC App Giveaway Thursday: A(nother) Year of Core Vocabulary Friday: Get Organized! Visual Schedule Apps If you’re looking for our Strategy of the Month post, stay tuned – those will be published on Mondays.
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
It’s a New Year- 2014. Most of us use schedules– even when we know and accept the schedule. Many of us use schedules even though we do not have ‘transition issues’. However, ‘seeing’ our schedules often helps decrease anxiety and assure us the day will be ok because even if there are some ‘not so great’ activities, most of what we do is fairly good. Schedules can be created by using materials ranging from no-tech to high-tech. You can teach talking about past, present, and future events with schedules. You can also use schedules to teach core words. Here are 6 great visual schedule apps to help with ‘teching’ up the process. By ‘teching up’ the process, we also can add to independence so ALL learners can create their own schedules. We think it is important to let you know that ALL of the app developers provide information about... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Apps, visual schedules
It hardly seems possible that a year has gone by since we posted a Year of Core Words 2013. We’ve been so gratified by the feedback from professionals and parents who’ve put it to good use and followed month-by-month to focus on a dozen core words and get suggestions for additional practice. We were thrilled when others added symbols, created teaching materials, and adapted it for their own use. Today we’re back with the 2nd Year of Core Words, this time with 16 words/month. If you follow along, you’ll have covered 192 new core words by the end. Once again, we created 12 grids of core vocabulary words – one for each month of the year. Each grid has 16 cells labeled with core words. Plug in the AAC symbols that your client uses (e.g., PCS, SmartySymbols, Unity, Pixons, etc.), print, laminate, and keep them handy. Feel free to adapt... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: core vocabulary, Year of Core Words
We are delighted to have the opportunity to ring in the New Year with a giveaway for an AAC app that’s gotten a lot of buzz lately. Aacorn is a comprehensive AAC app that brings a new twist to the AAC app options. aacorn- is a comprehensive AAC app designed to provide free flowing natural-sounding speech to children with who have limited or no ability to communicate verbally. AACORN learns to PREDICT what a child wants to say based on previously used utterances. Aacorn introduces the concept of a ‘word tree’. Words present themselves automatically, via a series of branching pathways. Aacorn is very intuitive for the general user. It is designed especially for children and the iPad You can choose between boy and girl US, UK, and Australian voices, speaking many hundreds of very expressive words that can be used to form an infinite number of sentences. Or you can use the built-in recording studio to record new voices.... [Read More...]
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It is just about 2014. Hard to believe another year is finished and we are moving on once again. Our wishes for 2014 are for ALL Learners to have access to: Aided Language Input Communication Displays that meet their needs Role Models Presumed Competence Core Word Instruction Fringe Word Instruction Friends Many Meaningful Language Experiences Frequent Communication Opportunities Fun Learning Our Wishes for ALL SLP’s and Educators to have access to: An Exciting and Stimulating Personal Learning Network (PLN) Appropriate Goals and Strategies Meaningful Language Experiences Role Models Laminator and Laminator Materials Literacy Materials Core Word Highlighter Tools, Page Fluffers & Spacers, Apps for Learning Language An AAC Philosophy Fun Teaching
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Tagged With: new year
This month, we’ve been talking about ways to support beginning communicators, particularly those at the pre-intentional stage. In this brief post, we share a resource that you can use for graphing data. You can download the packet here or go to the e-Toolbox and look in the Downloads area. Direct Link to File – https://praacticalaac.org/?wpfb_dl=95
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: assessment, beginning communicator, download, preintentional communication
It’s been a wonderfully prAACtical year. Here’s a look back at our top 10 most popular posts. Anyone see any patterns? 🙂 How I Do It: Writing IEP Goals for Students Who Use AAC by Lauren Enders Teaching Core Vocabulary 5 Great Resources for Pre-Made Communication Boards Core Samples A Year Of Core Vocabulary Words AAC ‘Must Haves’ the the Classroom and Therapy Room Pivotal Skills for AAC Intervention: Aided Language Input How I Do It: AAC in the IEP by Lauren Enders Getting Started with Core Vocabulary More on Teaching Core Vocabulary
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: aided language input, communication boards, core vocabulary, IEP, Lauren Enders