December 3, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
PrAACtically Thinking PrAACtically Unfair: Why People Who Use AAC Sometimes Fail Tests It’s PrAACtically Chanukkah! Let’s Get Specific About Speech Intelligibility Thankful Funny Bones: Jokes for Sequential Message Devices/Apps Vocabulary Learning Materials & AAC Strategies Choosing a Focus for Vocabulary Instruction Vocabulary Learning Using Infographics Say THIS, NOT THAT to Reinforce Vocabulary Learning How to Use Magnets to Promote Language Development Vocabulary Activities: 5 Sites for Learning with Avatars What Makes a Good Vocabulary Teaching Activity? 4 Things to Look For Simple Start: Visual Supports for Places We Go 10 Things to Do in Using Focused Language Stimulation in AAC Vocabulary Teaching Tell Me About It: Focused Language Stimulation In AAC Vocabulary Teaching A Word About Word Order Avaz AAC App & Vocabulary Learning Magic Moments with Sentence Builder AAC Awareness Month Wrap-Up Strategy of the Month Complete Vocabulary Instruction Ideas & Activities Explicitly Speaking: Vocabulary Teaching in AAC Building... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
November 30, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
Maybe you didn’t get to the ASHA Convention this year. Or maybe you did, but couldn’t get to all the sessions you had hoped to attend. In either case, we’ve linked to handouts from a number of AAC presentations. Enjoy! AAC in the Common Core State Standards? Karen Erickson, Penny Hatch, Allison Dennis, & Marlene Cummings have your back. This is a project to watch! Janice Light’s presentation on Building Communicative Competence with Individuals who Require AAC: From Research to Effective Practice AAC for Adults With Acquired Neurological Conditions: Today & Tomorrow by David Beukelman, Susan Fager, Julia King, & Karen Hux Analyzing Language Development of Physically Impaired Children Using AAC Devices by Monika Ortloff, Paul Andres, Meher Banajee, & Gail Van Tatenhove Presentation by Cathy Binger and Jennifer Kent Walsh on Selecting Skills to Teach AAC Communication Partners
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: 2012 ASHA Convention, ASHA, handouts
November 29, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
What do these situations have in common? Renting a car with a new GPS system to drive to an interview in a foreign city Hosting a dinner party and cooking a gourmet meal in someone else’s kitchen Using new software to deliver a presentation at a conference If you said they all create anxiety, you’re right. But here’s something else: They all require you to do something unfamiliar or difficult and learn a new tool at the same time and produce results under stressful conditions. We would never put our AAC learners under such stress and expect them to perform well, would we? Of course not! Except when we: Ask them to use an AAC device/app that they are still learning to answer test questions Require them to use a new or exhausting motor pattern to produce a written product for grading Expect students without sufficient test-taking skills to demonstrate... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: assessment, Fair Testing Practices, FTP, testing
November 29, 2012
by Robin Parker -
Chanukkah is prAACtically here, even though it seems very early. Chanukkah starts at sundown on December 8th and ends at sundown on December 18th. Holidays are usually fun and busy. With all the fun comes changes in routines, less sleep, more stress, more excitement, more people, more compromise, and overall different expectations. This is a time to plan in advance the visual supports, visual systems, and AAC displays that will help everyone understand, organize, and communicate most optimally. Check out these great resources to help with the planning: Friendship Circle Blog- Preparing for Hanukkah, 15 Tips to Make Sure Your Child is Ready for The Holidays, & More Gateways Program Resources- There are visual supports for the Chanukkah Blessings. There are social story books that help with understanding that birthday candles and Chanukkah candles are different, that Chanukkah candles go out by themselves, and about Chanukkah candles and fire safety.... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Chanukah, Chanukkah, Hanukkah, resources, visual supports
November 28, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
PrAACtical Goals That Matter It’s All About Us Free & Lite Versions of AAC Apps + App Selection Resources Beyond Behavior Problems: How Visual Supports Can Help Our AAC Teaching Fire Safety Week Over, Need to Learn Strategies is Not Watch What You Heat- Fire Safety 3 Communication-Behavior Visual Support Power Tools Simple Start: Visual Supports for Places Around School Ain’t No Stopping Us Now! Video of the Week No Introduction Needed A PrAACtical Look at Getting Started with AAC Symbols Creative Uses of the iPod for Students Who Use AAC Video of the Week: Helping Hands + Visual Supports A PrAACtical Look at the Incredible 5-Point Scale Strategy of the Month Avoiding Insanity: AAC & the Pace of Change Strategy of the Month: Building Acceptance of AAC The Path to Acceptance AAC & Change: Some Thoughts on Influencing Behavior Building Acceptance for AAC: Sharing Information AAC Awareness Month Global... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
November 27, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
Between the craziness of the election, the stress of Superstorm Sandy, some frustration over some blog issues, and the pace of getting ready for the ASHA convention, we were ready for a little levity. It seemed like just the time to rustle up some jokes that could be programmed on an SGD, an AAC app, or a sequential message device. If you need a laugh, too, here’s a list of places to check out for some jokes that may work for the AAC learners you know. Jokes for Every Season – From Ducksters Knock Knock Jokes – From Funology More Knock Knock Jokes – A whole website full of them Jokes by Category – From Activity Village Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? Jingle Jokes from Kelly Martin Christmas Jokes from the Nurture Store Photo courtesy of Silver Lining Multimedia via Picture This Pro
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: humor, jokes, sequential message device, SGD
November 26, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
We’re always happy to find sites that can be used to solidify new word learning. Once we completed a variety of activities for explicit instruction on new vocabulary, we start thinking about adding in some practice activities. Repetition with variety keeps the learners engaged and helps them cement their understanding of the target words. No more ‘learning to pass the quiz, then forgetting it all.’ With some extra effort, we can help our AAC friends hang onto the new knowledge that they’ve gained. Here are are some sites that you can use to create fun practice activities. Make acrostic poems with the target words Find related words with Word Hippo See how the target word relates to other concepts with Wordsift: Type the vocabulary word into the box to see a semantic web unfold. Explore a bunch of vocabulary games at Wordia Make a digital bulletin board around the new... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: semantics, vocabulary, vocabulary practice, websites for vocabulary
November 23, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
When we’re writing AAC evaluation reports, compiling funding documents, and summarizing the present level of performance in IEPs, we frequently comment on speech intelligibility. In some cases, we’ve administered a standardized assessment instrument and are sharing those results. Often, though, the comments are more descriptive in nature. It is not uncommon to read documentation in which someone with articulation difficulties is described as having speech intelligibility that is mildly, moderately, or severely impaired. Those categories are pretty broad, open to interpretation, and can be quite vague. What do we really mean when saying that someone does or doesn’t have intelligible speech? To narrow down the meaning, we specify the two variables that have the greatest influence on how comprehensible the communicator’s speech output actually is: the context and the communication partner. Specifying whether the context is known and the partner is a familiar one, helps us better interpret the descriptors... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: documentation, report writing, speech intelligibility
November 22, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: appreciation, thankful, Thanksgiving
November 20, 2012
by Robin Parker -
We are super big fans of Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT). We need the PrAACtical resources that TPT offers. In addition to paying ridiculously low prices for some great teaching materials and cool classroom resources, there are also many free options. Check out these free vocabulary resources and have lots of fun. As always, the materials are only as good as the teaching strategies that go with them. As we check out these awesome vocabulary resources, we will use the following guiding principles and we will create appropriate communication opportunities for ALL learners to participate in direct vocabulary instruction. Active Participation for Everyone– Make sure all learners can make choices within the activity, respond to questions, add information, request clarification, and even ask for a break if they need it. To do this we will need one hit message devices, visual supports, individual and group communication displays, choice boards, switches, etc.... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: vocabulary instruction, vocabulary materials & resources