April 12, 2022
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 course 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... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
April 11, 2022
by Carole Zangari -
Jessa is learning to use an AAC app that is rich in core vocabulary. Despite dual diagnoses of autism and Down Syndrome, she’s picking it up quite well. Jessa’s not very keen on coming to therapy, though, and often puts her head down on the table to avoid engagement. Matthew goes with the flow. With more than a decade of therapy under his belt, he’s “learned to comply” and will generally follow directions that are given to him. For the most part, though, he seems to use his AAC because the adults want him to. Interaction using his AAC system doesn’t seem to bring Matthew much satisfaction. Kristina is a pretty proficient AAC user. Most people don’t realize that, though, because she tends to communicate in single words or short sentences. The other students in her special education classroom are far less communicatively competent, so when Kristina engages with 2-word... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
April 10, 2022
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. We have some posts that you may be interested in. Monday – Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month 2022 Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Equitable Health Access to Health Care for AAC Users Thursday – AAC Goal Writing with Lauren Enders: Tools to Support Identification of AAC Learning Targets :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: If you are looking to do some book-related AAC teaching this week, check out some of Karen Natoci’s popular literacy-focused posts from the archives. PraAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci It’s Okay To Be Different I Like Myself Yo! Yes? The Family Book Hello Baby The Five Senses Are You My Mother? Over on the Farm (with Karen Baca)
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
April 7, 2022
by Carole Zangari -
We’re ending the week with some wonderful resources shared by AAC expert, Lauren Enders. In her continuation of the Goal Writing series, she reviews some important tools that can help in determining which skills to target when writing goals for AAC learners. You can see other posts in this series using the links below. AAC Goal Writing with Lauren Enders 5 Common Challenges Laying a Solid Foundation :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: In the first post of this series, you learned that you are in good company if you find AAC goal writing to be intimidating. Thankfully, you were also assured that despite the learning curve, you CAN write meaningful goals for AAC learners given the right tips, tools, and guidance. In the second post, you learned how the Four Communicative Competencies (Linguistic, Operational, Social, and Strategic) (Light et al., 1989, Light & McNaughton, 2014)) plus Psychosocial or Emotional Competency (Light & McNaughton, 2014, Blackstone... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
April 4, 2022
by Carole Zangari -
What began in 1970 as a day to raise public awareness of autism has evolved to focus on building acceptance and support of autistic people. Support comes in many ways, of course. Teachers, therapists, and parents, can and do support autistic children and adults in a multitude of ways based on their individual priorities, strengths, and needs. But that’s not all we can do. Among other things, professionals can support autistic individuals by: Learning from them through watching their videos and attending their presentations, as well as by reading their books, articles, and posts; Purchasing things they create; Bringing attention to their work on social media; Contributing to their crowd-sourced efforts (e.g., Patreon, GoFundMe), and Hiring them to speak, consult, write, etc. Today, we open our pages to all of you in an effort to raise awareness of autistic individuals who are creators, presenters, authors, mentors, and consultants. Share what... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
April 3, 2022
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. Here are some posts that may be of interest. Monday – April Year of Core Vocabulary & School Year of Core Vocabulary Words Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Addressing Barriers to AAC Learning Thursday – Throwback Thursday: AAC Considerations When Dealing with Illness or Injury Friday – CAA Con Links: Abril 2022 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Still have time for a little more reading? Here are some additional posts for you to explore. Beyond Requesting: Thoughts on Teaching Information Transfer How I Do It: Encouraging AAC Implementation (Lauren Enders) PrAACtical Ways to Make Decisions About Thematic Therapy Materials In the Treasure Bag: Using Sharing Time to Focus on Vocabulary AAC in Motion: Walk the Walk, Talk the Talk with Tanna Neufeld
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
March 31, 2022
by Carole Zangari -
The world seems a little heavier these days, and that serves as a good reminder that many of our clients who use AAC need a bit of extra support. In this edition of Throwback Thursday, we’re reprising a handful of the previous posts that deal with supporting AAC users when they are ill or in distress. 5+ Things to Do to Help AAC Learners Communicate About Illness or Injury Supporting Children in the Pediatric ICU 5 PrAACtical Resources For Better Communication Experiences with Healthcare Providers Free Communication Tools for Patients with COVID-19 “What’s Wrong?” AAC Messages for Negative Emotions and Feelings
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
March 28, 2022
by Carole Zangari -
Core vocabulary resources are the focus of today’s post. In 2013, when schools and other clinical programs were expanding their emphasis on teaching core vocabulary words, PrAACtical AAC published a set of resources for families and professionals that included symbol cards, sample sentences to model, activity suggestions, and more. All of these were based on a small set of core words for each month (see that post here). We followed that with a second set of Year of Core Vocabulary Word resources for a new list of words (click here for that post). Over the years, the resources were expanded and grew to include a wonderful series of calendars with daily activity suggestions developed by AAC SLP and co-founder of Talking AAC, Rachael Langley. There were many other contributors over the years who added to these efforts. In 2020, a new series was launched, School Year of Core Vocabulary Words, authored... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
March 27, 2022
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. Here are some posts that you may have missed in your busy week. Monday – Language Experience Surveys: 3 Ideas for AAC Implementation Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: SMoRRE Partner Training Supports Thursday – How I Do It: AAC Practitioners, Part 2 Friday – Autism Acceptance Month 2022: AAC App Discounts ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: If you have the time, check out these posts from the archives. Faces of AAC: Making It Work in a Busy Family PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: The Family Book Family Collaboration by Dr. Barry Prizant How I Do It: Digital Connections With Families to Support AAC Users Using Visual Sidekicks to Support Language Intervention From Presence to Contribution: A Family’s Journey Toward and Inclusive Life
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
March 25, 2022
by Carole Zangari -
Looking to purchase some AAC and related apps? Longtime PrAACtical AAC friend Lauren Enders is continuing her tradition of compiling information from AAC app developers and others who offer deep discounts for Autism Acceptance Month. With April just around the corner, you might want to mark your calendars with dates for any planned purchases. Those of you who run large AAC or AT programs, take note of the discounts for Apple’s Volume Purchase Program. You can click on the image below (or here) to access an interactive version of this graphic. That version has clickable hotspots to allow for easier navigation to each company’s website for those who want more information or to purchase the product. Thank you, Lauren, for this wonderful act of service to the AAC field. Note: This may be updated with additional discounts over the next week or so.
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking