December 20, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. Here are some posts you may have missed in your busy week. Monday – Teaching Word Prediction: 5 Strategies for Consideration Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Writing AAC Goals Thursday – Throwback Thursday: Preschool Children with AAC Needs ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: If you can squeeze in a few more, take a look at some of these posts from the archives. PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: Hello, Holidays! How We Do It: Using AAC to Repair Communication Breakdowns Data Collection for the Beginning AAC User: Essential Things to Measure AAC & ASD: Beyond Scripting More Words, Please! Expanding Our Manual Communication Boards Activity Schedule AACtion
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
December 17, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
It’s another Throwback Thursday and today we’re looking back through the archives at posts on AAC for young children. Enjoy! PrAACtically Reading: Books Featuring Children & Youth with Disabilities Parent-Implemented AAC Intervention for Young Children From Wheelchair to Hands-free Walker for Preschool Children with AAC Needs, Part 1, Part 2 Using Vest Displays with Preschoolers on the Autism Spectrum with guest author Dr. Carol Goossens’ Mining the Preschool Routine for PrAACtical AAC Opportunities Supporting Preschoolers with AAC Needs: A Case Study Visual Supports in Action in the Preschool Classroom TELL ME: AAC in the Preschool Classroom TELL ME About It TELL ME AAC Literacy Kits Brown Bear, Brown Bear I Went Walking From Head to Toe Here Are My Hands What Do You Like? Go Away Big Green Monster No, David Come Out and Play, Little Mouse The Lunch Box Surprise If You’re Angry and You Know It Max’s Breakfast... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
December 14, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
Word prediction, where the communicator types a letter and the AAC technology predicts words based on that letter, can be a powerful addition to an AAC user’s toolbox. Many AAC learners pick it up quickly and without direct instruction, but others need guidance and support. Don’t rule out word prediction for individuals who are not fully literate. Instead, try a period of planned instruction to help them develop the skills to use this strategy. Here are some suggestions for supporting them in learning to use word prediction. Teach learners how to use the initial and final letters to find the word they need: Even when learners don’t know all the letters consistently, they can often learn to a) think about the word, b) think about the sound it starts and ends with, c) think about what letters make those sounds, and d) look at the options to see which of... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
December 13, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. We have some posts for you to check out. Monday – TELL ME About It: AAC Learning with ‘It’s Okay to Be Different!’ Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: From Switches to Eye Gaze Thursday – AAC Reading Roundup Friday – PráctiCAAmente Conectados Con Links – Diciembre ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: While you’re at it, here are some previous posts that may be of interest. PrAACtical Questions with Vicki Clarke: What’s the Role of Core Vocabulary? Communication Boards: Colorful Considerations Let Me Tell You Something- Narratives for the Beginning Communicator Holiday Shopping with a Purpose Hello Holidays! AAC Ideas for Your Celebration
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
December 10, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
Interested in learning more about supporting reading by individuals with AAC needs? Looking for resources that you can plug into your therapy session, classroom activities, or routines at home? Here are some past posts that may be of interest. Books Featuring Children & Youth with Disabilities Asking Good Questions During Interactive Book Reading with AAC Learners AAC & Book Creator Growing AAC Professionals: AAC-friendly Books Making Shared Book Reading Awesome for AAC Users Who Don’t Like Books Alphabet Books & AAC Implementation AAC, Literacy, & Squishy Books Loving Literacy-Let’s Read and Write Storybooks 5 Ways to Use Books to Build Interaction with AAC Learners Adapting Books with Visual Scenes AAC-friendly Accessible Books Make It PrAACtical: Display Stand for Visual Supports or Books 5 Books Featuring Children Who Use AAC Reading with AAC Across the Stages of Language Development Using Adapted Books with AAC Learners: 3 Important Questions to Ask Reading... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
December 7, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
If you’re in search of ways to support preschool teachers who are implementing TELL ME or another core vocabulary program with their young students, this post has some great information and downloadable resources for you. AAC SLPs Jeanna Antrim and Maggie Judson are back with another guest post the TELL ME About It series. Maggie and Jeanna are speech-language pathologists who work in the Assistive Technology Department for the Belleville Area Special Services Cooperative (BASSC) in southern Illinois. They are AT/AAC facilitators and provide evaluations, direct therapy, consultations, and trainings with school teams. TELL ME About It: AAC Learning with ‘It’s Okay to Be Different!’ TELL ME About The Book The fourth book in this new series is “It’s Okay To Be Different” by Todd Parr. A perfect book for a preschool classroom, with its repeated phrases, simple text, and engaging illustrations. And oh, did we mention it’s full of... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: aided language input, shared reading, shared writing
December 6, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends! Here are some posts that may be of interest. Monday – School Year of Core Vocabulary Words: AAC Resources for Month 5 (December) by Michaela Sullivan, Alisa Lego, & Beth Lytle Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Personal Narrative Writing & AAC Thursday – Throwback Thursday: AAC Assessment Practices Still have time for a little more AAC? Here are some of our suggestions. 10 Apps to Gift an AAC SLP Helping Beginning Communicators Expand Their Sentence Length 5 Ways to Make Semantic Maps More Effective in AAC Therapy PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: The Family Book How I Do It: A Year of Core Words in Action Have a great week, everyone!
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: education, narrative, school
December 3, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
Welcome to another Throwback Thursday. Join us as we look back at some detailed posts on AAC assessment practices from Vicki Clarke’s series, AAC Assessment Corner. Ready, SETT, AAC Evaluate! AAC Skills Assessment for Direct Selectors Standardized Tests For AAC Users AAC Assessment for Emergent Communicators The Eyes Have It-Assessment Considerations for High Tech Eye Gaze Access Is AAC Feature Matching Still Relevant? Thinking Inside the Box for AAC Evaluations Procedural Resources Evaluating Skills for Use of Comprehensive AAC Dynamic Display SGDs Language Representation Elements – Noun Symbol Use for Functional Communication
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
December 1, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
Happy December, 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 camp 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: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
November 30, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
As we prepare to turn the calendar to a new page, take a look at the fifth post in the School Year of Core Vocabulary Words series which is replete with resources for December core words. Guest authored by Michaela Sullivan, Alisa Lego, and Beth Lytle, this series focuses on a selected set of words along with a suggested order in which to teach them. The Activity Packets, containing sheets on highlighting these words in a variety of activities, and Data Collection Forms. In today’s post, they focus on ensuring that the AAC system is available all throughout the day. New to this series? Check out the guest authors’ overview here. Happy reading! A SCHOOL YEAR OF CORE WORDS: DECEMBER by Michaela Sullivan, Beth Lytle, & Alisa Lego To the parents, teachers, Speech-Language Pathologists, Paraprofessionals, friends, and other curious professionals or communicators – welcome back to the monthly School Year... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: core vocabulary, Education & Schools