December 26, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
It’s almost time to switch to a new calendar so we’re looking ahead to January and gearing up to model and teach some more core words to our AAC learners. If you have some prep time this week, join us! This is a great time to get the word cards and other materials for the Year of Words (Set 1; Set 2) ready to use with the AAC learners in our lives. Thanks to the generous spirit of PrAACtical AAC readers we have posts with a variety of resources: Templates for you to plug in your own symbols: Set 1 words, Set 2 words Minspeak/Unity version: Set 1 PCS versions: Set 1, Set 2 Speak for Yourself version: Set 2 SymbolStix version: Set 1 Lesson Pix: Set 1 Smarty Symbols: Set 1 words, Set 2 words CoughDrop: Set 1 words; Set 2 words WordPower: Set 1 words (Note: This is a large file... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Year of Core Words
December 25, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or none of these, we wish you a season of love, compassion, and grace. Before you go, I’d like to share my favorite hymn with you. Enjoy ‘Let There Be Peace on Earth,’ covered by the incomparable Mahalia Jackson on this beautiful Christmas morning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM0vh_e66n0 Lyrics: Let There Be Peace on Earth (Jill Jackson-Miller & Sy Miller) Let there be peace on earth And let it begin with me Let There Be Peace on Earth The peace that was meant to be With God as our Father Brothers all are we Let me walk with my brother In perfect harmony. Let peace begin with me Let this be the moment now. With ev’ry step I take Let this be my solemn vow To take each moment and live Each moment in peace eternally Let there be peace on earth And let it begin with... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Christmas
December 23, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Looking to add a few things to your AAC resource library? Here are some selections that were posted to the AAC Link Up and may be helpful to some of you. Book-related AAC resources by Symbols for All Choosing Targets to Model on your Speech Generating Device Parent Handout from KidsAbility. Proloquo2Go Starter Guide from AssistiveWare. Guide to One-handed Typing Options by Koester Performance Research. Picture This: ‘Open Symbols’ for AAC by CoughDrop. Are their others we should add to this list? We’d love to hear about them.
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AAC Resources
December 22, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. If the hustle and bustle of the holiday season kept you busy, you might have missed some of our AAC posts from the week. Monday – TELL ME About It: AAC Learning with ‘Here Are My Hands’ Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: The Evolution of AAC Thursday – Throwback Thursday: AAC Posts from the Past Best wishes for a happy Hanukkah, a merry Christmas, and a meaningful Kwanzaa to all of you! ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
December 19, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
It’s another Throwback Thursday, and we’re visiting the vaults to share these posts. Teaching Core Vocabulary The First 12: Getting Started with Core Words 5+ Ways to Make Page Fluffers and Spacers AAC Vocabulary Lists Make It Monday: Manual Communication Boards with Core Vocabulary Communication Boards: Colorful Considerations
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: communication boards, core words, vocabulary
December 16, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Welcome to a new edition of TELL ME About It, with AAC Specialists Maggie Judson and Jeanna Antrip. 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. They’ve collaborated on a series to share their experiences in supporting preschool classrooms that implement the TELL ME program that Lori Wise and I created. If you missed the earlier posts in this series, you can get caught up using the links below. From Head to Toe I Went Walking Brown Bear, Brown Bear TELL ME AAC Literacy Kits TELL ME About It: AAC Learning with ‘Here Are My Hands’! TELL ME About Reading: The fourth book in the TELL ME program (Teaching Early Language and Literacy through Multimodal Expression) is “Here Are My Hands.” A... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: core vocabulary, Jeanna Antrim, Maggie Judson, reading, TELL ME, writing
December 15, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. Here are some posts that may be of interest. Monday – PrAACtical Resources: Creating Interactive Images for AAC Learning Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Starting AAC with Individuals with Angelman Syndrome Thursday – How We Do It: AAC Strategies & Adaptations for Students in Support Walkers, Assessment & Funding ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Have a little more time? You might want to check out some of these posts from the archives. PrAACtical Questions with Vicki Clarke: What’s the Role of Core Vocabulary? Supporting AAC Learners in Emergent Writing: 5 Helpful Resources Let Me Tell You Something- Narratives for the Beginning Communicator
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
December 12, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
How can we reduce the negative impact of significant motor challenges on children who use AAC and are not independently mobile? Today, we conclude Christine Wright-Ott’s series on this topic. Christine is an Occupational Therapist and consultant at The Bridge School in Hillsborough California. She authored the chapter, Mobility, in several editions of the book, Occupational Therapy for Children. Christine lectures at universities and conferences including ATIA, Closing the Gap, ISAAC, ISS, and AAC by the Bay. If you missed the earlier posts in this series you can catch up via the links below. Part 1: From Wheelchair to Walker: The Cascading Benefit of Hands-Free Mobility Part 2: From Wheelchair to Hands-free Walker for Preschool Children with AAC Needs Part 3: How We Do It: A Support Walker Mobility Program for Elementary Students with AAC Needs ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: AAC Strategies, Adaptations for Students in Support Walkers, Assessment & Funding AAC Strategies and... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: mobility, mounting, schools
December 10, 2019
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 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
Tagged With: ATIA
December 9, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
A picture may well be worth 1,000 words, as the saying goes, but we can boost the AAC learning power by making that image interactive. ThingLink is a site that allows you to upload images and create hotspots that users can click on for more information. Free accounts, with limited features, are available. The hotspots can be simple text boxes or you can turn them into multimedia launchers by linking to a website. In the examples below, I used static images of popular AAC apps and hyperlinked some of the cells to videos of songs that highlight those words. In this example, the target core vocabulary words link out to videos from Speech and Language Songs, Super Simple Songs, and Ms. Marlowe. This can be used during instructional activities or we can send the link to families for use at home. To explore these examples, move your cursor over the... [Read More...]
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: instructional materials, intervention ideas