School Year of Core Vocabulary Words – Older Student Lessons: AAC Resources for October
It’s prAACtically October, AAC Awareness Month! Guest authors Michaela Sullivan and Lindsay Dougherty are back with wonderful ideas for your older students who are building their skills with core vocabulary. Don’t miss the slide decks full of activities and the data collection forms specific to the October core words. In this post, they also discuss how the the importance of following the AAC user’s lead.
SCHOOL YEAR OF CORE- Older Student Lessons
Access & Copy below:
INTRODUCTION- OCTOBER 2024
We hope that the School Year of Core (SYOC-OSL) resource can provide you and your students with additional support in learning about core vocabulary through thematic activities and icebreakers.
This busy and fun time of year provides opportunities for celebration as we learn core vocabulary. In October, we celebrate holidays and celebrations across various cultures such as Halloween, Day of the Dead/Dia De Los Muertos, and Diwali.
We hope you find our engaging, diverse resources fun, useful, and easy to access across various contexts… (at home, school, adult day programs, or wherever you have a moment to have fun engaging your AAC Learner in theme-based activities).
In October- the School Year of Core Older Student Lessons themes are: Halloween, Day of the Dead, Diwali, Social Emotional Learning, and Body Parts
If you are not yet familiar with our resources, we invite you to review our materials in the hopes that you can find them useful to support your students and AAC learners. Please find the links to our slide decks at the top of this post. Make a copy of the slide deck and modify/adapt the lessons to meet your needs. We hope that these resources can support you all this year but also for years to come given the amount of activities and slides provided.
We would also like to mention that although these resources were created for AAC users, they can be utilized effectively with a variety of learners. Explore our collection with your older students/individuals, making sure to keep fun and the joy of learning in the forefront!
We would love your honest feedback! Let us know what has been helpful and what could be improved, so our project can continue to grow and change. If you have adapted the SYOC-OSLs to meet your unique needs, please share your ideas with us! We would love to add your creations to our collection of resources.
Email us at schoolyearofcore@gmail.com
To further enrich your experience, download the corresponding Symbol Charts containing September Level 1 and Level 2 words. They can be used as hands-on low-tech visuals, to keep your lessons on track. Also, please download the accountability/data sheets to document progress.
We have provided over 300 slides for October which would seem almost impossible to complete in one month. Our motto is, “Take what you want and leave the rest.” Choose lessons and activities to meet your needs, and save the rest for the next school year.
All Slide Decks contain:
- Icebreaker Activities, (e.g. Jokes, Would You Rather, National days)
- Monthly Language Resources Include:
- “Tell us a Story” slides: to support students to co-construct narratives about past experiences using meaningful photos given WH question scaffolds.
- “Get Off the Computer” suggestions for Shared Reading and Share a Word to Describe your Day: We added a few slides with Shared Reading suggestions and a topic/interest inventory where students/adults can share the topics they are most interested in.
- Self-Care: We will review different topics through the lens of self-care.
- Student Reflection Time: students can use a visual rating scale to share whether or not they enjoyed an activity.
- Symbol charts: include icons from a wide array of communication systems.
- Feelings Check-In: Including sentence frames and visuals
- Weekend reflection: Including visual icons and options.
- Music Choices: Listen to music corresponding to themes and core words
- Media: animated shorts and short, educational video clips
- Predictable chart writing
- Reading
- The Strategy of the Month is Following the Child’s/ Person’s Lead.
We hope you enjoy the School Year of Core-Older Student Lessons for October.
THE WORDS
Weeks 1-2:
- Level 1 Words: my/mine, turn, listen, don’t, up, down, feel, there
- Level 2 Words: them, someone, no one, fix, use, will, learn, clap
Weeks 3-4:
- Level 1 Words: happy, sad, sick, tired, a, scared, mad, who
- Level 2 Words: paint, messy, glue, party, dance, break, wait a minute
THE SYMBOLS
You can download grids with the symbols for this month’s words from the lists below. These handy visual tools can help us remember what words to focus on and be useful in our intervention and instruction.
Level 1 Words
- Avaz
- CoughDrop
- LAMP Words for Life
- Wordpower 60 Basic
- Unity 45 Sequenced
- Unity 60 Sequenced
- Unity 84 Sequenced
- Blank Grid (add your own symbols)
Level 2 Words
- Avaz
- CoughDrop
- LAMP Words for Life
- Wordpower 60 Basic
- Unity 45 Sequenced
- Unity 60 Sequenced
- Unity 84 Sequenced
- Blank Grid (add your own symbols)
AAC STRATEGY OF THE MONTH: FOLLOWING THE CHILD’S/PERSON’S LEAD
The strategy of Following the Child’s Lead promotes a child/student-directed approach to AAC intervention where the communication partner has the opportunity to observe and respond to what the child is engaged in and to integrate the use of the AAC system across a variety of situations that are of interest to the student. Additionally, communication partners can provide and embed the use of other AAC strategies (such as Aided Language Stimulation and Wait Time) when they engage with students.
Below, please find a helpful resource from the Specialised Assistive Technology Centre outlining the 4 L’s to Following the Child’s Lead with AAC: 
This handout is part of an information package produced by the Specialised Assistive Technology Centre, SPD in conjunction with the AAC for Caregivers program. For more information, please email atc@spd.org.sg This handout may be reproduced for teaching purposes/use with clients and families. © Specialised ATC, SPD 2019 AAC for Caregivers
Resources:
- Top 3 Strategies to Engage AAC Users Online resource explaining strategies including Following the Child’s Lead. https://nwacs.info/blog/2018/5/top-3-strategies-to-engage-aac-users
- PrAACtical Resources: AAC for Caregivers This comprehensive resource explains select AAC Strategies. Please find the section: Following the Child’s Lead for more information. The information is courtesy of Specialised Assistive Technology Centre (ATC) SPD in Singapore.
- Six Steps to Follow the Child’s Lead This handout from Hanen does not focus on AAC but outlines ways to follow the child’s lead in general and may assist you in your practice—courtesy of Hanen Early Language Program, 2011.
- Teaching AAC- For Parents (please note the section on Following the Child’s Lead), Courtesy of Angela McV SLP
Video
- Innovative AAC Solutions: The Podcast Season 3 | Episode 7: Follow Their Lead-How I Do It!, courtesy of Special School District of St. Louis County.
- AAC Video Models: Following the Student’s Lead Courtesy of Mara Rogers
DATA COLLECTION & ACCOUNTABILITY FORMS
Taking data to measure performance and keeping track of our own modeling behavior are two things we can do to strengthen our AAC teaching. Here are some forms that you can use to support those efforts.
This posting is dedicated to all of the amazing Educators, SLP’s, parents, therapists and friends who are making a difference every day!
About the School Year of Core-Older Student Lessons Series Authors
Michaela Sullivan is an SLP who specializes in the fields of AAC and AT. She currently works within the San Francisco Unified School District on the AAC Support Team where she works in a transition program and on special projects. Ms. Sullivan also has a private practice, Hands-On AAC. She has presented in the field of Speech-Language Pathology and AAC at state and national conventions. She was one of the creators of the Original School Year of Core first released in 2020 on the websites: PrAACtical AAC and AAC Language Lab. Ms. Sullivan works closely with San Francisco State with Project AAC for ALL, SYOC Bilingue and the TRAAC Project. Ms. Sullivan serves as a Board member, Treasurer and Volunteer for the Nika Project, providing services, supports, resources, training, and repurposed equipment to help meet the needs of individuals who use AAC systems both locally and internationally.
Lindsay Dougherty is a Speech & Language Pathologist, with specializations in Autism and AAC. She currently works for San Francisco Unified School district, providing direct services to students with complex communication needs and supporting her fellow SLPs on the AAC Support Team. Lindsay works on a team of professionals, implementing a Language Systems First curriculum for Pre-K and Kindergarten classrooms across the school district. The team provides a universal language system, staff and parent training and AAC support to teachers and SLPs. She is also the faculty advisor of her middle school’s Best Buddies Club, where she supports students with disabilities in building meaningful friendships with peers.
Our Featured Core Contributors for the Month of September include:
Jadine Veluya, Christelle Marcelo and Joseph Cachapero
Filed under: Featured Posts
This post was written by Carole Zangari