1037 Search Results for Core
July 30, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
Last week, one of our blog followers, Jeanne Tuthill, alerted us to the fact AAC Evaluation Genie, a software program from Hump Software, went mobile. This is a great program (now app) for doing direct assessment to answer clinical questions you have in doing AAC evaluations. Thanks, Jeanne! – There are 14 sub-tests: Visual Identification, Visual Discrimination, Noun Vocabulary, Function Vocabulary, Verb Vocabulary, Category Recognition, Word Association, Category Inclusion, Category Exclusion, Pixon Core Vocabulary, Unity Core Vocabulary, Unity Icon Patterns, Picture Description, and Word Prediction – Yesterday, I learned that the app will be free in honor of #ISAAC2012 for this week. You can download the app version of AAC Evaluation Genie here. –
July 29, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
It was another wonderful day here in Pittsburgh at the 15th Biennial ISAAC Conference. It was a special day for me because I had the opportunity to speak about a really fun topic, core vocabulary teaching for young children with AAC needs. It was certainly a group effort! A talented graduate student of ours, Tathiane Paiva, and I shared a framework for developing a curriculum to teach core language in preschool classrooms, and used the curriculum I developed with Lori Wise (special educator and literacy specialist with UM NSU CARD) as an example. The basic principles behind the approach we shared are listed below. – •Language and literacy learning happen all day long. •Children learning AAC need high-quality instruction to learn and use basic vocabulary. •Children learning AAC need frequent opportunities for learning and practice. They need dozens of carefully planned opportunities to use their new words each day. •The focus is on... [Read More...]
July 18, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
This post was inspired by a budding young professional who loves AAC and is DETERMINED to provide best practice services for the young students she serves. (See?? This is why we love being clinical educators!) We were chatting about a youngster on her caseload who uses an eyegaze SGD and is making some good progress with the technical aspects of it. Our conversation turned to goal setting. – First, a word about how to talk about AAC in the goals and objectives. For people who use SGDs, there are pros and cons to naming the actual device in the goal. Some SLPs favor that, while others prefer a more flexible approach and describe the device features. More about that another time. A more general concern about writing AAC goals is the tendency to focus more on operating equipment than on becoming an effective communicator. Clearly, we advocate the latter: AAC... [Read More...]
July 1, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
Last week, we switched gears and began talking about the SLP PRAXIS exam. As clinical educators, we know how hard SLP graduate students work and how much pressure they are under as they finish up their master’s programs. Their days are busy from start to finish and finding additional time to study for something as big as the PRAXIS is daunting to even the best student. — In our experience, students do best when they study over time rather than trying to cram the last few weeks before the test date. Life is crazy enough without trying to rush things: We suggest that you begin preparing about 3-4 months before you take the exam. Some students need more time, and some need less. Here are some of our thoughts on how to prepare. – 1. Begin by taking a self-timed exam using the Mosby/Ruscello CD. Don’t use their timed mode (it... [Read More...]
June 16, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
One of the best things about being an AAC interventionist is that it allows you to play and find creative ways to teach and practice language. In this post, we’ve compiled some of our favorite posts about teaching core vocabulary, early communicative intents, and more advanced language skills to people learning AAC. – – Early Language Magic Moments with Toca Store (app) Magic Moments with Toca Boca Doctor (app) PrAACtical Play with Playskool Busy Gears (toys) Magic Moments with Stop and Go (app) HijAACked! Putting an AAC Twist on The Hallelujah Flight (free e-book, website) Magic Moments with Disneyland Explorer (app, free) Magic Moments with Painting with Time (app, free) 5 Apps to Tempt Commenting and Other Language Functions (app) – More Advanced Language Magic Moments: AAC Intervention with BrainPOP (app and website) Magic Moments with Qwiki (app and website) HijAACked! AAC & Anti-Bullying with Stand Tall, Marylou Melon (free... [Read More...]
June 14, 2012
by Robin Parker -
Father’s Day is almost here. We love celebrating fathers and/or the positive male role model in our students lives. The reason we celebrate a variety of ‘father figures’ is that we want to include ALL of our students. So we celebrate grandfathers, uncles, godfathers, husbands, brothers, or any other male the child feels represents a ‘father’ figure. Speech-language pathologists tend to love holidays and art projects. Communication and language is learned in real (authentic) activities. So we found some great Father’s Day Crafts that we are using to facilitate communication/language AND to give ‘dads’ a great home-made gift. Remember though with a little AAC training, Anything we can do, families can do better and more often at home… Dad Tie Snack Jar Candy Bar Letter Tie Wreath Photo Collages Possible Goals (but limitless): requesting with adjectives– ‘want blue crayon’; ‘can I have striped tie?’; ‘need wood glue’ commenting– ‘pretty’; ‘that’s... [Read More...]
June 13, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
There’s so much to love about BrainPOP. Geared for students in 4th-12th grades. Solid curricular content. Engaging animation and really fun educational games. Aligned with Common Core. Searchable by learning standard, subject, or grade level. Built-in assessment. Evidence-based. Web-based and app versions. Closed captioned videos. English and Spanish editions. Additional resources for educators. A simplified version for younger learners. And lots of it for free! – I’ve just scratched the surface of this wonderful site, which has been around since 1999, and is growing in depth and breadth. It’s perfect for some of the older students with whom we work and has a lot of potential for AAC learning. – Magic Moments: Ideas for AAC Intervention with BrainPOP 1. Navigation: Even some of our older students are still learning to find their way around complex AAC systems. The engaging content in the BrainPop videos create a fun context for activities... [Read More...]
June 1, 2012
by Robin Parker -
We have always started our collaborative projects with a retreat (usually a day at the beach or park). The retreat usually ends with a project and a plan to meet again. Following the retreat that inspired PrAACtical AAC, we were spending hours upon hours on the computer searching We were using pen and paper to write down urls to sites we wanted to share. We couldn’t believe the great information that was available. So when Carole told me to sit down and said “you have to look at what I found, it’s called LiveBinders“. I can still remember the exact moment. It was like on T.V….. the sun started shining through the window of my living room and music started playing. We couldn’t believe there was a site that was easy to use, would organize all the work we had done, let us look at and use other binders,... [Read More...]
May 21, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
It’s no coincidence that some of our favorite apps to use with AAC kids don’t rely on good receptive language in order to be successful and have fun. Count us among the fans of Toca Boca for their creative play-based apps with great graphics and lots of repetition with variety. In this post, we share some Magic Moments for using Toca Store as a communication-building experience.– 1. Core Word Practice: Lots of opportunities for practice with familiar nouns (e.g., banana, doll), common verbs (e.g., get, see, want) and modifiers (colors, some, little). 2. Negation: This is another fun app to use when teaching a child to use language appropriate for negation, protests, and rejection. We like teaching that under low stress conditions like this at first to build their skills. Once they get the hang of it, then we help them use it under more natural conditions. That way we can... [Read More...]
April 28, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
Mining everyday routines at home, in school, and in therapy sessions for communication teaching opportunities is a great way to get started in boosting the effectiveness of AAC intervention. We are inspired when we see clinicians enhance their clients’ learning by making subtle, but important changes. – I was thrilled to hear one SLP talk about how she ‘found’ more AAC practice for a teenager by offering more choices in her therapy games. Once he chose a TV character for the activity, LeVon then had to specify what action he/she would do (e.g., dance, drive, clap) and a location in which to do it (e.g., home, school, beach). Agent, action, location. Hmm…sounds like a good start for sentence-building, with a little aided language input and expansion thrown in for good measure. “Quinn drive beach.” “Yes. Quinn drove to the beach in his truck.” And it gives us great pleasure to... [Read More...]