440 Search Results for visual supports
August 19, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Combining AAC learning with literacy activities is one of our favorite ways to support young learners. We start off the week with a taste of how AT specialists in one school district are helping preschool special education teachers build a foundation of core vocabulary in their students. Maggie Judson and Jeanna Antrim 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. This is the first of a series of posts in which Maggie and Jeanna discuss ways that books from the TELL ME program can be used to support AAC learning. Enjoy! :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: As AAC facilitators for a special education cooperative, we are always on the lookout for effective ways to provide our students access to instructional materials and activities that not... [Read More...]
August 5, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Looking to create a sustainable AAC program in your school? Today, we learn about the way one school district in Illinois created a core vocabulary initiative that has been up and running for almost a decade. Kelly Key, the Assistive Technology (AT) Coordinator for Barrington School District 220 serves as our tour guide. Kelly is passionate about giving students a voice through core vocabulary and empowering others to support students. She has been in the field for over 22 years as a special education teacher, an administrator, and AT Coordinator. Kelly presents at local, state, and national conferences and colleges on various AT topics including core vocabulary and AAC implementation. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: How We Do It: Getting to the CORE of Communication (Part 1) Rolling Out a Core Vocabulary Initiative- How this District has been going strong for a decade! The Importance of Using Core Vocabulary As we all know, individuals with complex... [Read More...]
July 22, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Let’s start the week with some downloadable resources for those of you teaching core vocabulary. Today, we’ll head to the online marketplace for educators, Teachers Pay Teachers, to check out some of the free AAC resources. Enjoy! DIY AAC Visuals Freebie (Speechy Musings) Customizing AAC Systems Top 10 Tips for Augmentative Communication Users (Susan Berkowitz) Word of the Week: Come (Sister SLPs) Visual Supports/AAC for Pizza and Birthday Cake Toys (Speech Universe) Expressing Negatives Lesson Plan (AAC Language Lab)
July 21, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. Here are some posts you may have missed. Monday – PrAACtical Resources: A Potpourri of Visual Supports, AAC Handouts, & More Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Thinking Beyond the Device – What Autistic Adults who Use Speech & AAC Can Teach Us Thursday – PrAACtically Visual: Supports to Organize Time and Tasks ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Before you go, here are a few of Karen Natoci’s popular literacy-focused posts to check out. PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: Yo! Yes? PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: The Family Book PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: Hello Baby PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: The Five Senses PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: Are You My Mother?
March 24, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
Happy Sunday, AAC friends! Here’s what we’ve been up to. Monday – PrAACtical Resources: Communication with Children with Deafblindness or Visual and Multiple Impairments Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: AAC (Re)Boot Camp-It’s Not About the Technology Thursday – Using Generalization Probes to Gauge Language Learning in AAC :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: We’ve been talking about AAC and book reading with some prAACtical friends this week. It seemed like a good time to share some book-related posts from the archives. 5 Ways to Use Books to Build Interaction with AAC Learners Alphabet Books and AAC Implementation Adapting Books with Visual Scenes Make It PrAACtical: Display Stand for Visual Supports or Books Using Adapted Books with AAC Learners: 3 Important Questions to Ask
March 21, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
In her role as the team’s SLP, Christy frequently collaborates with classroom teachers to identify areas of language development where students learning AAC need specific goals and instruction. Goals for her students address a range of areas. Given frequent aided language input, Evan will use 2-symbol sentences to make relevant comments at least twice per activity. When presented with preferred and non-preferred options, Sasha will independently request desired activities/objects with 70% accuracy. In the context of peer interactions, Tegan will ask a ‘What’ question in 3 out of 5 opportunities. Given gestural cues, Matthew will converse on a partner-selected topic for at least 4 conversational turns. With visual supports, Gabby will use subject + verb sentences to describe pictures, materials or events in 4 out of 6 trials. To help the students acquire these skills, Christy carefully plans the instructional sequence and selects contexts appropriate for the intervention targets. She... [Read More...]
January 14, 2019
by Carole Zangari -
In the US, poster-sized core boards are displayed in a growing number of special education classrooms. In some cases, the displays match the AAC systems that were selected for the students following a comprehensive AAC evaluation. In others, they are more of a compromise measure which are used in order to get communication teaching started while the AAC evaluation process is still in progress. Either way, we eventually want to move from a one-size-fits-all approach to one where there are more individualized communication tools. Here are some of the key areas to consider in that process. Vocabulary: While there are many benefits of modeling and eliciting a starter set of core vocabulary throughout the day, there is no denying that specific words are very powerful. What other words (fringe or core), would make a difference in his/her/their learning trajectory? For some, we may consider adding things like the names of... [Read More...]
December 13, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
In recent weeks, we’ve been getting lots of questions about using AAC with young children. There are lots of ways to approach this so today we are looking back at some of our earlier posts on AAC at the preschool level. If this is a topic of special interest to you, don’t miss the announcement about a giveaway at the end of the post. 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 Attainment, the publisher of TELL ME (Teaching Early Language and Literacy through Multimodal Expression) is generously providing a free copy of the program through a contest they are running. TELL ME your AAC story for a chance to win a... [Read More...]
November 4, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
Happy November, AAC friends! Here are some posts you may have missed in your busy week. Monday – PrAACtically November: AAC Resources for a Year of Core Vocabulary Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: Talk AAC with Me Thursday – Building AAC Facilitation Skills with Tabi Jones-Wohleber: MASTER PAL Training, Module 11 (Let the Child Lead) ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Have room for a little more AAC in your day? Here’s a sampling to choose from. Beyond Behavior Problems: How Visual Supports Can Help Our AAC Teaching AAC Intervention: 5 Activities with PrAACtical Potential AACtual Therapy: Positive Behavior Management with Gail Bennell Daylight Savings Time and Behavior Extension Activities for AAC Practice And, finally, if working with young children who have complex communication needs is your thing, we invite you to join us for a full day of preschool AAC in January. (Use the sliding bar on the right to navigate... [Read More...]
October 22, 2018
by Carole Zangari -
We’ve been focusing on training communication partners recently and today we’re focusing specifically on paraprofessionals/educational assistants. Our guest post is authored by SLPs Corinna Duffitt, M.Sc., RSLP (practicing for 21 years, 14 years in AAC) and Jennifer Wiegert, M.A., CCC-RSLP (practicing for 21 years, focusing on AAC for the past 6 years). They are colleagues on an AAC team with 4 other SLPs in a large school district in Surrey, BC, Canada. Their school district consists of 101 elementary schools and 20 secondary schools. Corinna and Jennifer are both passionate about giving children a voice and letting that voice uncovers their potential. They recently joined their private practice endeavours, outside of their public school positions, to form Chickadee AAC Communication Services. You can find them on Instagram (@chickadeeaacslps or #chickadeeaac), check in on their website, and/or follow them on Facebook. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: AAC Training for Educational Assistants Some of the challenges we encountered... [Read More...]