214 Search Results for core boards

PrAACtically Reading: Over in the Garden with Karen Natoci

June 11, 2015 by - 4 Comments

PrAACtically Reading: Over in the Garden with Karen Natoci

Karen Natoci is back with another wonderful book and plenty of ideas for AAC implementation. Enjoy! Book:  Over in the Garden, by Jennifer Ward, Illustrated by Kenneth J. Spengler Core Vocabulary focus: LOOK, IT, LIKE, NOT LIKE, IN, UH-OH OR OOPS. Literacy Level:  Emergent COMMUNICATION Matrix Level:  I-VII Four Block focus:  Shared Reading and Working with Words (at the alphabet/rhyme level) —————————————————— It is spring at our school in Michigan and everything is green and the plants are beginning to grow, fast!  I couldn’t wait to share my favorite book to sing:  Over in the Garden! We found the nearest plant, gathered a few plastic bugs, adapted the book with some cut out fringe words (each type of bug) and I sang into the microphone!  I decided to sing the book and play with sustaining certain words as you will see in this very short video.  The rhythm, rhyme and... [Read More...]

How We Do It: AAC at the Larc School with Kaitlyn Connors and Rachel Egbert

May 18, 2015 by - Leave your thoughts

How We Do It: AAC at the Larc School with Kaitlyn Connors and Rachel Egbert

In honor of ASHA’s Better Hearing and Speech Month, we’ve invited clinicians who use AAC in their schools to share a bit about their work here on PrAACtical AAC. Today’s post is from Kaitlyn Connors and Rachel Egbert, two school-based SLPs in New Jersey. For the past 8 years, Kaitlyn has worked with children who use AAC. She earned her Master’s degree from Ithaca College and remains passionate about AAC, and helping each student communicate to the best of their abilities. Rachel earned her Master’s degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2013.  She eagerly keeps abreast of the latest advances in AAC, which help her to deliver the most positive outcome possible for her students. Both Kaitlyn and Rachel currently serve students at Larc School. Beyond Requesting: PrAACtical Ideas for Building Language in the Classroom To take one student beyond requesting during snack time we implemented a core language board... [Read More...]

AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week 18, May 2015

May 3, 2015 by - Leave your thoughts

AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week 18, May 2015

Monday – 5 Ways to Use Word Clouds in AAC Therapy Tuesday – PrAACtically May: Core Word Calendar by Rachael Langley Wednesday  – Video of the Week: SGDs for People with ASD Thursday – How We Do It: Using Language Boards to Support AAC Use By Nerissa Hall and Hillary Jellison

PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: In My Pot of Gold

March 10, 2015 by - Leave your thoughts

PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: In My Pot of Gold

It’s green where we live, but even our friends who’ve been battling snow and ice for far too long (!) have been seeing bits of color…IF you count the rainbows and gold-filled pots in their therapy rooms, offices, and classrooms. St. Patrick’s Day can be a fun, playful holiday to celebrate, and there are plenty of thematic materials around to build language and literacy skills. For some learners, acquiring holiday-related vocabulary. like shamrock and leprachaun, makes sense. But for most of the AAC learners with whom we work, the priorities are elsewhere. That’s one reason that I’m delighted to share Karen Natoci’s PrAACtically Reading for March. As always, Karen is incredibly generous in sharing both information and materials (such as her lesson plan and PowerPoint story). What I love most about her post, though, is that it honors the excitement and traditions of the holiday while keeping focused on the goal of building core... [Read More...]

PrAACtically Reading: Writing to Read with Karen Natoci

February 17, 2015 by - Leave your thoughts

PrAACtically Reading : Writing to Read with Karen Natoci

We are so pleased to have SLP Karen Natoci back with the second edition of PrAACtically Reading. You can see her first post here. I love that this lesson focuses on older students, providing an age respectful activity (who else loves Mad Libs?!) and a prAACtical way for students with lower verbal skills to develop their reading abilities. Writing to Read: Mad Lib, Core Words, and Literacy Instruction Core Vocabulary focus: like, dislike, uh-oh, again Sometimes it is fun to just write our own BIG BOOK and this month, we decided to do that by using a simplified “mad libs” format. Honestly, I’m not sure who had more fun, the teachers, the student authors or myself!  I was inspired by the work of Gretchen Hanser.  I attended her workshop on writing at Oakland Schools (MI) in the fall of 2013.  She showed us that all students develop writing and experience... [Read More...]

AAC Goes to Summer Camp

February 12, 2015 by - 4 Comments

AAC Goes to Summer Camp

Those of you who are still digging your way out of the most recent snowstorm may not believe it, but it’s almost time to make plans for summer. There are quite a few AAC camps, some that are quite well established and others that have been running for only a few years (see our AAC Camp Pinterest board here). In this post, we hear about one of them from Tina Moreno, an SLP and mom of Mateo, who uses PicturePower 100 on the Maestro to communicate, maintain friendships with his teammates on the cross country team, advocate for himself, reveal his wicked sense of humor, and even sing the National Anthem for his high school’s basketball games. Tina blogs at Voices4All.  With the help of  Drs. Karen Erickson and David Koppenhaver, she and her friend Gina Cunningham created Camp ALEC together in memory of Gina’s son Alec, who never gave up, and... [Read More...]

How I Do It: Cooking in the Classroom with Carol Goossens’

September 4, 2014 by - 3 Comments

How I Do It: Cooking in the Classroom with Carol Goossens'

There is something about fall that puts us in the mood for cooking. Today, we are honored to learn from an AAC pioneer, Dr. Carol Goossens,’ who is an SLP and special educator based in the New York City area. She has consulted extensively in a variety of classrooms serving the full spectrum of children with special needs. Carol has presented both nationally and internationally about her collaborative work with teachers, therapists and families. She is known for her ability to seamlessly integrate technology in the classroom and for developing innovative ways to help children learn …while having fun doing it! In this post, she shares one of her latest projects, making animated recipes for using in cooking activities in the classroom. Cooking appears to be motivating for most children … the magic of putting together ingredients that ultimately become something delicious to eat. Teachers, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and occupational therapists (OTs) often use food preparation activities... [Read More...]

On Autism and AAC

July 18, 2014 by - 1 Comment

On Autism and AAC

Today we are revisiting some of Robin’s most popular posts. 30 Ways to Celebrate Autism Awareness Month AAC Must-Have’s for the Classroom and Therapy Room The First 12: Getting Started with Core Words Literacy For Everyone with Adapted Books Beyond Requesting: Using Scripts to Teach Conversation AAC Goals That Matter Creating Communication Boards: There are Lot of Apps for That! Join Together: Core and Fringe Vocabulary Beyond Requesting: Let’s Chat with Peers Begin AAC Now: 10 Things to Do  

PrAACtically Reading with Brown Bear

June 26, 2014 by - 6 Comments

PrAACtically Reading with Brown Bear

There are so many wonderful things about reading with kids, and practicing AAC is one of them. Every month, we’ll try to pick a book and provide some prAACtical suggestions for how to read it and sneak in some opportunities for receptive and expressive AAC use. You can make book-specific screens, overlays, or boards, but we favor a more powerful approach: use core vocabulary as your base and supplement with words specific to that book. Need some core language displays? There are many floating around, but here’s a link to ours if you need some more. We thought we’d start off this series with a book that is familiar to most, if not all, of you. Pull it off your shelf, find your prAACtical pal, grab that core language board, get to a cozy spot, and let’s get started. PrAACtically Reading with Brown Bear Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do... [Read More...]

10 Cool AAC Things to Do For Better Hearing & Speech Month

May 14, 2014 by - Leave your thoughts

10 Cool AAC Things To DO for Better Hearing and Speech Month

Learn with AbleNet University. Watch excellent free AAC webinars. There are live and recorded webinars so you can learn at your convenience. Share the information with colleagues and families. Give an AAC Gift.  Create AAC informational bookmarks and distribute to educators, staff, and families.   Print some free communication boards.  Go to the PrAACtical AAC e-Tool Box and print out some great core word or activity specific communication boards.  Put in your AAC clinic tool box or share with educators or families. Debunk AAC Myths. Use our AAC Myth buster quotes.  Print and hang in public spaces so everyone can be an AAC myth buster. Learn and PrAACtice a New AAC System (device or app). Go to prAACtical AAC’s Teach Me Tuesdays and choose an app or device to learn- (Alexicom, Proloquo2go, PRC Accent, The Grid, Tap Speak Button & Sequence, Avaz, Tobii C8,  Proloquo4Text, Go Talk Now Text, Nova... [Read More...]