794 Search Results for praactical teaching

PrAACtically March: AAC Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary Words

February 27, 2017 by - Leave your thoughts

PrAACtically March: AAC Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary Words

Do the AAC users in your life use only a fraction of the core words in their SGD, AAC app, or communication board? One way to help them move forward is to make a concerted effort to use, highlight, and provide additional teaching on a variety of words. It’s hard to do this without getting overwhelmed, so find a strategy that works for you.  A few years ago, we decided to approach this by focusing on 12-16 core words each month. (If this is too much for the teams with whom you work, that’s not a problem. Just cut it back to 4-6 words/month.) Each month, we can highlight those words in our conversation (aided language input), direct intervention, and home programming activities with AAC learners. The repeated experiences with those 12-16 (or 4-6) words helps our AAC learners develop new skills, and keeps the team focused on the same destination.  It’s... [Read More...]

PrAACtically February: Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary Words

January 30, 2017 by - 1 Comment

PrAACtically February: Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary Words

As we tick off the final days of the month, we’re looking ahead to ways we can highlight more of the core vocabulary words in our clients’ AAC devices and communication aids. One approach to boosting practice opportunities is to select a dozen or so core words to focus on each month. Throughout the month, we can then pay special attention to that small group of words by highlighting them with focused language stimulation, aided language input, and specific activities designed to teach or practice those words. In previous years, we shared lists of some core words to help you do just that and every month we share some ideas for prioritizing a small set of words. You can use these materials to remind yourself which words to highlight this month, with using aided language input and focused language stimulation. What else? Here are some ideas to get you started. Print... [Read More...]

AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week # 1: January 2017

January 1, 2017 by - Leave your thoughts

AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week # 1: January 2017

And just like that, the year is over. Ups and downs; Highs and lows. 2016 was anything but boring. Hope that 2017 is off to a great start for you and your prAACtical friends. Monday: Holiday Talk: AAC Conversations Using Partner-focused Questions Wednesday: Holiday Photos in AAC Learning: 3 Ideas for Using Them to Build Language Thursday:  PrAACtical Teaching in the ASD Classroom: Predictable Chart Writing with Core Vocabulary  

Video of the Week: Teaching Self Regulation Skills

November 30, 2016 by - 1 Comment

Video of the Week: Teaching Self Regulation Skills

When working with learners who use AAC, we often overlook instructional strategies or programs designed for students without disabilities or those with high incidence disabilities. That means we may be missing out on approaches that may be effective for our students. In fact, many AAC learners can benefit from well-designed instruction that was developed for individuals with different kinds of challenges.  In this week’s featured video, we return to one of our favorite sources of instructional information, Kansas TASN, to learn more about teaching young children to build their self-regulation skills. Dr. Kristie Pretti-Frontczak discusses a 5-step process for teaching self-regulation to young children during play, giving ample information on how to implement each step. While this approach may not be ideal for all AAC learners, it may well be helpful for some of the students with whom you work. Many thanks to TASN and KSDE Early Childhood, Special Education and... [Read More...]

AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week # 41: October, 2016

October 9, 2016 by - Leave your thoughts

AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week # 41: October, 2016

Hope you had a good first week of AAC Awareness Month. The fun continues with the USSAAC Twitterchat on 10/13 at 7:00 pm EDT (UTC−04:00). New to Twitterchats? You can learn more here.  You can also join the 8th annual AAC Chat and Read-a-Thon October 14-15. In the meantime, here are some posts that you may have missed. Monday: 13 Ways to Celebrate AAC Awareness Month Tuesday: Teach Me Tuesday: CoughDrop Wednesday: AAC and Visual Supports for Storms and Hurricanes: 10 Useful Resources Thursday: Pete the Cat, Rockin’ in My School Shoes: AT Recipes for Success Here are some more Facebook images for anyone who wants to use them to promote awareness of AAC.    

PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: Apples

September 22, 2016 by - Leave your thoughts

PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: Apples

We are so happy to welcome back SLP Karen Natoci who graciously agreed to continue writing about how she uses interactive book reading to build language skills with beginning communicators. You can see her earlier posts in the PrAACtically Reading series here. In this post, she shares activity ideas for two books on apples. You can learn more about Karen and download her materials toward the bottom of the post.  Enjoy! ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Books:  Apples by Ken Robbins and Apples for Everyone by Jill Esbaum               Adapted and simplified Powerpoint Book Apples by Karen Natoci Core Vocabulary focus: here, in, where Additional Vocabulary focus: Body parts; red, round, yellow, green, COMMUNICATION Matrix (Rowland, 2009) Level:  I-VII (all levels!) ————————————————————————————————————————————- It is September and apple time! I chose to feature these books from which to adapt material suitable for students with complex communication needs. I have a simplified power point... [Read More...]