24 Search Results for tasn

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...]

5 Visual Supports for the AAC Classroom

October 24, 2016 by - Leave your thoughts

5 Visual Supports for the AAC Classroom

Looking for some additional ways to support learners with AAC needs in educational settings? Here are some visual supports that you may want to explore. Emergency Drills from The Success Box  Morning Meeting Binder  from Central/South AT Center Social Narratives and Other Visual Supports by SET-BC  “When I’m Upset” by File Folder Heaven  Tri-fold Displays with for conversation and behavior regulation by TASN 

Video of the Week: Helping Learners Build Self Regulation Skills

January 27, 2016 by - Leave your thoughts

Video of the Week: Helping Learners Build Self Regulation Skills

Communication and behavior, as we all know, are deeply intertwined. In this week’s featured video, we hear from Lindy McDaniel, the author of one of my favorite blogs, The Considerate Classroom. In this video, Lindy guides us to think about some of the tools and strategies that we can use to help young learners build their self regulation skills. I appreciate the prAACtical nature of the information and tips, along with the video examples that she shares in this presentation. Many thanks to the fine folks at TASN for making this available. You can see other posts featuring Lindy’s work here and here.   

Tri-Fold Love: 5 Visual Supports for AAC Learners

December 21, 2015 by - Leave your thoughts

Tri-Fold Love: 5 Visual Supports for AAC Learners

Tri-folds are visual displays that are folded in thirds to make a triangular shaped display that can sit on a desk or table top. Like any other visual support, they can be created to suit a variety of purposes. We love them having these visual reminders out and available for quick use. Here are some we found on the amazing sharing site for Boardmaker Online that you may want to check out. First-Then Tri-fold by Alissa Plaisance  Story Grammar Marker by Marcia Piersall  Picture Schedules by Stephanie Besio: Side One has symbols for the individual activities. Side Two has ‘finished’ symbols that can be folded over each activity symbol when that task is completed.  Work First, Then Play by Clavelle  Behavior support by TASN Autism and Tertiary Behavior Supports Do you use this format for visual support with some of the AAC learners in your life? We’d love to hear... [Read More...]

Video of the Week: Every Second Counts with Lindy McDaniel

August 12, 2015 by - 3 Comments

Video of the Week: Every Second Counts with Lindy McDaniel

I’m so excited to share today’s video, featuring Lindy McDaniel, who writes one of my favorite classroom blogs, The Considerate Classroom. This video project was sponsored by the Nebraska Department of Education, and is part of a collaborative effort between them, TASN Autism and Tertiary Behavior Supports and the Colorado Department of Education. Many children with AAC needs lack essential “learning to learn” skills, which limits them in many ways. I appreciate Lindy’s thoughtful approach to this challenge and the caring, respectful way in which she helps children build their abilities in this important area.  Enjoy “Every Second Counts-Embedding Functional Learning Throughout the School Day.”   

PrAACtical Resources for Writing Notes to Send Home

July 30, 2015 by - Leave your thoughts

PrAACtical Resources for Writing Notes to Send Home

When children arrive home from school, they are often asked some version of ‘the’ question: “What did you do in school today?” A few years ago we wrote about strategies families can use to help facilitate that conversation and were so pleased to hear from school staff who took this to heart and helped their students practice these conversational skills. As busy as life in the classroom can be, many teachers and SLPs make the time to communicate with families about the students’ day at school and we love seeing their work. There are many ways to give daily/weekly updates, of course, but many use the tried-and-true strategy of sending a note home. There are lots of examples on the wonderful sharing site for Boardmaker Online. Here are some of them. 1. Katie Crayons   2. Orange County PS1 3. TASN Autism and Tertiary Behavior Supports 4. Megan Little   5. Evet Bresseas   6. Kristen Schmidt (English... [Read More...]

5 Ways to Build Understanding

November 26, 2013 by - Leave your thoughts

5 Ways to Build Understanding

Teaching language can be a sticky business. The concepts can be quite abstract, and that’s a challenge for many AAC learners. It can take some real thought to figure out how to simplify complexity. Beyond that, we have to teach in a way that helps learners retain the new information. Here are some of the things we think about when we’re running the our mental checklist of teaching options. 1. Graphic Organizers: There are so many ways to use graphic organizers to help simplify complex concepts. Use them to show relationships between things, sequences, and component parts. 2. Use a Story: Social narratives are somewhat like social stories, but don’t adhere to the same strict design parameters as a true social story. The TASN project in Kansas has almost 150 of them on a variety of topics on their website. You can check them out here. Most are in .doc,... [Read More...]

5 Resources for Social Narratives

July 29, 2013 by - 2 Comments

5 Resources for Social Narratives

Social Stories™ are a research-supported strategy for helping people to better understand situations and concepts by making these events and the expected behavior within the events more explicit. Initially developed by Carol Gray of The Gray Center, they have a specific structure with rules for development. Here’s a quick overview. Direct Link to Video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjlIYYbVIrI Other people have developed their own form of social narratives with similar goals but a more flexible structure. If you’re looking for information and ideas for using social stories and narratives, take a look at some of the resources below. First, let’s take care of an important question that should be on the mind of anyone thinking about using social narratives. Where’s the evidence regarding the effectiveness of this strategy? Lucky for us, much of it has been collected at the National Professional Development Center on ASD. Here in our own state, the Florida Diagnostic... [Read More...]