844 Search Results for core vocabulary
March 20, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
One of the really fun things about writing posts about vocabulary is that it gives us a great excuse to browse some teacher and SLP blogs. Sometimes their creativity blows me away, not to mention how incredibly engaging and cute they are! I especially love the creative themes that they use to go way beyond the ‘Vivid Verbs’ concept. Metaphors and visual imagery are both research-backed strategies for retaining new information. That’s important, especially as we move beyond core vocabulary and expose our AAC learners to a richer lexicon. Both can be used in a variety of games and activities and go a long way toward build engagement about new word learning. In the hands of an enthusiastic instructor, a metaphor can be developed into a theme that boosts the ‘fun factor,’ which is important when we’re trying to build the buzz around new word learning. Here are some of... [Read More...]
March 16, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
Have you ever thought of making short videos to illustrate the meaning of the core words you are teaching to your AAC learners? If so, this post is right up your alley. Teacher Angie Sheets and SLP Nicole Wingate have teamed up to bring the power of video to core vocabulary instruction and are here to share the fruits of their labor. For the past 17 years, Angie has been teaching Intense Interventions to students from kindergarten through grade 4 at Bluffton Harrison Elementary School. Her AAC experiences range from “DIY on the fly” (anything that can be made in a classroom at little to no cost and meets an immediate need) to high tech. (You can follow her on Twitter @asheetsroom14). Nicole also works for the Bluffton Harrison school system, servicing pre-k through 12th grade students. Her AAC experience includes no tech (e.g., picture boards, PECS), low tech (e.g.,... [Read More...]
January 16, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
Here in the US, we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr on the third Monday of January. It presents, among other things, a wonderful opportunity to talk and teach about concepts like tolerance, fairness, dignity, respect, and peaceful protest. Many of our AAC learners have a deeper understanding of these concepts than we will ever realize but they lack the language skills to discuss them in the same ways as their speaking peers do. Today, we share some ideas for continuing the conversation about these issues to help our AAC learners continue to develop their language skills. You may already have books, videos, and other resources that are useful in teaching about the life of Dr. King and the values he fought for, but here are some previous posts with a few more suggestions. Martin Luther King, Jr Holiday: 5 Resources for AAC Learners AAC and Anti-bullying... [Read More...]
January 2, 2017
by Carole Zangari -
Happy 2017! As we welcome another prAACtical year, it’s time to start preparing the materials we’ll need to model and teach core words to our AAC learners. This is a great time to get the word cards and other materials for the Year of Words (Set 1/2013; Set 2/2014) ready to use with the AAC learners in our lives. Thanks to the generous spirit of PrAACtical AAC readers we have posts with a variety of resources: Minspeak/Unity version: Set 1/2013 PCS versions: Set 1/2013 , Set 2/2014 Speak for Yourself version: Set 2/2014 SymbolStix version: Set 1/2013 Lesson Pix: Set1/2013 Smarty Symbols: Set 1 words, Set 2 words CoughDrop: Set 1 words; Set 2 words WordPower: Set 1 words (Note: This is a large file that contains the resources for several versions of WordPower) Thanks to Brian Whitmer, Barbara Fernandes, Nancy Inman, Deborah Lesher, Beth Erwin, Bill and Lori Binko, Heidi LoStracco, Alison Wade,... [Read More...]
October 27, 2016
by Carole Zangari -
Nothing makes us smile like seeing teams in which professionals serving students with AAC needs work together to ensure that those students can use and grow their language skills. In this guest post, we learn about an approach that has worked for one such team, Lori Sanzeri and Chelsea Collins. Lori Sanzeri, MA CCC-SLP, TSHH, received her B.S. in Speech Language Pathology from SUNY Cortland in 2003 and M.A. from St. John’s University in 2009. She has worked for the NYC Department of Education since 2003 and teaches AAC and phonetics at St. John’s University. Chelsea Collins, MS CCC-SLP, TSSLD, received her B.S. in Special Education from Seton Hall University in 2009 and M.S. in Communicative Sciences and Disorders from New York University in 2012. She has worked for the NYC DOE since 2012 and specializes in AAC and early intervention. They are on Instagram as @thelanguageladies and have a Facebook page as... [Read More...]
October 26, 2016
by Carole Zangari -
And just like that, we’re ready to say goodbye to October. It’s been a great month of AAC Awareness events and activities (whew!), and now we are prepping for November. Looking for some ways to help your AAC learners become more competent in using core words? Need to get staff on board with modeling core vocabulary? Trying to get familiar with where core words are stored in a particular SGD or AAC app? Here’s an approach you may want to try: Choose a dozen or so core words to focus on each month. In previous years, we shared lists of some core words to help you do just that. 2013: A Year of Core (12 words/month) 2014: A(nother) Year of Core (16 words/month; Note: These are different than the core words covered in 2013) Those posts have links to downloadable grids with the core words for each month that can be used... [Read More...]
September 19, 2016
by Carole Zangari -
Our Site of the Month addresses a topic relevant to many of you who serve AAC learners. The Project Core website is the public face of a research project looking at the use of an AAC intervention program that uses a consistent set of core vocabulary that grows with the learner over time. The multi-tiered system for augmenting language used in this project begins with extensive aided language input and explicit instruction of selected core words during meaningful interactions throughout the school day. This forms a foundation on which more specialized and individualized intervention and vocabulary selection is built. The project is part of the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where the team has been developing a classroom-friendly intervention approach based on the System for Augmenting Language that was pioneered in the 1990s and continues to build an evidence base... [Read More...]
July 26, 2016
by Carole Zangari -
Looking for ways to prAACtice using core words? Rachael Langley has been incredibly generous with her time in creating and sharing calendars with daily activity ideas. The current calendar (2016) provides suggestions for our Year of Core Vocabulary Set 2 words. You can look back at the 2015 calendar for prAACtice suggestions for the August Set 1 words, too.
June 30, 2016
by Carole Zangari -
Keiran has a new AAC app that is well-populated with core vocabulary. Gabbie has had an SGD for awhile but doesn’t use it as frequently as her team had hoped. Hudson is transitioning from PECS to an AAC device with more robust language. While different in many ways, each of these learners has a common need: frequent opportunities to learn about and use core vocabulary. To accomplish this, their SLPs, teachers, and families select a dozen or so core words and pay special attention to those each month. That allows them to highlight this small group of words using focused language stimulation, aided language input, and specific activities designed to teach or practice them. In previous years, we shared lists of some core words to help you do just that. Set 1 (2013: A Year of Core) (12 words/month) Set 2 (2014: Another Year of Core) (16 words/month) In today’s post,... [Read More...]
April 4, 2016
by Carole Zangari -
Special educators Lauren Pawlowski and Amy Devin are back with tips for making AAC work in the classroom. In their first post, they talked about using a large communication board that is rich in core vocabulary for aided language input and AAC instruction. Today, they share some of the things they’ve learned to make this more manageable in a busy classroom. Enjoy! ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: We hope that many of you were able to make your Big Core boards for group instruction. Now what?? Using Big Core can take a while to get used to. Even after using it for several years, sometimes we still struggle with finding the words quickly. Don’t worry about this because our students can’t always find words quickly and it is good for them to see that everyone struggles with language at times. It can also be empowering to them if you ask for their help! The... [Read More...]