817 Search Results for praactical teaching
February 22, 2016
by Carole Zangari -
Today, we welcome back an old friend, Lauren Enders. Many of you are already familiar with Lauren through the posts she has shared on AAC in the IEP, encouraging AAC implementation, and writing AAC goals, and also the wonderful work she does in curating resources on Pinterest. We’re thrilled that she will be joining us each month to highlight a different Pinterest board that has AAC-related content. Lauren identifies interesting and helpful resources and adds relevant commentaries to all of the items she includes. In this first post, she shares a collection of resources on apps that can be used to engage AAC learners in therapy, instruction, play, and leisure time. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: For the past few years, I have been building a Pinterest site with the goal of providing visual, categorized, and easily accessible resources that relate to AAC as well as Assistive Technology, Speech and Language Therapy, Special Education, iPads,... [Read More...]
February 8, 2016
by Carole Zangari -
Last month, I had an opportunity to hear Dr. Barry Prizant, Director of Childhood Communication Services and Adjunct Professor at Brown University, at the 2016 Center for Autism and Related Disabilities Conference. Many of you know Dr. Prizant as co-author of SCERTS, the Social Communication Emotional Regulation Transactional Supports Program, and his recent book, Uniquely Human, discussed in this video. At this conference, he spoke on ‘An Emotional Regulation Approach to Preventing Problem Behavior.’ Here are some points of interest from his presentation. Dr. Prizant suggested that when someone is dysregulated, the first thing we should think about is biological factors that may be causing or exacerbating the problem. Why? Because unless we address the root of the problem, chances are slim that any behavioral, communicative, or psychological strategies will be effective in the long run. In some cases, there is a rather straightforward solution, such as teaching our client... [Read More...]
January 19, 2016
by Carole Zangari -
Doing a training or workshop on core vocabulary? Looking to help a team get more fluent in AAC modeling? Teaching an AAC course to graduate students? There are lots of you out there spreading the word about AAC, core vocabulary, and aided language input. Whether you are doing an informal training, presenting a workshop or teaching a class, you may be interested in giving the participants some hands-on practice with core words. If so, here’s a fun activity to help get them engaged. Get ready for…Battleship, AAC Edition! Battleship is a barrier game in which two players cannot see each other’s game boards. The game boards consist of identical grids, labeled with players placing their battleships somewhere on the board. They take turns calling out coordinates to find and sink one another’s battleship. You can learn more about how to play the game and see the game boards here. Teachers have... [Read More...]
December 29, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
Taking down the Christmas tree Chilling a bottle of champagne Reflecting on New Year’s resolutions Is it really possible that, in another few days, we’ll be saying goodbye to 2015? 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. Next week, we’ll talk more about the instructional methods to use with these materials. For now, though, our focus is on getting 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 kindness 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 We are so appreciative for the support of... [Read More...]
December 22, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
Joel Shaul, of Autism Teaching Strategies, has been so generous in sharing the creative resources that he has developed over the years. In this post, we take a look at Fix the Problem, a game that he created to support learners who have difficulty in social situations. The game board, playing cards, tokens (play money), and other materials are all free downloads. You can get them here. If you download and use these materials, please consider heading back to Joel’s website to leave a comment, provide feedback, or share a photo. Enjoy! You can see more of Joel’s work here.
November 29, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
Monday – Building AAC Intervention Skills: Skillful Use of Time Delay Tuesday – How We Do It: Co-Teaching with PODD by Dana Brown and Sara Olsen Wednesday – Classroom Support for the Beginning Communicator Thursday – Happy Thanksgiving!
November 24, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
When SLPs and teachers work together for the benefit of students with little or no functional speech, the results can be magical. Today, we travel to Wisconsin to visit with SLP Dana Brown and Special Educator Sara Olsen who work together at the elementary school level. In this post, Dana and Sara tell us about their experiences using PODD in a classroom of students with intellectual disability. You can learn more about their work on YouTube (Watch Your Language) where they post Word of the Week videos and snippets of AAC use in different clasroom activities. Regular readers know that we’ve posted a few articles and videos on PODD. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: We write as a team of special educators, a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) and an Intellectual Disabilities teacher, and one thing that we’ve learned working closely together is that AAC is difficult and ongoing. In this post, we are excited to share... [Read More...]
September 28, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
It has been so exciting to hear about the growing number of classrooms, therapy sessions, and families who are prioritizing high-frequency core words with AAC learners. Whether you are using a high tech SGD, AAC app, or no-tech communication boards/books, core vocabulary teaching can play a powerful role in building language skills. If you are following along with our 2013 Year of Core (first set with 12 words/month) or the 2014 A(nother) Year of Core: (second set 16 words/month; Different than the previous year’s core words), you may have printed out some of the word cards to use with the AAC learners in your life. Thanks to the kindness of PrAACtical AAC readers (Bill and Lori Binko, Heidi LoStracco, Alison Wade, Russell Cross, Gail Van Tatenhove, Eric Sailers, Rachael Langley, Laura Kessell, Christine Bayley and others) we have a variety of resources to explore. Once you have them, the idea... [Read More...]
September 21, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
What is more amazing than seeing kids with AAC needs become competent communicators? How about seeing the next generation of SLPs become competent in AAC?! It is over-the-moon exciting to think of how many lives we could touch if more SLP students became passionate about AAC. Today, we add to our series called PrAACtically SLPs, where we hand the reins to students studying to be SLPs who’ve taken a special interest in AAC. This post is authored by Stephanie Johnson and her colleague Brianna Simmons, two Australian student Speech Pathologists from Macquarie University. They recently completed a clinical placement at Lifestart, an agency that supports children and young people living with disability. Because many of the children on their caseloads had significant communication challenges, AAC options became an important focus of their intervention. In this post, they tell us about their journey learning to use an AAC app with some of their clients. Please... [Read More...]
July 28, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
It’s just about back-to-school time where we live, and many students who are learning to use AAC will be working to become more competent with their augmentative communication systems. Teachers, therapists, and aides can help them in that journey by teaching core vocabulary so that they have a body of words that can be used across activities, environments, and communication partners. There are lots of ‘right’ ways to support these students. Among them is an instructional approach in which a new set of core words is introduced every few weeks in order to build their experiences with AAC. Our Year of Core Words materials has two versions, one from 2013 (12 words/month) and one from 2014 (16 words/month; Different than the previous year’s core words). If you’ve been following along, or are just getting started, these resources may be of interest. 2013 Words: any, bring, day, fall, give, hot, job,... [Read More...]