272 Search Results for video literacy

PrAACtical Teaching in an ASD Classroom: Bigger is Better with Core Vocabulary

March 14, 2016 by - 16 Comments

PrAACtical Teaching in an ASD Classroom: Bigger is Better with Core Vocabulary

Today we launch a new series, PrAACtical Teaching in an ASD Classroom, which will address the nuts and bolts of infusing AAC throughout the school day. I couldn’t be more delighted to introduce you to two talented special educators, Amy Devin and Lauren Pawlowski, who work in the public school system in Michigan. Amy and Lauren began teaching in self‐contained ASD elementary classrooms in 2009 and taught in resource rooms prior to that. When they first started with their own classrooms, there was not much talk about core language, let alone how to implement it on a classroom-wide basis. They started with a 32-cell core board on a digitized speech device and now use a 64-location core vocabulary on a manual communication board, large instructional core boards, and individual AAC devices. They are passionate literacy teachers and believe that every child can read, write and communicate. Enjoy their post and... [Read More...]

PrAACtically Reading: A House for Hermit Crab

January 18, 2016 by - 2 Comments

PrAACtically Reading: A House for Hermit Crab

Storybook reading is rich with potential for building AAC, language, and literacy skills. An added bonus: It’s an activity that educators, therapists, and families can all use and enjoy. In this post, we explore ways to use A House for Hermit Crab, by Eric Carle, for AAC and language learning. Key Instructional Strategies Having an engaging book gives us a good start on the lesson, but the learning comes from the interaction. Shared reading can be done in therapy one-on-one or as a group in class. Either way, the adult leading the activity will need to be well-versed in instructional strategies that facilitate AAC learning. These include: Aided language input  RAAP  Feedback  Goal Areas: Language and Communication There are lots and lots of ways to use this book for literacy learning, but in this post we’ll focus more on the development of communication and language skills. Here are some goal... [Read More...]

PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: I Eat Thanksgiving Dinner

November 19, 2015 by - 1 Comment

PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: I Eat Thanksgiving Dinner

Here in the US, many are getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday. If you’re looking for a way to add a prAACtical dimension to your preparations, this post is for you. Thank you, Karen Natoci, for another fabulous PrAACtically Reading contribution! :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Book:  I Eat Thanksgiving Dinner by Karen Natoci; Published on Tarheel Reader here. Core Vocabulary focus: LIKE, DON’T LIKE, Uh Oh!, I, MORE, IT, COMMUNICATION Matrix Level:  I-VII Literacy Framework:  Emergent This month, we decided to practice eating Thanksgiving Dinner by “eating” our way through this book!  This has been uploaded to Tarheelreader and the powerpoint version is available there.  This is shared around a table set for a feast!  To prepare for this story, we were able to purchase a frozen thanksgiving dinner available at the grocery store.  We heated it up and separated it into serving dishes, individualized according to the diet of each of our readers. Some... [Read More...]

AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week 45: November, 2015

November 8, 2015 by - Leave your thoughts

AAC Posts from PrAACtical Week 45: November, 2015

Monday – From Activity-based AAC to Robust Language: Part 2 Tuesday – Make It PrAACtical: New Life for Talking Switches Wednesday – Video of the Week: Apps and Resources for Language and Literacy in Young Children with Disabilities by Beth Poss Friday – Autism and AAC: 5 Pinterest Boards to Follow

How I Do It with Kimberly Scanlon: Using Visual Supports to Build Attention and Cooperation

October 5, 2015 by - Leave your thoughts

Having solid goals and fun activities is one thing, but being able to connect the two and teach communication and language takes skill. We have the best outcomes when the interventionist knows a variety of strategies that can support the learning outcomes. We’ve written about implementing countdown boards and other visual supports to build attention in the past, and have been gratified to hear from many of you who utilize those strategies. In today’s post, SLP Kimberly Scanlon, owner of Scanlon Speech Therapy, discusses how she implements this strategy and shares her own clever variation. You can download it at the end of the post. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: You plan the session. In fact, you over-plan and over prepare. You carefully select materials ensuring they are appropriate, engaging, and motivating for the client. Each activity will be short. Short is key as this student grows restless and losses interest rather quickly. You remove... [Read More...]

Throwback Thursday: 10 Posts on AAC for the Beginning Communicator

September 3, 2015 by - Leave your thoughts

Throwback Thursday: 10 Posts on AAC for the Beginning Communicator

Looking for information to help you round out your services to beginning communicators? Here are some previous posts to explore. Intervention Core Words, Direct Vocabulary Instruction, and Beginning Communicators Helping Beginning Communicators Expand Their Sentence Length Let Me Tell You Something: Narratives for the Beginning Communicator Breaking Through with Emerging Intentional and Beginning Communicators of All Ages A PrAACtical Literacy Activity for Beginning Communicators Ideas About Vocabulary Instruction for Beginning Communicators Videos Recommended Practices for Beginning Communicators Teaching Prelinguistic Communication to Beginning Communicators Using Symbols with Beginning Communicators Other 5 Facebook Groups for Families of Beginning Communicators  

PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: It’s Okay to Be Different

September 1, 2015 by - 4 Comments

PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: It's Okay to Be Different

Get ready to read! Interactive storybook reading is one of my favorite ways to build AAC skills. No matter what the age or kind of disability, it seems like my therapy always includes ssome type of reading material. We are so fortunate to welcome back Karen Natoci, a Michigan SLP who shares our passion for literacy and AAC. You can explore some of Karen’s previous PrAACtically Reading posts here. In this post, Karen introduces us to a book about differences, and shares her ideas for using it to build AAC fluency. Be sure to check out her lesson plan and the video clips that she is so generously sharing. ——————————————————————————————- Book: It’s Okay to Be Different, by Todd Parr Core Vocabulary: all gone, big, different, do, don’t, finished, get, go, he, help, here, I, it, like, look, me, more, no, not, out, she, small, some, that, uh oh, want, where, who, you Additional Vocabulary-... [Read More...]

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...]

Conversations in the Classroom with Tina Moreno

May 21, 2015 by - Leave your thoughts

Classroom Conversations with Tina Moreno

Better Hearing and Speech Month continues with guest blogger Tina Moreno. In this post, Tina shares some thoughts on building meaningful conversations in the classroom. She also made her visual support materials available for downloading (link at the end of her post). You can read Tina’s previous post for BHSM here.   CONVERSATIONS IN THE CLASSROOM Fostering opportunities for meaningful conversation is critical throughout the school setting.  Great discussions can happen in the classroom, but it can prove challenging for students to remain on topic, take conversational turns and give their peers wait time.  In order to help students acquire these skills, we need to provide direct instruction, modeling by adults (and typically developing peers whenever possible!) and visual supports. Aim for the conversation target It can be difficult for students to keep track of the conversation target, especially in large group, fast-paced settings.  It can be especially challenging for... [Read More...]