817 Search Results for praactical teaching
September 16, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
When you’re learning something new, it’s likely that you’ll need some help along the way. The same is true for our AAC learners. Here are some of the things we’ve been thinking about lately regarding prompts and cues. 1. Sometimes, actually MANY times, a ‘perfect pause’ is all that’s needed. Stop the action, look expectantly at the learner, and wait quietly. How long? It depends on the individual and the situation, but 10 or 15 seconds is in the ballpark for most AAC learners. 2. It’s important to consider both the type of prompt (e,g., gestural, verbal, physical) and how much information that prompt provides to the learner. We hear lots of SLPs say that they prefer verbal prompts because they are less helpful than, say a physical prompt, and, thus, require more from learner. Not always. Here’s an example: “Jason, tell me, ‘More milk.’” Vs. Gesturing over the message... [Read More...]
September 3, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
It’s a(nother) new semester for us and that means we get the chance to work with a whole new crop of graduate student SLPs who are learning to provide AAC services for the very first time. It just doesn’t get any better than that! One of the challenges for all beginning clinicians is deciding what intervention strategies to use to facilitate their clients’ learning in various areas. Recently, I had a wonderful conversation about the power of contrastive examples. I was taught this strategy by Dr. Ed Kame’enui and still use his ‘glerm’ activity today to illustrate the concept. The ‘glerm’ activity was quick way to demonstrate how to use carefully chosen examples to teach a new concept. Here’s the activity. You have to use your imagination and pretend this is a demonstration rather than a paper-and-pencil activity, but you’ll get the idea. And glerm is….? If I did a good... [Read More...]
August 17, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
Like many of you, we are always racking our brains trying to help students who use AAC be successful academically. Because we serve these students in a clinical setting, we could easily pass on the opportunity to align our AAC goals with academic standards but what would be the fun in that? Here are some things we try to think about with school-aged kids who have AAC needs. SLP to SLP If it takes a village to raise a child, how many people does it take to help a kids with AAC needs to develop communicative competence and succeed academically? It boggles the mind. As SLPs, message is this: We have to work together. Many kids who use AAC have private therapies in addition to their school services, and yet, we rarely connect. We have to find a way to do a better job at this so that kids with... [Read More...]
August 11, 2013
by Robin Parker -
Use Aided Language Input (ALI). If you have never have worked with a student with AAC, are just beginning, or are an expert, one of the best AAC teaching strategies is ALI. Learn or refresh your ALI knowledge with this great video by One’s Kid Place: Children’s Treatment Centre.
July 24, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
There’s nothing that says ‘exciting’ like seeing a little person have their first successful experience with AAC. I had just that kind of experience recently and had some fun with a little guy who went from requesting by grabbing to requesting by handing me a picture symbol in about 15 minutes. His parents are interested in using the Picture Exchange Communication System® (PECS®) and that’s probably a good next step. While looking for online information to send them, I can across this wonderful tutorial on how to make your own book in the PECS® style from a 3-ring binder. Hope this excellent post from Educate Autism comes in handy. Picture Exchange Communication System® and PECS® are registered trademarks of Pyramid Educational Consultants, Inc.
June 27, 2013
by Robin Parker -
It’s summer time and hopefully you have some time for some fun meaningful language experiences. There are many resources to help prAACtically support many summer time traditional activities. Check these out: Swimming– Special Education British Columbia- Picture Set has a great visual support for pool routines. Tammy Anderson from Aqua Pros Swim School shares Innovative and Fun Visual Supports for teaching swimming. Cooking– Recipes visualized from Dade County Schools (need boardmaker software to open) OR Recipes visualized from Your Special Chef (no boardmaker necessary) Bubbles are a great outdoor activity for the summer. SLP Tanna Neufeld shares her ideas and communication displays to make bubbles a meaningful language learning experience. Nature Walks- Visual checklists help make nature walks meaningful language experiences. The checklist provides a visual organization that can build in symbol/language learning as well as providing an easy way to talk about the event after it is over. Check Lakeshore... [Read More...]
June 25, 2013
by Robin Parker -
We love PrAACtical research that involves intervention that presumes competence. In this post, we bring you an article by Drs. Anne Emerson and Jackie Dearden on how adopting a ‘full’ language approach and presuming competence can result in increased understanding of complex language and literacy skills. (Emerson & Dearden, 2013). They discuss the role of adopting a ‘minimal’ vs ‘full’ language teaching approach. Checkout the Sage Journals online abstract here: The effect of using ‘full’ language when working with a child with autism: Adopting the ‘least dangerous assumption’ Emerson, A., & Dearden, J. (2013). The effect of using ‘full’ language when working with a child with autism: Adoptingthe ‘least dangerous assumption. Child Language Teaching & Therapy, 29(2), 233-244. doi: 10.1177/0265659012463370
June 14, 2013
by Robin Parker -
Some great free AAC resources for communicating with dad this Father’s Day and beyond: Talk to dad with visual conversational starters from Autism Teaching Strategies/Joel Shaul. Play a Mayor-Johnson symbol based memory game. Print, color, and create the game together and then have fun playing and communicating. Father’s Day Activity and Social Story (for those dads that like gardening) from Positively Autism For more ideas or inspiration about Father’s Day, see PrAACtical Reflections. Have a Great Father’s Day!
May 8, 2013
by Robin Parker -
It’s PrAACtically Mother’s Day and we are thinking about gifts and activities that promote communication, language, & literacy. Here are 5 activities that are fun and interesting to plan for and do interactively. In the end, there will also be a tangible and/or intangible gift for mom. Enjoy and please share any additional activities that you have done or seen that you think are great. Visual Supports to Support Conversations with Moms-Thanks so much to Joel Shaul at Autism Teaching Strategies for creating this great visual support that helps support meaningful conversations with mom. Saying I Love You On Mother’s Day– Ideas for teaching communication of “I Love You” for beginning communicator. Mother’s Day Word List– Ideas for using this Mother’s Day Word Bank to create a poem, story, or more.. Words, words, and more words for conversation about mom. Your Special Chef– Use this picture recipe and lesson plan... [Read More...]
May 1, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
We’re celebrating ASHA’s Better Speech and Hearing Month with a series of posts for SLPs who are working with people who have significant communication difficulties and aren’t currently using AAC strategies. In these posts, we hope to give clinicians a fresh look and some prAACtical ideas about using AAC with a variety of clinical populations. We’ve invited well-respected authors, researchers, and clinicians to contribute to this series. We’re proud to kick-off a new series called Fresh Look with posts on using AAC with children and adults. Watch for posts on on a variety of topics, including: Using AAC to support people with dementia by Dr. Melanie Fried-Oken AAC in General Education with Dr. Joan Bruno Supporting the friendships of children with ASD by Dr. Erinn Fincke Providing initial AAC supports to people with ALS by Lisa Bardach Language therapy with children who use AAC by Drs. Cathy Binger and Jennifer... [Read More...]