617 Search Results for tell me about it
May 12, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
Ask any AAC stakeholder about the collaborative teaming and they’re likely to tell you two things: how incredibly valuable it is and how little time they have for it. In today’s video, we’re highlighting a session from a past AAC in the Cloud Conference featuring AAC SLPs Chris Bugaj and Rachel Madel. In this post, they share some of their favorite ways of using technology to make collaboration faster and easier. Enjoy! Direct Link to Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwsEdbfic18&ab_channel=CoughDrop Many thanks to the fine team at CoughDrop and to Rachel and Chris for this helpful presentation.
April 22, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
Looking to add more variety to the activities you use for building language and AAC skills? Today, we’re dusting off the cobwebs and re-sharing posts with activity ideas. Research Project AACtivity Concept Sorts Using Surveys to Support Language Learning Magic Moments with Tellagami New Word Teaching: A Look Inside Some PrAACtical Therapy Sessions Teaming Up to Build Communication with a Treat Cart: Part 1, Part 2 AACtual Therapy: Use Your Best Spud to Teach Vocabulary With Tanna Neufeld PrAACtical Supports for AAC Learners: AT Recipes for Success – Sensorimotor Activities AAC Intervention: 5 Activities with PrAACtical Potential Vocabulary Activities: 5 Sites for Learning with Avatars PrAACtical Teaching in the Autism Classroom: Instructional Activities for Core Vocabulary Why We Love AAC Language Experience Activities 5 Ways to Use Word Clouds in AAC Therapy and Magic Moments with Word Clouds Magic Moments: Painting with Time Teaching the Use of Social Phrases and Comments... [Read More...]
April 15, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
Looking for some fun Earth Day activities that can be used for AAC practice and language learning? Here are some ideas for you. Learn about the importance of Earth Day with this book from Boardmaker. Getting to the Core of Earth Day Let’s Read Let’s Create Write an acrostic poem like this one by Donna O’Reilly. Make infused water for a planet-friendly drink using these resources from the AAC Language Lab. Play Earth Day BINGO with these LessonPix materials by Liz Sturgill. Let’s Go Outside! Make some Earth Day waffles with this recipe from Shevi Greebel. Create a language experience survey. Here are some possible questions for your survey What are your favorite outdoor activities? Tell me about a time when you had an outdoor adventure. What are some ways that you reuse and recycle? Make some Earth Day plant heads with Erin Pleuss’s project directions. Create some Earth Day art... [Read More...]
April 14, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
“Like many, over my 63 years, I have known what it is like to be wrongfully convicted of being less intelligent, less human, and, therefore, having less of a need and capacity and, thus, little to no right to effectively express ourselves and to be understood.” “All because others cannot understand us. Let me repeat that. All because others cannot understand us.” (B. Williams, 2020) Advocacy is a vitally important undertaking for AAC users, professionals, and families alike. Today’s video features a conversation between Susie Lotharius and Bob Williams, of CommunicationFIRST that was part of the 2020 Innovations in Education Conference. Listen in as they discuss the fight for communication rights in the context of the larger disability rights movement and share information about tools and strategies that we can all use in our advocacy efforts. Many, many thanks to the presenters and to CommunicationFIRST for making this important talk... [Read More...]
March 29, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
Whether you are a parent trying to keep your child’s AAC skills up or a professional who is providing AAC support, we hope that our monthly Year of Core Vocabulary posts help you stay focused and keep your learners using their AAC skills. In today’s post, we share some ideas for boosting core word learning throughout the week, focusing on a small set of words. Whether you are following along with the Set 1 (12 words/month) or the Set 2 words (16 words/month; Different than the previous core words), or are just getting started, this post has some helpful resources. Our words for this month are as follows. Set 1 List: big, busy, do, drink, feel, he, in, make, out, some, tell, who Set 2 List: blue, brother, close, family, head, last, long, no, old, right, scared, soft, thing, top, wash, whole We have some specific ideas for how to build a learning... [Read More...]
February 8, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
Today, we welcome back AAC SLP Ashley Larisey to these pages for another post in the AAC in Secondary School series. Ashley is an SLP at Community High School District 218 in Oak Lawn, Illinois. She is also an Adjunct Clinical Supervisor and Instructor at Saint Xavier University. In today’s post, she shares thoughts on being age-respectful in choosing content, activities, and materials for high school students who are learning to use AAC. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Defining Age-Respectful The terms “age-appropriate” and “functional” are terms that come up frequently when working with older learners with complex communication needs and/or significant cognitive impairments. These students are entitled to receive an education that is aligned with the grade level standards in their state. Instruction should respect that these learners are no longer children, but in fact teenagers or young adults. But what do the terms “age-appropriate” and “functional” really mean? How are those terms... [Read More...]
January 4, 2021
by Carole Zangari -
We’re excited to start off 2021 with a new series focusing on supporting students who use AAC during their high school years. AAC SLP Ashley Larisey is the guest author for the AAC in Secondary School series which will have ideas for specific activities in some months and articles on issues pertinent to secondary school AAC in others. Ashley is an SLP at Community High School District 218 in Oak Lawn, Illinois. She is also an Adjunct Clinical Supervisor and Instructor at Saint Xavier University. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Introduction to the Series: AAC for Secondary Students Some of the most common questions that I hear from my SLP colleagues are specific to AAC treatment planning and implementation. As a high school AAC SLP, I am privileged to have the opportunity to work with students as they prepare and transition into adulthood. I often find that many SLPs are looking to provide their students... [Read More...]
December 31, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
As we turn the page on the calendar, we’re also thinking ahead to getting back to school after the holiday season. Today, we share the latest post in the School Year of Core Vocabulary Words series, guest authored by Michaela Sullivan, Alisa Lego, and Beth Lytle. This series focuses on a selected set of words to highlight for the month along with a suggested order in which to teach them. Therapists and teachers will appreciate the Activity Packets, containing sheets on highlighting these words in a variety of activities, and Data Collection Forms. For January, they’re discussing an important intervention strategy, descriptive teaching. If you are new to this series, you may want to review the introduction that our series authors created before delving into this month’s target words. You can see the guest authors’ overview here. You can also review the first 5 months of School Year of Core... [Read More...]
December 2, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
Even before we can create full sentences or create grammatically correct utterances, we are driven to tell the stories of our lives. Being able to share where we’ve been, what we’ve done, and how that felt is important for both children and adults. In today’s featured video, special educator April Weitkamp discusses how she helps students who use AAC develop their skills in writing personal narratives. Many thanks to April and the Special Education Technology Center (SETC) in Washington for this helpful presentation. Enjoy! Direct Link to Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-QqBhtQF4M&ab_channel=SETCSpecialEducationTechnologyCenter
November 16, 2020
by Carole Zangari -
You’ve developed a list of target words for vocabulary instruction and are modeling them frequently throughout the day using aided language input. Focused language stimulation helped, and when you created materials that have the target word with a student-friendly definition, a relevant picture, synonyms, and a sample sentence, things looked promising. Your client seemed to notice, was sometimes attentive, and showed indications that their awareness of these words was growing. However, in terms of truly understanding these words or using them, progress was s-l-0-w. Where can you go from here? Explicit instruction on these words will help speed up the learning curve. Here are some activities you can embed in your teaching and therapy to provide more experience with this new vocabulary. Work together to create picture collages for the target word: Do these interactively so you can discuss what belongs in the collage and WHY, and what does not... [Read More...]