447 Search Results for VISUAL SUPPORTS

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...]

5 Ways to Use Anchor Charts and Other Visual Supports for AAC Language Therapy

March 23, 2015 by - 1 Comment

5 Ways to Use Anchor Charts and Other Visual Supports for AAC Language Therapy

Anchor charts are a visual way to outline, describe, or illustrate a procedure, strategy, or concept. They are widely used visual supports in general education classrooms across the grade levels. In AAC therapy, anchor charts offer several benefits. First, making the anchor chart forces us to distill the main ideas in whatever it is we are teaching. What are the key aspects of what we are teaching? We have to answer that to create our anchor chart, and that gets us really thinking about the concept/process/strategy in great detail. Selecting the critical elements for our anchor chart helps us focus on the constructs that are most important to teach. Secondly, it helps us explain the concept/process/strategy in a more concise and articulate way. Putting things into writing forces us to clarify our explanations, and allows us to carefully consider what to say and how to say it. Yes, we sometimes... [Read More...]

Make It PrAACtical: Display Stand for Visual Supports or Books

November 22, 2013 by - 2 Comments

Make It PrAACtical: Display Stand for Visual Supports or Books

In an earlier post, we shared a wonderful video on making a portable stand for a communication book. Today, we look at a different approach to book stands, which would be great for the reading material or visual supports that the communicator needs to see. We love that it is lightweight, easy to transport and store, and inexpensive to make. Hats off to the wonderful team at AT in New Hampshire for this terrific video.   The direct link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EeX7bIKiEU.

Using Visual Supports for Goal-Setting Conversations

November 17, 2013 by - Leave your thoughts

Using Visual Supports for Goal-Setting Conversations

Empowering people with AAC needs to be actively involved in goal setting is something that most professionals would see as a priority. Where we get sometimes get stuck is on HOW to make that happen. In this week’s featured video, Dr. Joan Murphy demonstrates the use of Talking Mats in goal-setting conversations. You can learn more about that here. Direct link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-fFCtQ5sB

School Strategies for Everyone INCLUDES Visual Supports (AAC) for Everyone!

August 4, 2013 by - 2 Comments

School Strategies for Everyone Includes Visual Strategies

Great video for supporting students with autism in inclusive secondary settings.  But, actually, these strategies can work for everyone.  Most of them are just good teaching strategies. Can you count the visual strategies for understanding, for expression, for organization and behavior? Direct link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veQKDDE9C_w” site=”youtube      

Visual Supports in AAC Therapy with Older Students and Adults

July 6, 2013 by - Leave your thoughts

Visual Supports in AAC Therapy with Older Students and Adults

When learners are still struggling with communication in their teenage years and beyond, it means we have a lot of catching up to  do. There are lots of implications for us as SLPs, of course, but the main one is this: Every interaction should have a purpose. As we head to the waiting room or classroom to see this student, we’re focused on how we can elicit practice on meaningful skills in the next few minutes.  On a good day, we can use these few minutes before the session productively. Before we get to the therapy room we try to: use expectant pauses and graduated prompting to elicit a greeting at his/her highest level engage him/her in conversation to practice social exchanges provide opportunities for him/her to respond to a non-obligatory communicative context and facilitate a response make basic requests, like asking for help to open the door that we’ve... [Read More...]

Using Visual Supports to Bring Music Alive with Marlene Sotelo

April 19, 2013 by - 1 Comment

Using Visuals to Bring Music Alive

When I first met our guest blogger almost 20 years ago, she was using more visual supports in her music therapy sessions with kids who had ASD than most SLPs were using in their language therapy.  Marlene Sotelo has worn many hats in her professional life, but her passion for helping people with ASD communicate more effectively seems to have permeated all of them. In this post, she discusses some of the ways she uses visual supports to help make music therapy effective. Music is a powerful force that transcends time, cultures, and languages. It can transport you to the past, and bring you hope and excitement for the future. In addition, music can be an effective tool in teaching children with varying abilities. The predictability, rhythmic patterns, and repetitive nature of the structure music lends itself to the development of language, cognitive skills, and motor skills, especially for individuals... [Read More...]

PrAACtical Passover & Easter Visual Supports

March 25, 2013 by - Leave your thoughts

l Passover & Easter Visual Supports

Happy Passover & Easter to those who celebrate!   There are some great free visual supports to help ALL children participate in the holiday routines.  We are thankful to Gateways Access to Jewish Educationand Positively Autism– Daily Autism Freebie for making these readily available.  Whether you use them for your students, clients, family, or guests, we hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and everyone is included.   Passover  The Seder Order, The Ten Plagues, Passover Social Stories, Passover Prayers, Passover Songs, Passover File Folder Activities Easter  Going to Church on Easter Travis the Train Goes on an Easter Egg Hunt Decorating Easter Eggs Going on an Easter Egg Hunt Easter Vocabulary Easter Songs (scroll to the bottom of the page for the videos)