597 Search Results for visual support

The Art of Scaffolding as a Language Facilitation Strategy

June 23, 2012 by - Leave your thoughts

The Art of Scaffolding

“The best thing about being a teacher  is it matters. The hardest thing is that it matters every day. All the time.” Todd Whitaker (Just substitute SLP’s for teachers since SLP’s are teachers of communication and language) As June ends and we finish up with our Strategy of the Month: Language Facilitation Strategies,  we do not want to move on without talking about scaffolding.  We often use scaffolding without even knowing we are doing it,  but for speech-language pathologists, we need to know the name of each strategy we use because that allows us to make the most of everything we say and do when teaching communication and language.  Also, when we know what we are doing, we can teach it to communication partners and thus set the stage for language learning at home, in school, and in the community. What is it? Scaffolding is a verbal and visual strategy... [Read More...]

LiveBinders: The Beginning

June 1, 2012 by - Leave your thoughts

LiveBinders- The Beginning

We have always started our collaborative projects with a retreat (usually a day at the beach or park).  The retreat usually ends with a project and a plan to meet again.  Following the retreat that inspired PrAACtical AAC, we were spending hours upon hours on the computer searching   We were using pen and paper to write down urls to sites we wanted to share.  We couldn’t believe the great information that was available.  So when Carole told me to sit down and said “you have to look at what I found, it’s called LiveBinders“. I can still remember the exact moment.   It was like on T.V…..  the sun started shining through the window of my living room and music started playing.  We  couldn’t believe there was a site that was easy to use, would organize all the work we had done, let us look at and use other binders,... [Read More...]

5 Sites for Tools & Tips on Self-Calming & Behavior Regulation

May 12, 2012 by - Leave your thoughts

5 Sites for Tools & Tips on Self-Calming & Behavior Regulation

Spring is in the air and that means the thoughts of many school-based clinicians and teachers turn to…survival!  If our recent conversations with colleagues and families are any indication of what’s going on in the rest of the AAC world, it’s been a long year. – Sometimes that means that kids get antsy, professionals feel a little worn out and stressed, and families begin to worry about the long expanse of unstructured time from June to September. Here are some of the resources we’ve been looking at and sharing lately. — Solid information on positive behavior support from Florida State University’s program, Positive Beginnings A host of wonderful visual supports for behavior from SET-BC Ideas for visual supports for behavior regulation from Lisa Geary, SLP, of LiveSpeakLove Love this DIY calming jar and these prAACtical ideas from the forum at A-Z Teacher Stuff Helpful downloads for visual supports from Geneva Centre... [Read More...]

35 AAC Posts You May Have Missed: April, 2012

May 1, 2012 by - Leave your thoughts

35 AAC Posts You May Have Missed: April, 2012

— – – Strategy of the Month From Disney Princesses to Houseplants: More on Building Communication Opportunities 5 Apps for Tempting Commenting and Other Language Functions Go Ape! 10 Commenting Communication Temptations PrAACtical Play: Creating Communication Opportunities with Favorite Toys How to Make Communication Temptations Really Work Mining Preschool Routines for PrAACtical AAC Opportunities. Meaningful Communication Opportunities – The Fives 5 ‘Go-To’ Sites for AAC and Visual Support Downloads 5 Apps for Tempting Commenting and Other Language Functions 5 AAC-Related Facebook Pages/Groups We Love 5 Tools and Tips for Making Transitions Easier 5+ Sites for Free AAC-Friendly Literacy Resources 5 eGames for Switch Users 5 AAC/AT YouTube Channels We Love – PrAACtical Thinking 49 Free or Lite Versions of AAC Apps A Myth About Visual Schedules Lives On PrAACtical Resources: Making Decisions about Reading Accessibility Options PrAACtical Resources: Toolkit for ASD PrAACtical Questions: How Do I Find Good AAC Service... [Read More...]

From Disney Princesses to Houseplants: More on Building Communication Opportunities

April 28, 2012 by - 10 Comments

From Disney Princesses to Houseplants: More on Building Communication Opportunities

Mining everyday routines at home, in school, and in therapy sessions for communication teaching opportunities is a great way to get started in boosting the effectiveness of AAC intervention. We are inspired when we see clinicians enhance their clients’ learning by making subtle, but important changes. – I was thrilled to hear one SLP talk about how she ‘found’ more AAC practice for a teenager by offering more choices in her therapy games. Once he chose a TV character for the activity, LeVon then had to specify what action he/she would do (e.g., dance, drive, clap) and a location in which to do it (e.g., home, school, beach). Agent, action, location. Hmm…sounds like a good start for sentence-building, with a little aided language input and expansion thrown in for good measure. “Quinn drive beach.” “Yes. Quinn drove to the beach in his truck.” And it gives us great pleasure to... [Read More...]

Go Ape! 10 Commenting Communication Temptations

April 23, 2012 by - Leave your thoughts

More About Communication Opportunities: It doesn’t matter your personality, but for students who do not naturally comment, you need to go ape!  And then still, you need to teach with wait & signal cues, visual supports, aided language input, modeling, expansions, and positive feedback.  We will never forget a semester with Mikey and our hair clips of butterflies, whales, dinosaurs, and even a spider. These hair clips allowed for the item to hang in our face…… until Mikey commented and we could ‘go ape’ with surprise. A great strategy to use with commenting communication temptations is  Wait & Signal.  Wait and Signal involves setting up the temptation and then pausing with raised eyebrows like you expect the learner to take a ‘turn/a conversational turn’. As always, make sure the learner has access to the appropriate communication device or communication boards.  10 additional commenting communication temptations and opportunities: Move a huge stuffed... [Read More...]

5 Tools & Tips for Making Transitions Easier

April 22, 2012 by - Leave your thoughts

5 Tools & Tips for Making Transitions Easier

Transitions can be hard for everyone, whether it is turning off the TV to finish grading papers or leaving a favorite place to go run some errands or following through to finish cleaning out the garage. For people with significant communication difficulties, there can be additional challenges. Here are some of our favorite tools and strategies for making transitions easier for everyone. – Visual Schedules: Our hands-down favorite way of helping people transition smoothly is to make the expectations visual and explicit. Lots of info on making this strategy successful here and here. Timers, timers, and more timers! We love them because, once the routine and expectations are established, they work so beautifully in so many situations. Social stories:Well-written social stories shared via high quality intervention can go a long way in preventing or minimizing transition issues. Transition items: Lots of families, teachers, and SLP have had success using objects... [Read More...]

What Works!

April 19, 2012 by - Leave your thoughts

What Works

We have many students who are getting older. It’s a time many of our families are looking at transition steps.  Some families are interested in employment opportunities, others in having their now adult children live outside the home with a little or a lot of support, and others just wish there was a place for them to go after school ends.  .  It is difficult finding quality options. Even if there are options, it seems ‘they’ want the ‘easy’ people.  (disclaimer: Now I move from the ‘we’ into the ‘me’ since Carole has been on vacation and I have been dealing with some ‘crap’ and don’t want to speak for Carole since I am hoping she is relaxed and positive).  So here goes…. I could argue now that there are no ‘easy’ people.  I could rant now because it has been one of those days where not a lot has... [Read More...]

The Precious Power of Play

April 12, 2012 by - Leave your thoughts

The Precious Power of Play

The Chicago P.L.A.Y. Project is on a mission to empower parents to help their children build language through play. We love the joyful nature of their mission. – Of course, the clinical educators in us see huge potential for adding visual supports to enhance the language learning, but this is an amazing way to build good interaction and language opportunities. – Enjoy!    

30 Ways to Celebrate Autism Awareness Month

April 1, 2012 by - 3 Comments

30 Ways to Celebrate Autism Awareness Month

Please check out the most recent set of suggestions here. We love getting EVERYONE  involved in Autism Awareness Month.  We like to take a goal focused approach to our Autism Awareness Month activities by choosing projects that facilitate positive attitudes &  discussions.  We pass out materials, have contests, go to events, do extra talks, and try and engage EVERYONE we know and even some we do not know.  We do a lot of shopping (with small amount of money, but we have to EAT and accessorize).  Our families, pets, friends, and students all participate.  It is a month filled with purposeful fun.  Here are some of the things we will be doing. Please share any activities or projects that you know about.           Bake, share, & eat some desserts. Need inspiration?.. try these Puzzle Piece Rice Crispy Treats  Join the webinar  Autism Explosion by Dr. Coplan will be shown... [Read More...]