562 Search Results for a year of core
January 4, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
Well, it’s a prAACtical New Year and we are ushering in a few new tweaks in 2014. Among them, a weekly wrap-up. Here’s a look at our prAACtical week. Sunday: 10 Tips for Using a Natural Aided Language Board by Gail Van Tatenhove Monday: Tracking Early Communication Skills – A PrAACtical Resource (free download) Tuesday: It’s PrAACtically a New Year Wednesday: Ringing in the New Year with an AAC App Giveaway Thursday: A(nother) Year of Core Vocabulary Friday: Get Organized! Visual Schedule Apps If you’re looking for our Strategy of the Month post, stay tuned – those will be published on Mondays.
December 2, 2013
by Robin Parker -
This may be the time of year you are thinking of adding AAC apps to your assessment collection or are planning on getting one for an individual learner or for a group of learners. As you consider which app or apps to purchase, here are some feature considerations as well as some options for learning about the apps. **For any individual learner, a specific AAC evaluation by a qualified speech-language pathologist is always highly recommended. Language Features Core word approach to language learning Functional language approach to language learning Visual scene approach to language learning Pre-made communication displays or create your own Communication Functions (requesting, Choicemaking, commenting, complaining, etc.) Sentence building options Options for morphological learning Allows for full communication including requests, saying no, greetings,ventings, and sharing of information Comprehensive language learning Small Talk Single or sequenced messages Technical Features Customization level Platform Options (iOS, Android, Computer) Digitized (recorded) vs... [Read More...]
October 31, 2013
by Robin Parker -
We are so pleased to have connected with Deanne Shoyer from Small But Kinda Mighty and even happier that she is our guest blogger today. Deanne is a mom of twin boys who both are on the autism spectrum. Deanne successfully fundraised to buy iPads for her boys and has been active for more than 3 years in social media and in the special needs app community. She has written about many things but often focuses on implementing AAC in a very PrAACtical way. Please feel free to share this very important post as she highlights AAC, what she has learned, and how it may help others. by Deanne Shoyer at Small But Kinda Mighty (original post at Small But Kinda Mighty) In the title of this post I’ve linked autism and AAC for a specific reason. A lot of the points here are equally applicable to people who have a... [Read More...]
October 4, 2013
by Robin Parker -
We love to start planning for holidays early. It helps facilitate conversation before, during, & after exciting activities and events. When we begin using core and fringe vocabulary early, frequently, and authentically the learner has the most opportunity for success. Use Schedules: Use a monthly calendar to have a Halloween countdown, Use mini-schedules to make food recipes, spooky science concoctions, or even to plan the trick or treating routes. Use a small talk app like Fat Cat Spooky Chat to prAACtice what you will SAY (October core words) on Halloween. Use a social narrative to prepare everyone for what to expect on and around Halloween. More Halloween social narratives can be found at Autism Community, One Place for Special Needs, Katherine Sanger You Tube, & Kentucky Autism Training Center Prepare a choice board of Halloween costume options and let the learner decide on the costume. PrAACtice a script to be... [Read More...]
August 29, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
We are so excited to start off the new school year with a wonderfully prAACtical post by Lauren Enders. Lauren’s “How I Do It” posts have been very popular and this one is no different. Today, she shares ways to incorporate key AAC principles in engaging intervention activities and models that with high school students. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: LEARNING TARGETS (Samples: can be changed to meet student goals) Using core vocabulary, the student will: control the actions of others (beginning with core words like “more”, “stop”, “go”, “again”, and “different”) express his or her opinions through commenting (beginning with core words such as “like”, “don’t like”, “good”, “bad”, and “silly”) TARGET POPULATION: all ages (I have used variations of this activity successfully with students from age 3 through age 21.) TYPE OF AAC: ALL types!! What’s crucial here is the availability of core vocabulary, not the system used. Systems used can vary from... [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 10, 2013
by Robin Parker -
As we were getting ready for back to school and thinking about ‘must haves’, it quickly became apparent that it is not so easy to narrow it down. And the ‘must haves’ would definitely vary depending upon type of class, students, and even school. Based on a wide variety of differences, we organized a wide variety of choices to explore (we apologize in advance if we got carried away but…). Choose what you need, bookmark what you may need later and let us know your ‘must haves’ for a classroom and speech room AAC collaborative approach. We will create an ongoing list. Get Started Before School Starts Do these 10 Things to Get Started with AAC if you are new to an AAC student or classroom Provide AAC Support in the Classroom. Support teachers and educators with tips from Jane Farrall, & learn about AAC in the Classroom by Joan... [Read More...]
July 18, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
It’s always a good day when we get to share the thoughts of veteran AAC SLP, Marlene Cummings. In this post, Marlene talks about the signs to look for as clients gain skills with AAC and wraps up her series of posts on her yearlong experience in providing embedded professional learning experiences in Oakland Schools. You can see her earlier posts on cultivating the right mindset, their framework for AAC success, her AAC implementation toolbox, and the communication environment. 5 things in our “Destination Toolbox” “Are we there yet?” or “Five Ways to Tell That Your Students are Becoming Competent Communicators” Students are: Participating in the purposes of communication by novelly generating multiple word phrases demonstrating a variety of communicative functions Taking multiple communicative turns with multiple partners in multiple environments Using words from many different word classes Using words to talk about words Using language to communicate and communicating to learn... [Read More...]
July 4, 2013
by Robin Parker -
Check out these 4 free apps that can help SPARK commenting. They are great fun that will inspire commenting but can also help with core (and fringe) vocabulary as well as with being familiar with July 4th festivities. By engaging with these apps in an interactive manner, there is not the noise and confusion of the day. The apps become a good tool for familiarizing and preparing the learner for July 4th. Celebrate 4th of July, Independence Day of the United States , with sparkling fireworks (by Auryn Apps) Free – Just shake or touch the iPad and beautiful fireworks get triggered. The are really beautiful which are opportunities to comment again and again (“wow”, “beautiful”, “so cool”, “look colors”, etc.). Each firework reveals images that relate to Independence Day. This app is a gift from Auryn Apps which is a generous and dedicated developer for July 4th and throughout the year.... [Read More...]
June 28, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
Marlene Cummings is back to share some thoughts on creating communication-friendly environments. As an AAC consultant to the Oakland Schools, Marlene gets to support AAC implementation in a variety of classrooms with all types of learners. You can read her earlier posts here and here. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 5 Things to Consider in the “Communication Environment” The first thing we want to ask: Is language being represented visibly? We in AAC are often known by our “stuff”. Because we need to represent language visibly and love technology, we typically have a lot of “stuff”. I, for one, currently have a large storage unit holding 30+ years of “stuff” waiting to be distributed to all my new teams since I am no longer in the classroom. Let’s start by looking around our instructional environment. It is our intention to model the use of language being represented visibly and to provide the vocabulary and opportunities for... [Read More...]