As readers of this blog know, we have learned much from the work of Dr. Caroline Musselwhite. Today, we are pleased to share a video series from SET-BC entitled Write to Talk. Recorded in 2005, Dr. Musselwhite’s ideas on how to make the language-literacy connection work for people who use AAC are as relevant today as they were when this video was first posted.
Most of our conversations with SLPs about teaching literacy to individuals with AAC needs revolve around the ‘How’s.” “How can I possibly teach reading and writing? I don’t have enough time with her to teach language and communication!” “How am I going to teach reading to someone who can’t sound out words? Or writing to someone who can barely use a pencil or keyboard?” In general, SLPs WANT to teach literacy skills. They understand the importance of this skill set and how it can level the playing field for people with communication difficulties. They know that reading and writing are inherently linked to speaking and listening. They know that literacy is a powerful key that unlocks many, many doors. And yet, getting from there to the point of actually teaching clients with AAC needs to read and write is not something we do enough of. This month, we’ll look at ways... [Read More...]
14 Valentine’s Day Activities for Love, Literacy, & Learning Valentine’s Day is a theme that seems to take precedent in February. When we use this theme, we like to focus on it before, during, and after February 14th because then there is a lot of opportunity to talk about it before, during, & after the holiday. This is like conversation which involves so much more than talking about the ‘here & now’. For the Computer: Use Heart Generators http://www.cryptogram.com/hearts/ http://acme.com/heartmaker/ http://www.bobarmadillo.com/sluggyv-day/ Use Word Clouds Taxedo Wordle Image Chef Practice Valentine’s Day Spelling Words Research Valentine’s Day & Write Key Fringe Vocabulary Create sentences with core words using multiple hearts Write word poems using heart generators Have students take turns telling you or another student what to write on the hearts Apps Special Valentine Day Apps First Words Valentines– Free- learn and spell key Valentine’s Day vocabulary. Nice errorless learning... [Read More...]
The joys of being able to read and write should be made available to everyone. No matter what the type or extent of disabling condition, it is now known that we can be effective in teaching real literacy skills. While not every learner gets to the same point in the journey, all augmentative communicators have the right to high expectations and quality instruction. There are lots of wonderful literacy support programs that have emerged in the past decade. Here are five to to take a (second) look at. Bookshare: An accessible book service available without charge to US students who have disabilities that impede their ability to use print effectively. Schools and other organizations can also register. This video says, um raps, it all. Some of our favorite people with AAC needs grew up in an era where they had no legal right to attend public school or did attend... [Read More...]
Happy Sunday, AAC friends. We have some posts that may be of interest. Monday – AAC & Community with Stepping into AAC (Weeks 18-19) Tuesday – AAC Link Up Wednesday – Video of the Week: AAC Resources to Guide Families Thursday – AAC for Older Students ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: We’ve been doing a lot of learning, making, and doing around the topic of emergent literacy lately. If that topic is of interest, here are some posts that you may want to browse through. Supporting AAC Learners in Emergent Writing: 5 Helpful Resources Using an Alphabet Flipbook for Writing Building Communication Skills During Book Reading A PrAACtical Literacy Activity for Beginning Communicators As They Grow: Books for Beginning Readers of Any Age
Today’s segment of the Stepping into AAC journey takes us into the world of literacy and focuses on how to support beginning AAC users during book reading and other activities. Missed the earlier posts in this series? You can access those below. Introduction: A PrAACtical Guide to Stepping into AAC Week 1: Starting a Journey with Stepping into AAC Weeks 2-5: Building a Foundation with Stepping into AAC Weeks 6-8: Customizing AAC Tools with Stepping into AAC Weeks 9-12: Getting More Comfortable with AAC Practices Target Words: all, it, same, this, turn Communicative Intents: Commenting, describing Hands-on Activities: To keep the momentum going during this segment of the journey, dedicate 10 minutes a day to building habits of supporting your learner’s AAC use. Comment Find Play Read Say Share Think Try Videos: Dive into the world of reading and learn ways to engage your learner while reading books together and... [Read More...]
We get lots of questions about using AAC with young children, from babies to toddlers to preschoolers. There are many ways to approach this, so today, we are looking back at some of our earlier posts on AAC for little learners. Using Vest Displays with Preschoolers on the Autism Spectrum with guest author Dr. Carol Goossens’ Mining the Preschool Routine for PrAACtical AAC Opportunities Supporting Preschoolers with AAC Needs: A Case Study Visual Supports in Action in the Preschool Classroom Video of the Week: Parent-Implemented AAC Intervention for Young Children PrAACtically Reading: Books Featuring Children & Youth with Disabilities From Wheelchair to Hands-free Walker for Preschool Children with AAC Needs, Part 1, Part 2 TELL ME: AAC in the Preschool Classroom TELL ME About It (Year 1) TELL ME AAC Literacy Kits Brown Bear, Brown Bear I Went Walking From Head to Toe Here Are My Hands What Do You Like?... [Read More...]
We hope that guest authors Marisa Portanova and Marnina Allis have inspired you to develop AAC groups for the children and adults you serve. Today, they wrap up their series with some final tips for creating and running successful groups. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: PrAACtical AAC Groups Made Easy – Positive Outcome and Tips and Tricks Our AAC groups were a hit, and we want to help you all knock it out of the park as well! We had some great positive outcomes we would like to share to help with motivation to get started. Variety of communication opportunities – talking about their weekends, playing fun games like HeadBandz, giving opinions about a book read Language learning opportunities – within literacy contexts and natural social environments Social interaction opportunities are hard to accomplish in 1:1 settings between child and therapist. These groups allowed for peer-to-peer interaction as well. They allowed children to see other... [Read More...]
Our series on AAC group therapy continues with guest authors Marisa Portanova and Marnina Allis. In today’s post, they share ideas for helping young AAC users enhance their literacy skills. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: PrAACtical AAC Groups Made Easy – Let’s Be Authors Last week, we discussed our ongoing weekly groups. Once we had success and saw progress made in the weekly groups, we came up with the concept of “AAC intensive groups,” where children would come in over a school break for a week and participate in the AAC groups for 5 consecutive days, for a longer stretch (about two and a half hours). This gave children a chance to interact with children from different classes and helped reduce the regression of learned AAC skills over the school break. During those weeks, we picked one book per day for the first 4 days. Day 5 was for review, discussing opinions of each... [Read More...]
Here in the US, we’ll be celebrating Mother’s Day soon. If you’re looking for resources that you can incorporate into your AAC work, we have some ideas for you. These are great for highlighting core vocabulary, such as these: Pronouns: I, you, she, we, her, our Verbs: can, do, give, help, like, love, make, read, see, write Adjectives: good, nice, pretty, smart, strong Conjunctions: and, because, but, with Time Words: later, now, today, tomorrow Questions: what, who, where ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS Read about Mothers and Mother’s Day with some of these books. Mother’s Day Book for Early Communicators by AAC with Annie Mother’s Day book highlighting core words ‘like’ and ‘give’ from Speech by Carrie. You can also check out this one which focuses on the words ‘help’ and ‘make’ and offers practice with several pronouns. From Boardmaker From Tarheel Reader (SDJ) From Tarheel Reader (Nicolaus) Cards and letters... [Read More...]