November Core Word PrAACtice Ideas

More core word prAACtice ideas.

Whether you are just getting started or have been working with core word vocabulary for a long time, the teaching strategies you use to TEACH, helps turn regular words into real communication and language.  Provide  Aided Language Input- ALI in Meaningful Language Experiences.  PrAACtice USING core words in many, many opportunities. Authentic, meaningful prAACtice is fun for everyone.

This core word prAACtice is for November.  There is a lot of food, leaves, changes of weather, thankfulness, sharing, and holiday spirit. Here are some ideas of activities that can go with the core word words, phrases and sentences:

• Do art project– Make a turkey because there are many opportunities to use body.  From asking for the ‘body of the turkey” and asking for “feathers of the body” there can 50-100 opportunities for prAACtice.  You can do this with a beginning communicator  who can ask for a “body” all the way to a complex communicator who can tell you “I want a feather for the body because a feather on the head would look silly”
• Play a Game– Get points if you guess, get points if you know, but players need to say if they take a guess or they know the answer. Put some questions that are super easy (what is your name?) and some that are super hard (what is the theory of relativity?). Of course, remember to have no-tech visual supports to make the game clear. You can make your own game or use junior trivial pursuit or candy land, it does not matter just use aided language input and set up the rules to include telling if you are “taking a guess” or “you know”. The game can even be about the fall or thanksgiving.
• Read books, Have small talks, Go for rides- use opportunities to discuss how everyone is feeling (“tired” or “tired because… ) or predict what will happen in a book (“maybe he will _______”), or decide if you will walk or ride places (“ride in the car”, “ride in the wagon”, “go on a ride or not”, or “take a fast or slow ride“)

The good news about teaching core word vocabulary is that it can really fit with almost any activity. It is our job as SLP’s and educators to develop communication opportunities within the activities that allow (require) the AAC learner to USE the vocabulary to communicate. But the great news is that it can be  fun for both facilitator and learner. And if it is not fun, it is kind of fun to exaggerate how bad it is (e.g., “maybe that was a TERRIBLE idea”, “if you make me do one more of that game, I may not live“.