PrAACtical AAC: Giving Readers a Voice
Can you spare a few minutes to help us out? Since Robin and I first started the blog in 2011, PrAACtical AAC has published lots of original content and featured many wonderful contributions of professionals, families, and AAC users from around the world. With hundreds of posts under our belt, I thought it was finally time to give YOU a voice.
We’d love to know more about you and what you’d like to see at PrAACtical AAC as we continue to move forward in sharing AAC content.
- Are there specific topics you’d like to know more about or particular guest authors you want to hear more from?
- What kinds of materials or resources would be most helpful to you?
- How you would like to see things grouped or organized?
- What other ways can PrAACtical AAC support the work you do to address complex communication needs?
Help us figure out what to keep, what to discard, and what to add by completing this survey.
If you’re feeling really ambitious, come back here when you’re done and answer one final question: Which PrAACtical AAC post has been most impactful in your AAC work? Scroll down to the comments area at the bottom of the page and tell us about a post that you’ve found to be exceptionally helpful.
Your time is valuable so to encourage your participation, we’ve got some prizes to give away. We’ll pick at least 3 commenters to get a PrAACtical AAC surprise. It’s been a while since we did a giveaway and this is the perfect time to have some fun!
Please give us your feedback then come back and add your comment below. Winners will be notified by the end of the month.
Filed under: Featured Posts, PrAACtical Thinking
This post was written by Carole Zangari
14 Comments
In my work, the PrAACtical AAC post which has been most impactful was “Vocabulary Instruction in AAC”
https://praacticalaac.org/strategy/vocabulary-instruction-in-aac/
-When I first came back to my classroom after an intensive literacy training by Drs Dave Koppenhaver & Karen Erickson, I was so excited to get started. After a year of figuring out how to teach literacy with verbal students, I realized I did not know how to get the same results with students who use AAC. I knew I needed to used Core, Fringe, aided language and to teach the vocabulary/AAC but I was not sure how. THIS POST is the one that changed the game, the general sequence of how we conceptualize semantic instruction from the site led me to teach my students in ways I never knew were possible and my students started communicating in ways they were not before. From there the posts from PrAACtical AAC introduced me to descriptive teaching and many other helpful ideas for utlizing AAC in classroom instruciton.
Congratulations, Kayna! You’re a winner! Watch your email for a little something from PrAACtical AAC.
Yahoo! Thank you 🙂
It’s so difficult to pick just one!! But I have ‘Getting Ready for a Core Vocabulary Journey’ bookmarked on my computer 🙂 !
https://praacticalaac.org/praactical/getting-ready-for-a-core-vocabulary-journey/
I love all of the articles on training communication partners, but one of the most helpful has been “How We Do It: Coaching AAC Use in the Natural Environment”. I have really changed and fine tuned the way I train and coach communication partners based on all of the great articles and resources that you’ve posted. As a newer clinician, this info has been so helpful. I re-visit many of the articles often! Thank you for the work that you do!!
As a parent, one of the most helpful ongoing monthly posts which was helpful for me was the “Year of Core Words” posts and the additional activities that went along with them. I didn’t know where to start, so that gave me good guidance. I have passed this information on to other families who were also struggling on where to start. The monthly email reminder also gave me a little push to remember to continue to work on new vocabulary. (Could someone add another “year of core”, please?)
I find myself referring back to your core words of the month posts, as well as posts by Lauren Enders about developing appropriate AAC goals. Thank you for continuing to provide others with so many valuable resources and information!
It is almost impossible to pick a favorite, but I really enjoyed the recent post, “How We Do It: AAC in the Special Education Classroom – Continuing the Journey.” The link-up is always a welcome read, also!
My favorite posts are those by Karen Nataci, that combine AAC and literacy. The plans are genome all and include how to have all levels of AAC users in the plans. 👍
My favorite of all time https://praacticalaac.org/praactical/aac-at-the-table-5-tips-for-building-social-communication-at-mealtimes/
Why? Because it doesn’t mention tube feeding, chin tucks, pureed food recipes, consistencies or any of the other typical clinical “mealtime” resources. It focuses on COMMUNICATION. Celebration. Sharing. This is what lies in the heart of family meals. I love sharing it. I love reading it and reading it again.
Congratulations, Pam! You’re a winner! Watch your email for a little something from PrAACtical AAC.
https://praacticalaac.org/strategy/the-first-12-getting-started-with-core-words/
https://praacticalaac.org/praactical/how-we-do-it-smorres-and-partner-augmented-input-with-dr-jill-senner-matthew-baud/
If you asked me this question a few years ago, I would’ve said the “Year of Core Words” posts, because I found them so valuable for the students on my caseload at the time. Recently, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about communication partners and training communication partners, so my answer is different. I’ve found the “Building AAC Facilitation Skills with Tabi Jones-Wohleber: MASTER PAL Training” series to be very impactful. Given the amount of time I have to train staff members each year, I wish there was an abridged version of this series.
Like everyone else, I find it difficult to identify just one post that has been the most impactful but the series of MASTER PAL posts from Tabi Jones-Wohleber comes to mind first. We’ve presented information in a variety of formats to teachers and teaching assistants in our school district and although all were well received, the first session that we presented from Tabi’s series was especially fun and engaging. Although we’ve made a few modifications to personalize for our audience, it is really nice to have an easy go-to resource that doesn’t have to be designed from scratch. Thank you for sharing, Tabi and PrAACtical AAC!