PrAACtically December: AAC Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary Words

November 23, 2020 by - 2 Comments

PrAACtically December: AAC Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary
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With Thanksgiving just around the corner here in the US, it’s time to look ahead to the month of December. A few years ago, we suggested that one way to help strengthen learners’ abilities with core words is to take a different set of 12-20 core words each month and focus on them for a few weeks. How? By modeling those words, making resource materials (like word cards with the symbols), creating activities in which those words figure prominently, posting them in the classroom/therapy room, reading books that have heavy use of these words, sharing them with families, write stories using them, etc.

Core words are a great addition to the highly motivating, learner-specific words that many AAC users start with. If you are looking to expand to more robust language, this approach may be of interest. Here are the specific words we are focusing on in December.

Set 1 (2013): ask, favorite, goodbye, hear, of, please, silly, surprise, these, use, way, work

Set 2 (2014): already, clear, doctor, fix, great, grow, her, high, jump, outside, ride, room, side, straight, wake, wash

Here are some resources that may be helpful as we move on to highlight the December words.

The resources listed here available due to the collegiality of Jesse Kleinman, Jessica Resnick, Anne Page, Jenna Williams, Brian Whitmer, Barbara Fernandes, Nancy Inman, Deborah Lesher, Beth Erwin, Bill and Lori Binko, Heidi LoStracco, Alison Wade, Russell Cross, Gail Van Tatenhove, Eric Sailers, Rachael Langley, and others. We are grateful for their contributions.

We can model these powerful core words in sentences, too. (Thanks, Beth Erwin!)

PrAACtically December: A Year of Core Vocabulary Words

If you are working with Set 2 words, you can download a grid of sample sentences here. Thanks to Jesse Kleinman, Jessica Resnick, Anne Page, and Jenna Williams for these suggestions!

PrAACtically December: AAC Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary

Storybook reading is such a great way to get in some extra modeling and elicitation of core words. Many thanks to Deborah Lesher for this list of books that provide ample opportunities to target our December core words for Set 1.

Looking for some book suggestions for Set 2 words? Jesse Kleinman and Jessica Resnick have some ideas for you.

Finally, check out all the wonderful activity suggestions in Rachael Langley’s calendar for December. Once again, Rachael found a way for us to boost our AAC practice opportunities with engaging and easy-to-implement activity suggestions.  Note: This is a perpetual calendar with the dates purposefully left blank so that you can write in the numbers and use this year after year.

Click on the image to download the file.PrAACtically December: Some AAC Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary

You can download printable versions of previous years’ calendars and the Set 1 sentence grid here.

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This post was written by Carole Zangari

2 Comments

  • Michelle K. says:

    I love the calendar of activities, but it looks like it is for 2019’s words. Will the calendar be updated with the 2020 words?

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