PrAACtically June: More AAC Resources for A Year of Core Vocabulary

Before you know it, we’ll be ready to flip the calendar to a new page. That means it’s time to prepare to highlight a new set of core words to keep our AAC learners moving forward and expanding their use of AAC throughout the day. 

Before we dig into this, though, we’ll take a quick detour. Last week, we announced the start of a Spanish language initiative here at PrAACtical AAC, and invited anyone who is Spanish-English bilingual to volunteer their time and skills. In that process, we’ve had a lot of requests for a Spanish version of this series. That’s where YOU come in. If you would like to help us by translating one of the Year of Core Vocabulary posts, please reach out and join our efforts. You can sign up to participate here. We’d love to get enough volunteers to have a full set of these posts for 2020.

PrAACtically June

If you’re helping an AAC learner become more capable in using high-frequency words to express themselves, we hope you join us in highlighting the June words and creating opportunities for our AAC learners to use them throughout the day. Whether you are following along with the 2013 Year of Core  (Set 1-12 words/month) or the 2014 A(nother) Year of Core:  (Set 2-16 words/month; Different than the previous year’s core words), or just getting started, here are some helpful resources.

Our June words are listed below.

Set 1 List: after, am/be/is, because, can, cold, fast, fun, have, hungry, let, need, talk

Set 2 List: about, back, buy, grandmother, hand, inside, lose, move, okay, people, quiet, short, show, two, water, yellow

• Templates for you to plug in your own symbols: Set 1 words, Set 2 words
• Minspeak/Unity version: Set 1 words
• Unidad English 84 or 36: Set 1 words, Set 2 words
• PCS versions: Set 1 words, Set 2 words
• Symbol Stix version: Set 1 Words
• Lesson Pix: Set 1 Words
• Smarty Symbols: Set 1 words, Set 2 words
• CoughDrop: Set 1 words; Set 2 words
• WordPower:
  • Set 1 words 
  • Set 2 Words in Symbol Stix and PCS 
  • Note: These are large files that have sets for different versions of WordPower.

We can teach and model these individually, and also in sentences. Tim DeLuca shares some ideas to get us started (download here).

Reading is such a great way to build experiences with core vocabulary. Here are some book suggestions if you are looking for ways to incorporate core word practice into your storybook reading with AAC learners.

• And If the Moon Could Talk by Kate Banks: after, am/be/is, can, talk
• I Have a Cold by Grace Maccarone: because, can, cold, have, hungry, let, need
• More Spaghetti, I Say! By Rita Golden Gelman: after, am/be/is, can, cold, fun, have, hungry, talk
• My Crayons Talk by Patricia Hubbard: can, fun, have, talk
• Nobody’s Cats: How One Little Kitty Came In From the Cold by Valerie Ingram and Alastair Schroff: can, cold, fast, have, hungry, let, need, talk
• The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don Wood: after, am/is/be, because, have, hungry, need
• Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts: because, can, fast, have, need
• Waiting is Not Easy by Mo Willems:  am/be/is, can, have, let, talk
• What Do Teachers Do After You Leave School? by Anne Bowen: after, because, can, fun, have, need, talk 

Looking for more ideas? Check out the calendar Rachael Langley shared with us for the Set 1 words (2015 June Calendar of Core Word Ideas).

We appreciate the support of Heidi LoStracco, Brian Whitmer, Eric Sailers, Tim DeLuca, Lisa Timm, Nancy Inman, Barbara Fernandes Alison Wade, Eric Sailers, Russell Cross, Gail Van Tatenhove, Bill Binko, Rachael Langley, and all the others who created these resources and allowed us to share them.