PrAACtically September: Core Vocabulary Resources

It’s hard to believe that summer is just about over (at least here in Florida). If you are supporting a child or adult who has a core vocabulary based AAC system, you know how much it takes to help them learn to use all of the wonderful words at their disposal. One strategy is to select a subset of their words to highlight each month. We can then take this small subset of their core words and:

• make an extra effort to model them on their device or a facsimile
• do specific instructional activities to teach the word meaning
• plan games and tasks to help them better recognize and understand the symbols for those words, and,
• plan specific opportunities for them to say these words daily conversation and instructional tasks.

Our prAACtical friends need practice, practice, and more practice. Over time, they will gain more fluency and automaticity with the words in their AAC system.

Whether you are following along with the 2013 Year of Core  (12 words/month) or the 2014 A(nother) Year of Core  (16 words/month; Different than the previous year’s core words), or just getting started, here are some helpful resources. Our words for this month are as follows.

• Set 1 (2013): almost, call, listen, name, nice, over, place, sit, time, we, write
• Set 2 (2014): around, bug, cool, far, fly, hair, kind, less, lunch, middle, money, open, orange, sometimes, through, tomorrow

1. Templates for you to plug in your own symbols: 2013 words, 2014 words
2. Minspeak/Unity version: 2013 words
3. PCS versions: 2013 words, 2014 words 
4. Lesson Pix: 2013 words 
5. Symbol Stix: 2013 words

Much appreciation to Bill and Lori Binko, Heidi LoStracco, Alison Wade, Russell Cross, Gail Van Tatenhove, Eric Sailers, Yukiko Okuma, Rachael Langley, and all the others who have made these resources and allowed us to share them.

As we all know, story reading is a great way to highlight core words, build fluency with AAC, and support literacy development. Here’s a book list, courtesy of Yukiko Okuma, that can be used to model and elicit the first set of core words (2013). Happy reading!

• Bird and Bear, by Ann James (Author, Illustrator) – Target Words:  we, over, time
• Virginia Wolf, by Kyo Maclear (Author), Isabelle Arsenault (Illustrator) – Target Word: we
• Pie in the Sky, by Lois Ehlert (Author) – Target Word: we
• Doughnuts for a Dragon (George’s Amazing Adventures), by Adam Guillain (Author), Charlotte Guillain (Author), Lee Wildish (Illustrator) – Target Word: time
• Two Girls Want a Puppy, by Evie Cordell (Author), Ryan Cordell (Author), Maple Lam (Illustrator) – Target Words: we, write, call
• Froggy Goes to School, by Jonathan London (Author), Frank Remkiewicz (Illustrator) – Target Words: name, sit, time
• Llama Llama Misses Mama,  by Anna Dewdney (Author) – Target Word: time
• I.Q., It’s Time, by Mary Ann Fraser (Author, Illustrator) – Target Word: time
• Jessie’s Island,  by Sheryl McFarlane (Author), Sheena Lott (Illustrator) – Target Word: write
• Almost, by Richard Torrey (Author, Illustrator) – Target Word: almost
• Daddy Calls Me Man (Richard Jackson Books (Orchard), by Angela Johnson (Author), Rhonda Mitchell (Illustrator) – Target Word: call
• Don’t Call Me Sweet!, by Smriti Prasadam-Halls (Author), Angie Rozelaar (Illustrator) – Target Word: call
• Listen, Listen!, by Phillis Gershator (Author), Alison Jay (Illustrator)  – Target Word: listen
• Junket Is Nice, by Dorothy Kunhardt (Author, Illustrator) – Target Word: nice
• Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef, by Marianne Berkes (Author), Jeanette Canyon (Illustrator) – Target Word: over
• Curious George Takes a Train, by H. A. Rey (Author), Margret Rey (Author), Martha Weston (Illustrator) – Target Word: take
• Coyote Places the Stars, by Harriet Peck Taylor (Author) –Target Word: place

Need more ideas? Check out Rachael Langley’s calendar for some wonderfully prAACtical ideas. You can download a printable version here.