School Year of Core Vocabulary Words: AAC Resources for Month 3 (October) by Michaela Sullivan, Alisa Lego, & Beth Lytle

Welcome to a new post in the School Year of Core Vocabulary Words series! Each of these posts, guest authored by Michaela Sullivan, Alisa Lego, and Beth Lytle, focuses on a selected set of words along with a suggested order in which to teach them. The Activity Packets, containing sheets on highlighting these words in a variety of activities, and Data Collection Forms. For October, they’re discussing a third key intervention strategy, following the learner’s lead.

If you are new to this series, you may want to review the introduction that our series authors created before delving into this month’s target words. You can see the guest authors’ overview here.

Let’s get started!

A SCHOOL YEAR OF CORE WORDS: OCTOBER

by Michaela Sullivan, Beth Lytle, & Alisa Lego

To the parents, teachers, Speech-Language Pathologists, Para Professionals, friends, and other curious professionals or communicators – welcome back to the monthly School Year of Core Words- October Edition. If this is the first time you’re visiting this posting, we welcome you and hope that you find our resources helpful in teaching and implementing the targeted core words for the month of October. If you’re returning, we hope that you find our resources increasingly interesting, fun, and engaging. (If we’re having fun, then our students are probably having fun, too). Splashes of joy are sprinkled across each activity as we strive to promote a powerful but fun context for learning. 

The School Year of Core Words’ Mission Statement is “To create a collaborative collection of free AAC resources based on core vocabulary and AAC implementation.” Alisa, Beth, and I created this project from a little ‘idea’ that grew. We saw the need for free AAC core word resources, and for some reason, we were confident that we could deliver such products if we were given the opportunity, (which we were), and as always, we thank Carole Zangari for her belief in our passion project. 

Enjoy Month 3 of the School Year of Core Words!

THEWORDS

Level 1 words for October: my/mine, turn, listen, don’t, up, down, feel, there, happy, sad, sick, tired, a, scared, mad, who

The suggested sequence for implementation is listed below:

• Week 1: my/mine, turn, listen, don’t
• Week 2: up, down, feel, there
• Week 3: happy, sad, sick, tired
• Week 4: a, scared, mad, who

Level 2 words for October: them, someone, no one, fix, use, will, learn, clap, paint, messy, glue, party, dance, break, Wait a minute

The suggested order for these words is listed below:

• Week 1: them, someone, no one, fix
• Week 2: use, will, learn, clap
• Week 3: paint, messy, glue, party
• Week 4: dance, break, wait a minute

THE SYMBOLS

You can download grids with the symbols for this month’s words from the lists below. These handy tools can help us remember what words to focus on and be useful in our intervention and instruction. 

Level 1 Words

• Avaz
• CoughDrop
• LAMP Words for Life
• Wordpower 60 Basic
• Unity 45 Sequenced
• Unity 60 Sequenced
• Unity 84 Sequenced
• Blank Grid (add your own symbols)

Level 2 Words

• Avaz
• CoughDrop
• LAMP Words for Life
• Wordpower 60 Basic
• Unity 45 Sequenced
• Unity 60 Sequenced
• Unity 84 Sequenced
• Blank Grid (add your own symbols)

THE ACTIVITIES

These sets of Activity Packets are divided into weeks and can be downloaded for easy access.

Activity Packets for Level 1 Words

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4

Activity Packets for Level 2 Words

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4

STRATEGY OF THE MONTH: FOLLOWING THE CHILD’S LEAD

The strategy of Following the Child’s Lead promotes a child/student-directed approach to AAC intervention where the communication partner has the opportunity to observe and respond to what the child is engaged in and to integrate use of the AAC system across a variety of situations that are of interest to the student. Additionally, communication partners can provide and embed the use of other AAC strategies (such as Aided Language Stimulation and Wait Time) when they engage with students.  

Below, please find a helpful resource from the Specialised Assistive Technology Centre outlining the 4 L’s to Following the Child’s Lead with AAC.

RESOURCES

Top 3 Strategies to Engage AAC Users

• PrAACtical Resources: AAC for Caregivers This is a comprehensive resource explaining AAC Strategies. Please note the section:  Following the Child’s Lead for more information. 
• Teaching AAC- For Parents (please note the section on Following the Child’s Lead)
• Six Steps to Follow the Child’s Lead This handout from Hanen does not focus on AAC but outlines ways to follow the child’s lead in general and may assist you in your practice. 

DATA COLLECTION & ACCOUNTABILITY FORMS

Taking data to measure performance and keeping track of our own modeling behavior are two things we can do to strengthen our AAC teaching.  Here are some forms that you can use to support those efforts.

• Level 1 Accountability Form
• Level 2 Accountability Form

Contributors

Our hope and belief were that once our Activity Sheets reached others, some would be able to relate to our approach and join us in our quest to share, too… and since our first posting in August, as of October 3, we are proud to announce that we have welcomed 18 Featured Core Contributors who will be sharing their ideas, resources and time to selflessly create Activity Sheets filled for you to use in your practice.  

Our Featured Core Contributors for the Month of October include:

• Jessica Oseguera
• Jordan Stuhltrager
• Kelsey Robin
• Molly Harzel
• Abbie Duarte
• Amy Burt
• Andriana Nikolau
• Shanaz Faisal
• Sam Lin
• Meagan Rose Baron

We would like to invite you to join our Core Community to share your ideas with us as we post and share them with others.  These are unprecedented times where we all rely on the help of others. Our Core Community is all about helping one another by providing monthly resources to help support you and your students.  To join our Core Community please email one of us with your ideas and resources and you will be recognized as a featured contributor.

This posting is dedicated to all of you SLP’s, parents, educators, and therapists who are making a difference every day! 

About the School Year of Core Vocabulary Series Authors

Michaela Sullivan is an SLP who specializes in the fields of AAC and AT. She currently works within the San Francisco Unified School District on the AAC Support Team where she supervises graduate students, works in a transition program, and on special projects. Ms. Sullivan is also an AAC and AT Team member within the San Mateo Unified School District where she developed an AAC Mentorship program. Ms. Sullivan also has a private practice. She has been a presenter in the field of SLP and AAC at state and national conventions.   She serves as a board member and volunteer for the Nika Project, providing services, supports, resources, training, and repurposed equipment for individuals with complex communication needs both locally and internationally. 

Alisa Lego is a second-year graduate student and candidate for Master’s of Science in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences at San Francisco State University.  Alisa is specializing in AAC through San Francisco State University’s federally funded Project Building Bridges.  Alisa is also a candidate for the Autism Spectrum Graduate Certificate.  Through Project Building Bridges, she has joined the Nika project and is providing resources for individuals with complex communication needs both locally and across the globe. You can follow Alisa on Instagram at @newfriendscollective.

Beth Lytle is a second-year graduate student and candidate for Master’s of Science in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences at San Francisco State University.  Beth is specializing in AAC through San Francisco State University’s federally funded Project Building Bridges.  Through Project Building Bridges, she has joined the Nika project and is providing resources for individuals with complex communication needs both locally and across the globe.