Tag Archive: core vocabulary

Resources for A Year of Core Words

April 11, 2014 by - Leave your thoughts

Resources for A Year of Core Words

We’re big fans of the Speak for Yourself app, so when we saw that Christine Bayley used our Year of Core Words 2013 version (see also: 2014 version) to make an SFY version, we were thrilled! You can check it out for yourself here. Christine is adding to it little-by-little, so visit her site (Hi, I’m Tom) for the most current version. Interested in A Year of Core Words for other symbol sets/systems? There are a few more in the Download section of our e-Toolbox. Enjoy!

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5 Quick and Easy Games That Build AAC Skills

March 27, 2014 by - 5 Comments

5 Quick and Easy Games That Build AAC Skills

Have a few minutes and want to get in some core word prAACtice without making it seem like work? Giving the AAC learner a chance to boss us around and direct us do things just because they tell us to is something that has worked for us more times that we can count. Put the AAC learner in control and make it fun. Get your silly on and ham it up but remember to use aided language input throughout the process. Here are some ideas. They say: “Go,” “Sit,” “Tell,” or “Walk.” We act that out in the craziest way possible. They say: “Happy,” “You happy,” “Sad,” or “You sad.” We make the most ridiculous happy/sad faces imaginable. They say: “What,” “What is it?” or “What is that?” We use the context to figure out what they’re referring to and say “It is a ___.” They say: “Get the ____,”... [Read More...]

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PrAACtical Fun

March 25, 2014 by - 1 Comment

PrAACtical Fun

It was so gratifying so be at the most recent ASHA and ATIA conferences and notice how many presentations covered some aspect of core vocabulary. The shift away from noun-heavy, activity-based vocabulary has gained significant momentum. Teams who are deeply invested in teaching core words find that it becomes a way of thinking. Still, it’s not as easy as it seems to use core words. We found this fun site that we thought you might like, too. It challenges you to explain or discuss something using only the more frequent 1,000 words. Check out these examples, then try your hand at using core words to explain how to make a favorite recipe, explain what you did at work today, or teach a lesson. If someone can summarize a whole movie or doctoral dissertation with core words, shouldn’t we be able to model them when we speak to AAC learners throughout... [Read More...]

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Video of the Week: Core Vocabulary in Action

March 23, 2014 by - Leave your thoughts

Video of the Week: Core Vocabulary in Action

“I eat biscuits when I talk about things.” “How about yesterday?” “What do you like making?” “Kay said, Put away toys.” “What did you say?” “After meeting we did go eat mini burger.” “What did you eat for dinner?” “I will eat one biscuit now.” Isn’t it a treat to see kids really using core language? There is so much to love about this video of Kingsley, a youngster with autism, and his dad. From the child-directed interaction, to the contingent responding, to the language elicitation strategies (e.g., “You start”), to reminders about punctuation, to the sheer love of interaction, and more. This is one to savor.  Direct link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jHWeD9ivc0  

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A(nother) Year of Core Vocabulary

January 2, 2014 by - 8 Comments

It hardly seems possible that a year has gone by since we posted a Year of Core Words 2013. We’ve been so gratified by the feedback from professionals and parents who’ve put it to good use and followed month-by-month to focus on a dozen core words and get suggestions for additional practice. We were thrilled when others added symbols, created teaching materials, and adapted it for their own use. Today we’re back with the 2nd Year of Core Words, this time with 16 words/month. If you follow along, you’ll have covered 192 new core words by the end. Once again, we created 12 grids of core vocabulary words – one for each month of the year. Each grid has 16 cells labeled with core words. Plug in the AAC symbols that your client uses (e.g., PCS, SmartySymbols, Unity, Pixons, etc.), print, laminate, and keep them handy. Feel free to adapt... [Read More...]

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Most Popular Posts of 2013

December 27, 2013 by - Leave your thoughts

Most Popular Posts of 2013

It’s been a wonderfully prAACtical year. Here’s a look back at our top 10 most popular posts. Anyone see any patterns? 🙂 How I Do It: Writing IEP Goals for Students Who Use AAC by Lauren Enders  Teaching Core Vocabulary 5 Great Resources for Pre-Made Communication Boards Core Samples A Year Of Core Vocabulary Words AAC ‘Must Haves’ the the Classroom and Therapy Room Pivotal Skills for AAC Intervention: Aided Language Input How I Do It: AAC in the IEP by Lauren Enders Getting Started with Core Vocabulary More on Teaching Core Vocabulary

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Power Words from PrAACtical Friends

December 20, 2013 by - 1 Comment

Power Words from PrAACtical Friends

Teaching core vocabulary is the best way to pack a lot of power into an AAC system. As some of you know, we post things to the PrAACtical AAC Facebook Page a few times/day. Recently, we shared a link to a core word board from the I Can Newsletter folks that was posted on Boardmaker Achieve. We asked for suggestions for what you could say with those words. Here’s are some great ideas from our prAACtical friends: Come again: Love that this can be used in a literal sense, but also as a snarky comment Get help Go away: Language learning and self-advocacy – this one’s a two-fer! Your bad Stop it. Ready, go! Go get it. I like it. I want all done! I want more You do/did it. You stop it. You want it. What you want? We’ll take any opportunity to model questions and teach how to... [Read More...]

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AAC Vocabulary Lists

December 16, 2013 by - 8 Comments

AAC Vocabulary Lists

We were looking for some core vocabulary lists the other day and it struck us: Maybe you were, too! Here are some we found, both for core words and other AAC-related topics. Core Vocabulary Adults  – Baladin& Iacono, 1999 via Minspeak.com Adults – Hill, 2001 via Minspeak.com Toddlers – Banajee et al. 2003 via Minspeak.com Children [UNL] Preschool Children – Marvin et al. 1994 via Minspeak.com Children (combined sources) – Anderson & Bitner, 2013 Common core related words [UNC CLDS] Young adults [UNL] Older adults [Stuart, et al., 1997, via Minspeak.com] Various classroom, academic, and related lists [Gail Van Tatenhove] ALS  [UNL] Break time at work [UNL] Dolch words: PreK through 3rd grade Medically-oriented [UNL] Young children  [UNL] Know of one that we should add to the list? Please comment or get in touch so we can add it in. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: UNC: University of North Carolina UNL: University of Nebraska-Lincoln

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Video of the Week: Core Vocabulary All Day Long

November 24, 2013 by - Leave your thoughts

Video of the Week: Core Vocabulary All Day Long

Julie Dunbar of Orange County Goodwill’s AT Exchange Center provides an overview of core vocabulary teaching activities. Need suggestions for teaching and practicing these words throughout the day? Take a look. Direct Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=293GzUPnFAM

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Strategy of the Month: Thoughts on Teaching Core Vocabulary

November 2, 2013 by - Leave your thoughts

Thoughts on Teaching Core Vocabulary

Teaching new words is something SLPs plan for in almost every service delivery setting. This month, we’ll focus on vocabulary instruction for core and extended vocabulary. Thoughts on Teaching Core Vocabulary In Advance Plan ahead. Make a rough plan of the core words you will teach and when you will introduce them to the AAC learner. Make sure there is plenty of variety, especially pronouns, verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and determiners. Words for talking about time (e.g., now, later), asking questions (e.g., what, where), and negation (e.g., not) are important, too. Here’s a link to our post on A Year of Core and A Year of Core, Unity Style. Ensure that the AAC learner has access to communication aids with an adequate base of core vocabulary. What if the learner doesn’t have an SGD or AAC app that is core language based? If you can update that to something with good core... [Read More...]

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