Tag Archive: emergent literacy

Video of the Week: Embedding Core Vocabulary Instruction into Emergent Literacy Routines

September 16, 2020 by - Leave your thoughts

Video of the Week: Embedding Core Vocabulary Instruction into Emergent Literacy Routines

It’s difficult to find enough instructional time during the school day to address all of the goals and priorities that we have for AAC learners. In today’s featured video, Dr. Lori Geist shares ideas for how we can integrate the teaching and practice of core vocabulary with emergent literacy activities and routines. You can obtain the handouts for this session here. Many thanks to Dr. Geist and to the amazing team at CoughDrop for creating and sharing this wonderful presentation that was part of the AAC in the Cloud 2020 Conference. Direct Link to Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1VCXGsPKaM&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=CoughDrop

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Site of the Month: Literacy Instruction for Students with Significant Disabilities

June 29, 2020 by - Leave your thoughts

Site of the Month: Literacy Instruction for Students with Significant Disabilities

Looking for comprehensive information on effective literacy instruction and research-based strategies to support students with significant cognitive disabilities and complex communication needs? Today, we highlight the Literacy Instruction for Students with Significant Disabilities website, a resource developed by the Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium (ERLC) that can be used in planning a new literacy program or enhancing one already in existence.  The site is broken down into 6 main areas. Getting Started provides a framework for this instruction and offers guidance for determining whether instruction for individual learners should focus on emergent or conventional literacy.  The Access to Communication section offers a number of resources to support access to and early development of skills in the areas of linguistic, social, operational, and strategic competence.  Access to appropriate reading material and to effective writing supports both contain important foundational information and practical resource suggestions. More in-depth information is also provided for emergent literacy... [Read More...]

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AACtual Therapy: AAC, Literacy and Squishy Books

May 23, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts

AACtual Therapy: Literacy and Squishy Books

Looking for a fun way to integrate more emergent literacy into your AAC work? You’re in the right place! Today, SLPs Maggie Judson and Jeanna Antrim share one of their many ideas for engaging therapy sessions. Maggie and Jeanna who work in the Assistive Technology Department for the Belleville Area Special Services Cooperative (BASSC) in southern Illinois. They are AT/AAC facilitators and provide evaluations, direct therapy, consultations, and trainings with school teams. You can see a previous guest post that Jeanna wrote here. Let’s hear how they make and use squishy books in their therapy sessions. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: AAC, Literacy and Squishy Books If you’ve done any reading or research around the topic of AAC and literacy, you know that students with complex communication needs do not typically get the same kinds of experiences with literacy activities as do their peers (Light & Kent-Walsh, 2003).  So we are always on the... [Read More...]

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PrAACtically Reading: Over on the Farm with Karen Natoci & Karen Baca                           

May 6, 2019 by - Leave your thoughts

PrAACtically Reading: Over on the Farm with Karen Natoci & Karen Baca                           

Are you ready for some reading, AAC style? In today’s edition of PrAACtically Reading, Karen Natoci and Karen Baca share a preschool book about farm animals. Karen Natoci is an AAC Supervisor who is well-known to the readers of this site (see her wonderful contributions here.). Her colleague Karen Baca is an AT and AAC Specialist with over 30 years in the field of AT, specializing in AAC, alternative access, and literacy for all students with disabilities. They both work for The Speech Pathology Group in the San Francisco Bay area. Book:  Over on the Farm by Marianne Berkes and illustrated by Cathy Morrison (Copyright © 2003, Little, Brown and Company; Hachette Book Group, www.lb-kids.com) Vocabulary focus:  All core words Fringe Vocabulary focus: horse/foals/neigh, cat/kittens/meow, cow/calves/moo, goat/kids/maa, chicken/chick/cheep-cheep, owl/owlets/hoot-hoot, mouse/pups/squeek, turkey/poults/gobble-gobble, duck/ducklings/quack, pig/piglets/oink Actions: peck, nibble, swish, wash, gallop, hide, fly, strut, waddle roll Communication Matrix (Rowland, 2009) level:  I-VIII... [Read More...]

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AAC and Emergent Literacy: 5 Posts with Implementation Ideas

January 5, 2017 by - Leave your thoughts

AAC and Emergent Literacy: 5 Posts with Implementation Ideas

Looking to infuse additional activities to support the reading and writing development of the AAC learners with whom you work? Today, we’re revisiting some popular posts with helpful ideas and resources. Robust Literacy Instruction for People Who Use AAC A PrAACtical Literacy Activity for Beginning Communicators  Literacy Lessons for Beginning AAC Learner Infusing Literacy Learning Opportunities in AAC Therapies  Literacy for All: A Series of Videos by Dr. Caroline Musselwhite  Hope you find some useful tips and suggestions.

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Emergent Literacy Work in AAC Therapy Sessions

September 23, 2014 by - Leave your thoughts

Emergent Literacy Work in AAC Therapy Sessions

We strive to use some of our therapy time to build the literacy skills with all of our beginning communicators. It’s not easy. First, because they often have little to no interest in it (at first), but mostly because our time together is quite limited. Here are some of the things we’ve been doing. Having our clients sign in themselves (Think: name stamps, stickers, tracing, or even making a mark) Looking for their name on their therapy room door: We make signs and print two copies. We give them one in the waiting room so that they can match it to the sample on the door. Formatting the visual schedule so that the client does some writing (Think: check box, crossing off the activity when finished) Picking a book or the topic: For some of clients we use the books themselves, but for most we use their AAC. It’s time... [Read More...]

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AACtual Therapy: Building Language and Emergent Literacy Skills with ‘Do You Wear Diapers?’

September 18, 2014 by - Leave your thoughts

AACtual Therapy: Building Language and Emergent Literacy Skills with 'Do You Wear Diapers?'

What’s more fun than using story books to teaching language to young children with AAC needs? Today, we hear from Kimberly Scanlon, an SLP practicing in New Jersey. Kimberley is is a devoted mom, wife and dog lover and blogs at Scanlon Speech and My Toddler Talks. She is the author of My Toddler Talks: Strategies and Activities to Promote Your Child’s Language Development and is finishing a unique picture and activity workbook, Learning to Read is a Ball. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Hold on to your undies, today we’re going to talk about poop, diapers, and the location of where various animals go potty. Sounds like a good time, right? Kidding aside, in this post I’m going to show you how to use this adorable picture book, Do You Wear Diapers? by Tanya Roitman to facilitate language and emergent literacy development in toddlers and preschoolers. What’s this book about? It’s a potty book! This adorable board book... [Read More...]

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Literacy for Everyone with Adapted Books

September 28, 2013 by - 9 Comments

Literacy for Everyone with Adapted Books

To integrate reading and writing into communication & language learning we need to have lots of books that are easily accessible. Books should  be accessible physically as well as through content and interest. This holds true for ALL learners even those that don’t like books but do like…… wheels.  We have made literacy  accessible for a young girl who only liked elevators, and a boy who only liked balls, and a young adult who liked Barney books but not much else.  It holds true for ALL disabilities, and ALL levels of reading and writing. For our final September Literacy Strategy of the Month, we wanted to share the abundance of resources for making adapted books. Because when we have great adapted books, literacy is more accessible. Check out these awesome resources for making your own adapted books and for printing out already created adapted books and lessons.  We love early... [Read More...]

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AAC & Literacy- Setting the Stage

September 14, 2013 by - Leave your thoughts

AAC & Literacy: Setting the Stage

Literacy is for all students. As with most things we learn, emergent readers and writers need to be active participants with print across multiple settings and in multiple meaningful experiences. Emergent readers need to be taught to integrate reading and writing with communication and language.  To facilitate this comprehensive integration and understanding, SLP’s and educators can use a variety of authentic research based strategies to help. Create a literacy enriched environment- Literacy skills are promoted through an environment with lots of reading and writing materials. Text based labels and signs will help bring meaning to text in authentic experiences. As you plan activities, include options for writing time/centers, and reading time/centers. Have books accessible to learners. Have lots of book options, but also help students independently turn pages (make it easy with page fluffers), reach books, use writing materials, etc. During interactive activities, give learners a choice of 2 or more books to... [Read More...]

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