Tag Archive: language therapy
March 30, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
Where I come from, we value our independence. We look forward to the day when we can move out of our childhood homes into our first apartments. We’re intensely proud of our kids when they first do things on their own. We feel honored do to our first professional presentations or fly solo on a publication. We are driven to be independent in our professional and personal lives. Independence is all well and good, but sometimes we get caught up in thinking that it’s the most important thing for our clients who use AAC. Many times, it’s not. As SLPs well know, communication is a social act. Without the cooperation of another person, there is no communication.We need other people in order to communicate and we need them even more when we’re just learning. Independence is something, but it isn’t everything. For AAC learners, interdependence plays an important role. We love... [Read More...]
Filed under: Strategy of the Month
Tagged With: co-construction, download, language therapy, narrative, storytelling, visual supports
February 16, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
. A few weeks ago we talked about AAC intervention to teach someone how to convey information that others want or need. Giving instructions, answering comprehension questions, and retelling a story all fit into the Light’s category of ‘information transfer.’ Communicating in order to give information is only part of that story. Today, we complete the story by talking about getting information from others. Not all questions are about getting information, of course. We also ask questions for other reasons, like getting something we want or need (e.g., “May I have a drink, please?”) and socializing with friends/family (e.g., “How was your weekend?” “What did you do for your birthday?”). But in this post, we focus on interrogatives that serve the purpose of getting needed information from a communication partner. Many times when we think of interrogatives in language therapy, the focus is on answering them accurately and appropriately. The skill... [Read More...]
Filed under: Strategy of the Month
Tagged With: beyond requesting, interrogatives, language therapy, questions
November 17, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled. Plutarch Last week, Robin discussed some strategies and activities for teaching new words to individuals who are at the earlier stages of language learning. This week, we move ahead and address semantic instruction for individuals who regularly create sentences to express themselves. One of my favorite things about working with AAC learners at this level is the opportunity for having metalinguistic conversations. Getting them to think and talk about language can accelerate their learning. Here are some prAACtical thoughts on how this relates to semantics with a focus on building word consciousness. We’re all familiar with music appreciation and art appreciation. I always think of word consciousness as a sort of like word appreciation. It refers to an awareness that words are the building blocks of language and that they can be examined and manipulated... [Read More...]
Filed under: Strategy of the Month
Tagged With: intervention, language therapy, new words, semantics, vocabulary, word consciousness
November 13, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
We’re always looking for engaging activities to use to practice words that our AAC friends are learning. For some learners, making avatars can be a great way to do have an authentic reason to use words for body parts and accessories as well as modifiers for size, shape, color, and other things. Plus…Who wouldn’t want an excuse to make a younger, thinner, cuter, or funnier version of themselves?! Here are some sites to check out. Pop Art Pixies: Basic avatar site oriented for girls. Good for using core language, making requests, color & size words. DoppelMe: Easy to use site for making cartoon-like avatars with several opportunities to choose elements, like clothes, hairstyles, and backgrounds. Use words for feelings to select facial expressions. WeeWorld: Another user-friendly site that can be a fun way to use descriptors in making selections to create, dress, and style your avatar. This site’s graphics would... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: intervention, language therapy, new words, repetition with vareity, semantics, vocabulary
November 12, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
This post is a follow-up to some others in which we introduced a general sequence of how we conceptualize semantic instruction and then went on to discuss the initial step in more detail. Today, we’ll be talking more about Step 2, Teaching the new word(s) with explicit instruction activities. There are so many creative ways to teach new word meanings, but for this step in the process we stick with those that meet a few basic criteria. Guidelines for Creating or Selecting Activities to Teach New Words Rich context: As we’ve said before, context reigns supreme. The cognitive, social, and linguistic cues that children use to learn new word meanings change over time, but at every stage they derive meaning from the surrounding context. Using contextual cues makes us more efficient learners and so it is something we want to encourage in our AAC learners. For a beginning communicator, a... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: intervention, language therapy, new words, semantics, vocabulary
November 8, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
All this month we are talking about considerations in teaching new words to people who use AAC. We’ve talked about the role of focused aided language stimulation and wanted to follow that up with a few more ideas for implementing this strategy. Select the new (target) word to teach giving consideration to Tier 2 words that fit with their language or curriculum goals. Pronounce it. Provide a student-friendly definition Use aided language input: Model the word on the device if it is stored in there OR use the device to explain the new word in a student-friendly way. Find ways to use it throughout the day (and beyond). Hearing the word in various contexts is a great way to deepen the learner’s understanding. Have the AAC learners say it using their AAC (e.g., spelling it out on SGD) or natural speech. Segment it. (E.g., “One of our new words is... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: aided language input, focused language stimulation, intervention, language therapy, new words, semantics, vocabulary
November 7, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
Earlier this month, we introduced a general sequence of how we conceptualize semantic instruction. We promised to elaborate on that. There are two things that I really love about this approach to to vocabulary teaching. The first is that is honors a principle that we know to be true: providing repetition with variety not only helps us reach learners with different strengths, but also gives our AAC learners much-needed practice. The other thing that makes this really work for us is that assessment has an active role but not a central one. Testing takes a backseat to teaching. As we all know, getting accurate assessment information from people who are learning their AAC systems is a huge challenge. Often, our AAC friends don’t have decent test-taking skills so we’re not really testing what we think we’re testing. Just last week I got to see Kristofer, an adorable little fellow who... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: aided, aided language input, intervention, language therapy, new words, semantics, vocabulary
November 6, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
Lots of AAC learners make mistakes when they assemble words into sentences. Here is a brief screencast talking a little bit about what to think about when providing therapy to individuals with syntax errors. –
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: aided language input, intervention, language therapy, strategies, syntax, word order
November 2, 2012
by Carole Zangari -
We were lucky enough to snag copies of Sentence Builder by AbiTalk when it was offered for free earlier this year and have had a great time with it. It comes with prepared lessons at two levels and the flexibility to create your own lessons. Here are some ideas for using the ready-made lessons to build language skills in AAC learners. Core Vocabulary: We’re always looking for ways to practice an initial lexicon of basic core words, like I, is, have, and can. These words appear with frequency in Sentence Builder, which makes it a great fit for learners working on that skill. Those of you using this app in a group may find that this offers a great opportunity for differentiating instruction in multi-level groups. Parts of Speech: In AAC therapy, we often focus on the part of speech since that it how many SGDs organize vocabulary. We like... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Apps, core vocabulary, intervention, language therapy, Magic Moments, MLU, semantics, Sentence Builder, syntax, therapy activities, vocabulary