Tag Archive: reading
March 12, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
Like many of you, I’m always on the hunt for ways to support beginning communicators who are also learning to read. As SLPs, we have a huge opportunity to advocate for and provide good literacy learning opportunities for individuals with AAC needs. For learners past the preschool age, it can be challenging to find material that engages them and yet respects the fact that they are no longer young children. Last month, we share a handout from a wonderful ATIA presentation that Drs. Hanser and Musselwhite did on this topic (you can see that post here). Today, I’m sharing the thoughts of Erin Sheldon, whose work in inclusive education for students with significant disabilities and support of families with Angelman Syndrome (AS) is known to many of you. Erin’s work is directly informed by her daughter Maggie, who has AS and is fully included in her general education classroom. A... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: age appropriate, age respectful, angelman syndrome, Books, Erin Sheldon, literacy, older students, reading
February 17, 2015
by Carole Zangari -
We are so pleased to have SLP Karen Natoci back with the second edition of PrAACtically Reading. You can see her first post here. I love that this lesson focuses on older students, providing an age respectful activity (who else loves Mad Libs?!) and a prAACtical way for students with lower verbal skills to develop their reading abilities. Writing to Read: Mad Lib, Core Words, and Literacy Instruction Core Vocabulary focus: like, dislike, uh-oh, again Sometimes it is fun to just write our own BIG BOOK and this month, we decided to do that by using a simplified “mad libs” format. Honestly, I’m not sure who had more fun, the teachers, the student authors or myself! I was inspired by the work of Gretchen Hanser. I attended her workshop on writing at Oakland Schools (MI) in the fall of 2013. She showed us that all students develop writing and experience... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Karen Natoci, literacy, Mad Libs, older learners, reading, writing
December 21, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
How do you incorporate aided language input while reading books? There are lots of ways to do it. Here’s one of them.
Filed under: Video of the Week
Tagged With: aided language input, aided language stimulation, book reading, Communicare, reading
October 10, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
When we provide literacy experiences to pre-readers, a question emerges: Should we add symbols to the text? For those of us who have been prAACticing for awhile (you know who you are, friends), there has been a shift in our thinking. Early on, we tried to add symbols to the words. Our thinking was that doing so would enhance the client’s ability to learn to read. A few years ago, we re-examined that belief. Here’s why. Many times, our clients didn’t really know the symbols anyway. Symbols for frequently used words (like of, some, and know) are not at all transparent. So the notion that the symbols would help them understand what they were reading often didn’t pan out. We want the learners to (eventually) develop their reading skills and be able to read conventional text. The symbols distract attention away from the print/text. If we want the learner to... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: reading, symbols
September 18, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
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...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Books, emergent literacy, Kimberly Scanlon, potty, preschoolers, reading
June 26, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
There are so many wonderful things about reading with kids, and practicing AAC is one of them. Every month, we’ll try to pick a book and provide some prAACtical suggestions for how to read it and sneak in some opportunities for receptive and expressive AAC use. You can make book-specific screens, overlays, or boards, but we favor a more powerful approach: use core vocabulary as your base and supplement with words specific to that book. Need some core language displays? There are many floating around, but here’s a link to ours if you need some more. We thought we’d start off this series with a book that is familiar to most, if not all, of you. Pull it off your shelf, find your prAACtical pal, grab that core language board, get to a cozy spot, and let’s get started. PrAACtically Reading with Brown Bear Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Brown Bear, core vocabulary, literacy, reading
June 5, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
Anyone else thinking of a little summer reading? We were looking for books featuring children who use AAC the other day and thought others might also be interested in this topic. The Boy Who Saw Too Much (Part of the Romeo Riley Private Detective Series) by April Whitt How Katie Got a Voice (And A Cool New Nickname) by Pat Mervine On Being Sarah by Elizabeth Helfman Sara’s Surprise by Nan Holcomb YOURS! Make your own story with digital storytelling apps like My Story – Book Maker What are your favorite books that show children using AAC?
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Books, literacy, reading
June 1, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
This video by occupational therapist Paul Andres is as endearing as it is informative. Check out Franz as he gets ready to read a book. This is a great video to share with families and other team members who may be unfamiliar with alternative ways of book reading. Direct link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfu8sQH6428
Filed under: Video of the Week
Tagged With: AT, literacy, reading, Tarheel Reader
March 28, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
Want to do something really great for some of your prAACtical friends who aren’t yet reading fluently? Turn on closed captioning whenever they watch TV or videos. Our fast fAACt for the week: Subtitles and captioning support reading comprehension and vocabulary learning, too. Check out Chris Bugaj’s podcast and other resources, and turn on those captions! :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Koskinen, P.Wilson, R.M., Gambrell, L.B. & Neuman, S.B. (1993). Captioned video and vocabulary learning: An innovative practice in literacy instruction. The Reading Teacher, 47(1), 36-43.
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: Chris Bugaj, closed caption, reading
March 17, 2014
by Carole Zangari -
In this post, we continue to explore strategies for advancing the literacy experiences of people who use AAC. Today, we’ll look at a strategy used in the research of Drs. Cathy Binger and Jennifer Kent-Walsh. What is a little different about this strategy is that it uses literacy experiences, specifically storybook reading, to build communication skills. One component of their research focuses on an interactive reading strategy called RAAP: Read, Ask, Answer, Prompt. There is lots to love about this approach, but one of our favorite things is that is makes heavy use of aided language input, an intervention strategy that is critical for partners of beginning communicators to use. You can read more about aided language input and see videos here. It also gets partners using language expansions and extensions, an intervention strategy that is effective for communicators at many levels of proficiency. Finally, we appreciate the frequent use of... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: aided language input, Cathy Binger, expansion, extensions, Jennifer Kent-Walsh, literacy, pause, RAA, RAAP, reading