June 20, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
AACtual Therapist Tanna Neufeld comes through again, putting a prAACtical touch on an activity we all know and love. Tanna has generously shared both her ideas and the communication boards that she uses for this activity. You can download them in our eToolBox or go to the links at the end of this post. Tanna has great intervention tips (love her 80/20 idea!) that are prAACtical and effective for keeping kids engaged and learning. Mr. Potato Head is one of my favorite therapy tools for working with all kids, but especially beginning communicators. This awesome spud is not only a versatile toy-ripe for building, pretending, and interacting-but also a great tool for modeling vocabulary. For those little ones that you can keep engaged beyond the putting in and out of the building stage (tap into that good old fashioned, therapeutic use of self!), this toy really goes the distance. I... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AACtual therapy, commenting, communication book, download, Potato Head, resources, Tanna Neufeld, therapy activities
June 6, 2013
by Carole Zangari -
We are happy to welcome Shareka Bentham back to our site with more AAC intervention ideas. Earlier in the year, she shared ideas for AAC intervention on a field trip to the zoo, playing Stop and Go, in therapy groups, and doing the Harlem Shake. In this post, Shareka uses a fun card game, Go Fish, to build vocabulary and help students learn to ask and answer questions. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: I have been working more frequently with a few more low tech devices recently, particularly with my older kids at school. We have started using the Go Talk 4+ and the Quick Talker 12 in class, (depending on the child’s level and ability) and have been seeing excellent results. One of my greatest challenges however has been finding ways to incorporate general vocabulary learning into AAC use, while keeping these older children engaged. These are the kids who are 7 years... [Read More...]
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: AACtual therapy, Shareka Bentham, therapy activities
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