To complement a praacticalaac.org blog post series called 'Resources for a Year of Core Words', I created monthly core word boards using Symbolstix. I completed them for the entire school year, and shared the files with staff in my school district. I also wanted to share the monthly core words one month at a time here on my blog. So, here’s the board for April: PDF Download Link Here are some ideas on how you can use the monthly core words: Print 1 copy, then laminate it (or put it in a sheet protector) and use it for aided language stimulation during various activities at school (circle time, small group rotations, transitions, lunch, taking a walk, etc.) Print 1 copy, then laminate it (or put it in a sheet protector) and provide it to parents for aided language stimulatio[...]

To complement a praacticalaac.org blog post series called 'Resources for a Year of Core Words', I created monthly core word boards using Symbolstix. I completed them for the entire school year, and shared the files with staff in my school district. I also wanted to share the monthly core words one month at a time here on my blog. So, here’s the board for March: PDF Download Link Here are some ideas on how you can use the monthly core words: Print 1 copy, then laminate it (or put it in a sheet protector) and use it for aided language stimulation during various activities at school (circle time, small group rotations, transitions, lunch, taking a walk, etc.) Print 1 copy, then laminate it (or put it in a sheet protector) and provide it to parents for aided language stimulatio[...]

To complement a praacticalaac.org blog post series called 'Resources for a Year of Core Words', I created monthly core word boards using Symbolstix. I completed them for the entire school year, and shared the files with staff in my school district. I also wanted to share the monthly core words one month at a time here on my blog. So, here’s the board for February: PDF Download Link Here are some ideas on how you can use the monthly core words: Print 1 copy, then laminate it (or put it in a sheet protector) and use it for aided language stimulation during various activities at school (circle time, small group rotations, transitions, lunch, taking a walk, etc.) Print 1 copy, then laminate it (or put it in a sheet protector) and provide it to parents for aided language stimula[...]

To complement a praacticalaac.org blog post series called 'Resources for a Year of Core Words', I created monthly core word boards using Symbolstix. I completed them for the entire school year, and shared the files with staff in my school district. I also wanted to share the monthly core words one month at a time here on my blog. So, here’s the board for January: PDF Download Link Here are some ideas on how you can use the monthly core words: Print 1 copy, then laminate it (or put it in a sheet protector) and use it for aided language stimulation during various activities at school (circle time, small group rotations, transitions, lunch, taking a walk, etc.) Print 1 copy, then laminate it (or put it in a sheet protector) and provide it to parents for aided language stimulat[...]

Each month I write a blog post for a grid of monthly core words that I created with Symbolstix symbols. The grid is for 1 month of core words to complement a praacticalaac.org series of monthly blog posts. I have noticed that my blog post for monthly core words is always one of the most popular among our posts. Wouldn’t it be nice to get all 12 months of the monthly core words in a single document? Well, now you can! During the month of December, if you subscribe to our email newsletter, you will receive an email with a document for the entire year of core words. Just click here to subscribe, or you can alternatively subscribe via our blog sidebar under the section 'Subscribe To Newsletter'.

This school year, I have spent a fair amount of intervention time with students who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). I have also spent a good amount of time with the communication partners (teachers, parents, paraprofessionals) of those students. Throughout this time, I focused my energy on modeling for the students to learn how to use their AAC system, but also for the communication partners to implement modeling. Now that we're months into the school year, I have noticed the communication partners doing some modeling, but it could be done more frequently and more effectively. My first thought on how to solve this problem was to provide the communication partners with a self-assessment form, which I think is a fairly nonintrusive way for people to make a change. So[...]

To complement a praacticalaac.org blog post series called 'Resources for a Year of Core Words', I created monthly core word boards using Symbolstix. I completed them for the entire school year, and shared the files with staff in my school district. I also wanted to share the monthly core words one month at a time here on my blog. So, here’s the board for December: PDF Download Link Here are some ideas on how you can use the monthly core words: Print 1 copy, then laminate it (or put it in a sheet protector) and use it for aided language stimulation during various activities at school (circle time, small group rotations, transitions, lunch, taking a walk, etc.) Print 1 copy, then laminate it (or put it in a sheet protector) and provide it to parents for aided language stimula[...]

For some time I have been thinking about how questions are asked to young children who are talking very little or not at all, as well as individuals with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) needs. My thoughts have come from observing teachers, instructional aides, parents, and even SLPs who ask a lot, I mean a lot of questions to these populations. It seems like the individuals are continually being tested, whether the adult has that intention or not. I have also recently seen blog posts from David Niemeijer, Maureen Nevers, Carole Zangari and others whose posts inspired me to write about my thoughts. The authors discussed the difference between questions that are closed-ended and open-ended. In this case, closed-ended questions refer to questions in which the answer is alr[...]

To complement a praacticalaac.org blog post series called 'Resources for a Year of Core Words', I created monthly core word boards using Symbolstix. I completed them for the entire school year, and shared the files with staff in my school district. I also wanted to share the monthly core words one month at a time here on my blog. So, here’s the board for November: PDF Download Link Here are some ideas on how you can use the monthly core words: Print 1 copy, then laminate it (or put it in a sheet protector) and use it for aided language stimulation during various activities at school (circle time, small group rotations, transitions, lunch, taking a walk, etc.) Print 1 copy, then laminate it (or put it in a sheet protector) and provide it to parents for aided language stimula[...]

To complement a praacticalaac.org blog post series called 'Resources for a Year of Core Words', I created monthly core word boards using Symbolstix. I completed them for the entire school year, and shared the files with staff in my school district. I also wanted to share the monthly core words one month at a time here on my blog. So, here’s the board for October: PDF Download Link Here are some ideas on how you can use the monthly core words: Print 1 copy, then laminate it (or put it in a sheet protector) and use it for aided language stimulation during various activities at school (circle time, small group rotations, transitions, lunch, taking a walk, etc.) Print 1 copy, then laminate it (or put it in a sheet protector) and provide it to parents for aided language stimulat[...]

I have been following a praacticalaac.org blog post series called 'Resources for a Year of Core Words', and I used the SymbolStix ones in 2014-2015 for presentations. This school year, I'm providing speech-language services to students in a mod-severe class who are using Proloquo2Go, Unique, and News-2-You. However, in August after I returned to work, I noticed praacticalaac.org didn't have a set for SymbolStix. Since I really wanted SymbolStix monthly core words, I decided to create them using SymbolStix Online for the whole year, based on the 2013 list with 12 words per month. I completed grids for the entire year, and I already shared them with staff members in my school district. I also wanted to share the monthly core words one month at a time here on my blog. So, here’s the grid for [...]

Recently, I have been receiving requests to do AAC presentations, including requests for implementing evidence-based practices with Proloquo2Go. To prepare for these presentations, I spent a great deal of time looking for evidence-based practices in books, journal articles and websites such as PrAACtical AAC, Everyday AAC, Teaching Learners With Multiple Special Needs, AssistiveWare, AAC Institute, UNC Center for Literacy and Disability Studies, Gail Van Tatenhove, AAC-RERC, One Kids Place, and more. The resources were incredibly helpful for me to create a slideshow regarding the implementation of Proloquo2Go (using evidence-based practices) for students with AAC needs. I really appreciate all of the amazing AAC information the articles and websites offered, and I made sure to mention them[...]