You may also want to include some extended or “personal core” words, words that Gail VanTatenhove describes as “words that are ‘core’ to the child’s personal needs, like names of key people, places, and things”. Web.Ĭhoose core words, words that we know comprise the bulk of all words spoken by natural speakers. With each potential goal, ask yourself these same questions. Are vocabulary and tasks such as stating the current weather conditions, labeling shapes, or stating today’s month, date and year going to be essential to this child’s ability to express their thoughts, feelings, complaints, hopes or desires? Will they use them outside of morning circle? Probably not. However, there are some steps we can take to help identify the most important learning targets for our students who are learning to use AAC.Ī: Try to select vocabulary and language structures that will help the student establish and maintain meaningful communicative interactions.įor a great start on thinking about goals that will make a difference for your student, check out Goals that Matter: Practical Thinking from PrAACtical AAC. This is surely the toughest step for most folks who write AAC goals and the answer is far from clear-cut. HOW TO CHOOSE VOCABULARY AND LANGUAGE SKILLS TO TARGET While we can’t go through all of those concerns in this post, I can offer some resources and lay out a blueprint to aid in the development of sound, measurable goals for your students who use AAC.ġ. Therefore, most haven’t been given the tools to understand where to begin, what vocabulary to choose, how to teach AAC use, how develop appropriate and engaging activities, or how to write functional AAC goals. Most receive minimal instruction on AAC and educating students with complex communication needs. What is different and I believe most daunting about the goal-writing process is that teachers and therapists simply don’t know enough about AAC. Isn’t that true? Aren’t we just teaching language? For this student, language is simply being expressed in a mode other than natural speech! Gail said that AAC therapy is just language therapy. I recall a workshop I attended years ago presented by Gail VanTatenhove that helps put IEP goals for AAC into perspective. When we sit down to discuss their questions, the first thing I remind them is that AAC goals are no different from any other IEP goal. Very often, I receive requests for support from teachers and speech therapists that are writing IEP goals for their students who use AAC. Today, she provides a very valuable perspective on writing IEP goals for students who use or need AAC and some wonderful resources. In her first post on this topic, Lauren addressed some frequently asked questions. We have also found it useful as a rehabilitation or therapy tool.We’re so happy to welcome Lauren Enders back to share some more thoughts on AAC and the IEP. It works best for those patients with AAC needs who are the more communicative end of the spectrum. This has worked just as well and is a fraction of the cost of some of the other systems available. We have found that for some of our patients the AAC options available have been really expensive. Our health app review: This app is simple and works really well. Proloquo2Go is one of the few AAC apps that covers all users, from beginning to advanced communicators, while catering for a wide range of fine-motor, visual and cognitive skills “Users can open Proloquo2Go and begin to use it for effective communication immediately.” – Susan Berkowitz, MS-SLP, AAC Consultant. Its innovative features provide support for parents, teachers and therapists to implement AAC best practices. It is designed to promote growth of communication skills and foster language development through research-based vocabularies. Proloquo2Go is an award-winning symbol-supported communication app providing a voice to over 150,000 individuals who cannot speak. It is one for Speech and Language therapists. Its made by the team at Assistive Ware who are experts in producing products to assist communication especially for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Proloquo2Go - system based AAC app is a communication app to assist anybody who is having difficulty communicating their needs.
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