The Circus has come to town!

I was inspired by a student last week who was telling me that he would go to the Circus on Sunday.  I thought this would be a good theme for the week, and hopefully generate a lot of language from several students who may have also gone.  I began the session with this interactive book created by Speech32.  You can purchase from her Teachers pay teachers site.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Lets-Go-to-the-Circus-Interactive-book-2004363
I also combined some ideas from Pinterest and made this Circus Sensory Bin.

We targeted categories and yes/no questions during our play with the sensory bin.  For students who are non-verbal, you can use simple yes/no switch buttons.

Our craft for the day was centered around yes/no questions as well.  Every time the student answered the yes/no question correctly he was able to add a popcorn to the bag.  We also incorporated the core word on into this activity.  

If you have time the students can make their own elephant hat. 

Finally, we built a bridge for the elephants to cross to get to the circus.  The student was able to make requests, comment, and give directions during this activity using communication book.  And as always, the real fun is in knocking the bridge down at the end and building it again.  

Food play and AAC

I was able to spend some time working with some students the other day during a food play activity.  One of my students is just beginning to use LAMP app on his iPad device. We were able to incorporate new words into the session immediately.  The activity was to expose the students to several different pasta choices.   He was able to ask for the specific pasta that he wanted by the end of the session using his app.

I loved witnessing his language expand on the spot! He was requesting rigatoni, and vermicelli by the end of the session!

Using static boards for students who have motor speech disorders

I have worked with several students lately who are using augmentative communication to support their verbal communication.  These are students who want to speak but are aware that sometimes their communication partner has trouble understanding what they are trying to say due to their motor speech disorder.  Sometimes, the communication partner just needs a few clues to help them figure out what the student is requesting.  Our activity for today was to incorporate Head Banz the quick question game into our therapy.

 During the game, I wore the card on my head.  I asked the student yes/no questions to figure out what category the item was in.  I also allowed the student to use the alphabet static board to give me the first letter in the word.  Here is an example of a similar static board.

The student was very successful with this activity, and it showed him how much power he had in helping me figure out the word he wanted me to guess.  I think this skill would be helpful to have when the student is making a request of the caregiver and the caregiver does not understand the request.  It was a fun way to empower the student and caregiver.  

Photo booth fun with Seasonal Characters

As I have said in earlier posts, this month our team is focusing on the core word on.  During our brainstorming for our plan this week, we had the idea of using a photo booth to incorporate our core word and use of AAC.  We introduced the topic by using this short interactive book I made that targeted Seasonal Characters.

After reading the book, the kids were able to dress like their favorite characters.  They made their choices by using a grid from grid player on the iPad.

They were even able to make specific choices according to which character they chose.  If they chose Santa, they were able to choose a hat, flashing lights, beard, and sack.  Here are a couple of cute photos that we were able to get from the session.  

Such a fun activity! As I said earlier, this lesson targeted core vocabulary, choice making, increasing MLU for our verbal students, and answering simple questions related to the topic. 

"Baking" in the speech room!

It's going to be a fun day in the speech room! Mrs. Britt has a baking sheet, cinnamon, nutmeg, cookie cutters, and play doh! Wait, did you say play-doh?  I sure did! Today, we are using our imaginations and baking some gingerbread cookies.  First, we took white play-doh and sprinkled nutmeg and cinnamon "on" top.  (Did I mention that our core word for the month is on?) The kids were able to tell me if the smells were yummy or yucky.  I will tell you that the cinnamon was much more popular than the nutmeg!  After mixing, the play-doh, the kids made their cookies.  They made their choices using a static board for different shape cookie cutters.  

The cookies are ready. The students put their cookies on the pan. 

Now, we need to bake our cookies!

When the cookies were "done", they were actually given real teddy grahams to eat. This activity was great for building MLU, and choice making.  Most of the kids enjoyed it so much, they asked to do it over and over again.  

Pete the cat and his peppermint buttons

It's that gingerbread time of year!  I do get tired of doing the same old thing, so I decided to use one of the kid's favorite book characters and make "Ginger Cats".  I think Pete the Cat would think it was groovy!

Our first activity of the day was to read a short adaptive book about Pete's adventures helping a friend who is sick.  

The next task was to decorate our "Ginger Cats".  This activity includes a lot of opportunity for students who use AAC to request, negate, comment, and give attributes.   Examples are: I want dot whiskers. I want striped whiskers. I want two buttons. I like that. I don't like that. He is sick.  You would be amazed at the amount of language this groovy cat generates.   

Here are some examples of our finished product.

The kids enjoyed this activity. Hope your student's enjoy it as much as we did!

The First Thanksgiving with the help of Grid Player

A few years ago, I ran across this little poem from SavvysecondGraders.blogspot. com that incorporated colors and the story of The first Thanksgiving.

I thought this poem would be a great tool to teach our students with Autism because using the colors is such a visual tool.  To complete this project, I went to Wal-Mart and purchased this large container of beads.  

You will also need pipe cleaners to make the bracelets.  To incorporate AAC into the activity, you can use a variety of methods to make requests of beads.  My choice for today is The Grid Player.  It is a free app from Apple. You can get a basic board to use with your iPad.  Here is a look at the color page.

Our core word of the month is "turn" for November.  You can certainly incorporate the word turn into this activity as well.  I am using a big mac switch for students to request their turn.  

You can share this short poem with your students, and as you come to a color word have them request it for their bracelet.  I like to send the bracelet home with the student and a copy of the poem.