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Dr. Caroline Ramsey Musselwhite

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Lesson Pix Readtopia Vocabulary Set!

Lesson Pix Readtopia Vocabulary Set

What: 

Lesson Pix (https://lessonpix.com/) has created a vocabulary set to support the Readtopia curriculum from Don Johnston, Inc. (www.donjohnston.com) for students who use AAC! It is set up with a universal core set plus flip pages for fringe.   Language for fringe sets (e.g., bad actions, traits, bad events, good events) was selected by Dr. Karen Erickson and Dr. Caroline Musselwhite.
 
Such great work by Beth Witorsch Poss in creating this set!  Lesson Pix is allowing FREE access through this link at this blog. 




 

How:

Download the set and create a light tech flip set.   If you get a Lesson Pix subscription (only $36 per year), you can edit the set.  You can use this set for:
Modeling:  Model key words during Readtopia discussions, and during shared reading.
Student Discussion:  Encourage students to use these vocabulary sets to talk about the books during  activities such as:  conversation during shared reading, while working on Anchor/Read/Apply activities, and planning for descriptive and argumentative writing activities.
 

Where:

 Follow this link to download the FREE Readtopia vocabulary set!

Mystery Puzzles: Animated Step-by-Steps®!

Mystery Puzzles:  Animated Step-by-Steps® 

by Dr. Carol Goossens

Mystery Puzzles are Animated Step-by-Steps® designed to provide students using direct selection, with practice recognizing letters/numbers in sequential order.  If the child is using a switch, alphabet/number knowledge is not required; across slides a switch click removes one puzzle piece while simultaneously providing stimulation by announcing the number/letter of that puzzle piece being removed.  Please note this resource does not target scanning but rather targets motor practice in accessing a switch.

Each puzzle size (e.g. 4-piece puzzle, 9-piece puzzle, 16-piece puzzle)
has a series of slides, each targeting the 'next' letter in the alphabet sequence.

For example:
Slide 1 -  "Find a" in the lettered puzzle array
Slide 2 -  "Find b" in the lettered puzzle array
Slide 3 -  "Find c" in the lettered puzzle array . . . etc.

Whenever the child using direct selection selects the requested correct letter/number, that puzzle piece is removed revealing the portion of the underlying picture; the letter/number name is heard. If the child is using a switch for access the process is errorless. They hear the command 'Find a' and a click of their switch removes the puzzle labeled "a".

Whenever the child, using direct selection, touches the wrong requested number /letter, a mildly negative  "huhugh" is heard; the underlying portion of the image is NOT revealed.
This is not an issue with children using a switch, as the process is errorless.

When the picture is fully revealed … the child is rewarded with a cheering sound effect.

Instructions are provided for using photos from a picture library that is included with the resource. Instructions are also provided for using pictures of your choosing, e.g., 'mystery' photo faces of classmates, therapists or family members. How fun is that?


Saturday, April 11, 2020

Doodle Buddy & Stick Man!

Doodle Buddy & Stick Man:  Teletherapy Learning and FUN!

WHAT:  DoodleBuddy is one of my favorite FREE apps! Stick Man is the game where one person thinks of a phrase, and others try to guess the word.  When they get it wrong, you get to add a body part.  If you build the whole 'Stick Man' before they guess the phrase, you win!

WHY:  This activity is great for students who are early writers because they have to think about how words are spelled, what words go together, etc.  But it's also wonderful for emergent writers who are learning the alphabet.  They can use an 'alternative pencil' (Hanser, 2020) to pick a letter.  
  

HOW:   
Doodle Buddy:  Get a solid background.  Pick the chalk in a high contrast color and start playing!

Partners make a big deal:  
'You picked a D.  That represents the /d/ sound.  Let's see if there's a D in my sentence.  Yes!  There is a D right here <writes it> and here <writes it>.  D was a great guess - there are two Ds in my sentence!'   
Or, 'An E you say?  E is a vowel.  It represents the /e/ sound.  Uh-oh, there are no Es in my sentence.  I get to add a head!'

TELEPRACTICE TRICKS:  
Connecting your iPad:  You can do this several ways:
1) Share Screen:  I prefer to connect my iPad or iPhone with the USB cable, because then I don't have to worry about both the wifi signal and bluetooth!!
2) Use a Document Camera:  You can also use a document camera to show your iPad screen.  

ENJOY!
 





 

Monday, April 6, 2020

Communication Circles At Home Webinar

Communication Circles At Home Webinar

When:  Thursday, April 9, 2020, 8 pm EST
- If you sign up, you can watch on-demand later

How Much:  $5 until June 1, 2020

Who:  Dr. Caroline Ramsey Musselwhite, CCC-SLP

Where:  Register Here













We have been doing communication circles in schools for decades.  Now is the time to get them going at home.  This webinar will give ideas for supporting everyone in the family – parents, siblings, cousins, and grandparents – in learning your child’s communication device, and getting better at modeling and being a great communication partner.  This will include activities for:  exploring the communication system, playing games with the communication system, and learning how to model all day long.  Participants will have access to a drop box with a new idea shared every week for 2 months.

Games! Games! Games! by Carol Goossens'

Games! Games! Games!  by Carol Goossens'

This guest post is by Dr. Carol Goossens', SLP, artist, author, and developer of hundreds of Animated Step by Steps sold through Teachers Pay Teachers.

 
During these difficult times, families are grappling with how to use their time together productively … and enjoyably. Some of my fondest childhood memories were playing board games in the evening with my siblings and Dad. In addition to being fun, games like Connect 4, Dominoes, Checkers, Rock Paper Scissors, Go Fish, Beat the Clock, War, I Spy With My Little Eye, Tic Tac Toe and even Pig Latin, provide a wonderful forum for teaching a variety of skills (numbers, colors, matching, foresight, letters, memory and spelling to list a few).

Animated Step-by-Steps® are animated PowerPoints designed to address literacy, language, AAC and a host of academic goals. Each page includes a series of animations. Read the text up to the star … click … and see an animation of what you just read. If you purchase a symbol-supported version, the symbols will appear AFTER all the slide animations have been triggered. This strategy is designed to promote a 'literacy first' agenda. Once the symbols appear they can be used to conduct Aided Language Stimulation.

Over the past few years, I have gradually added How to Play Animated Step-by-Steps® to the vast library of animated resources. This 'How To' Series is designed to teach the rules of various 'family-orientated games'. In addition to outlining the rules, they also provide practice trials to ensure that children understand the rules.

In the home, these resources can be displayed on the 'big screen' (large screen TV using Apple TV) or the 'small screen'  (computer monitor, iPad/Android tablet or iPhone using the free Microsoft PowerPoint app specific to each).

Please visit the Animated Step-by-Steps blog for further information on the creative use of these educational resources.     http://animatedstepbysteps.blogspot.com

In the hands of a creative parent, specific adaptations can be implemented to allow children to participate more fully in these games using an eye-gaze frame, a communication device or even a switch to trigger the sequential animations that make up each resource.

These teaching resources are available through TpT 

Thursday, April 2, 2020

Doodle Buddy & Shared Writing: Tele-Therapy or Home

Doodle Buddy & Shared Writing:  Tele-Therapy or Home

#2 Tip for Using the Doodle Buddy App:

Link to Doodle Buddy & Shared Writing


Our Literacy Group studies various countries, learning about geography, history, food, habitat, culture, etc.
 
We were studying Costa Rica and had watched a video about animals in Costa Rica

Each student chose an animal from the video (using partner assisted scanning), then used their AAC systems to choose actions, describing words, etc. to make a collaborative story

In real time, during the zoom session, I captured their story, finding a background and writing their story through text and stickers


Word Search - AAC Style


Time to play Word Search! 
By Deanna Wagner, Language and Literacy AACtivist

Matching a word to a picture is an important skill for people who use AAC.  The words on a communication system are represented visually with picture supports for individuals who are learning to spell, and as a way to get to words faster than spelling them letter by letter. But if you think about it, a picture can be used for lots of different words. Instead of matching one word to one picture, let's play a game of finding many pictures that go with the same word. 
Word Search using tools in your AAC system.


First, let's search for a couple of words in the AAC system. The most fun ones are used as a way to describe or comment. On Halloween, we chose the words SCARY and SILLY. This game works with 2 words, but you could also add another, like FUN!  

 Write your word on a Post-it note.





Once you find the word in the AAC system, look at how it is spelled and write it down on a Post-it note. Having a reminder of what we are looking for helps us as we start the game. We can even model the word LOOK as we check the word on the Post-it and start our next search for the word. 

Word Search for examples of times when the word could be used.


Now we need to pick another place to search for the word. You can search in a book, around the house, at the mall, or on the internet. We looked around some stores and did a Google images search, using "Halloween costume + SCARY/SILLY/FUN."

Once we collected some possible examples we talked about what we found.  We took pictures so we could show other people what we found. We used our phones and we used iPads with screen captures. We even sent pictures to each other using AirDrop.  Believe it or not, different people had different ideas about what is scary or silly! To see if somebody else can guess which picture is the best choice for one or the other, ask somebody! Practice asking, "Which one do you think XX decided is SILLY?" Try pointing to some of the words on an AAC system when you talk.  Don't worry if you can't find all the words to make the sentence, just point to a few of them.  

Who will you play Word Search with? This game works with different people, at different times, and using different devices. Playing the game more than once helps us memorize where to find words and integrate examples of how to use them. You can even use a poll on Facebook to ask all your friends.  Once you have examples you can also use them to make your own book. Here is a screen capture from the book we wrote. 

 Make a book using the words you found!






Have fun and remember to stay SILLY!   It makes learning so much more interesting!!!

🖨 Download this post as a PDF file for printing here.

For more information on AAC systems, check out these links for apps that include Word Search tools!


Avaz - https://www.avazapp.com/products-avaz-aac-app/ 
CoughDrop - https://blog.mycoughdrop.com 
Crescendo 60 on Proloquo2Go – www.assistiveware.com
Grid with SuperCore - https://thinksmartbox.com 
LAMP Words For Life (Full) or Unity – www.aaclanguagelab.com 
Speak For Yourself - https://www.speakforyourself.org/features/ 
Snap + Core First – www.mytobiidynavox.com  
Talk Suite (formerly titled TotalTalk) - link to be released soon!
TouchChat WordPower 60 Basic – www.satillo.com/chatcorner