Repetition with Variety

Sometimes, when you are stuck thinking of something you can do in therapy, to highlight literacy, or simply in play, you may think you have to come up with something new but read on to find out why you don’t and why repeating the same things can be beneficial for all learners.

Repeating things we’ve done before and maybe making them a little different is called “repetition with variety” and it’s a very important, research-backed technique that helps learners of all ages learn, understand, and retain new information, concepts, etc. A really simple way to think about it is: that repetition with variety is doing the same thing while also making it different. Sound confusing? Let me explain…

My favorite way to explain and use repetition with variety is with a book. It’s as simple as: 

📚 read an engaging book

📚 engage in an extension activity related to the book

and then in the next session:

📚re-read the book 

📚engage in a different extension activity related to the book

Here’s another example: 

  • Read “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie”
  • After reading, learners can share their favorite type of cookie through a predictable chart with the stem: “My favorite cookie is _____.”
  • Next session you re-read the book.
  • After re-reading, learners can review the chart and then graph the different types of cookies to see which one is most liked. 
  • Additional extension activities could be: 
    • Sequencing the story
    • Tasting cookies
    • Making cookies
    • Creating your own “if/then” scenarios to add to the book or write your own
    • So many more!

As you can see, you can repeat the cycle – using repetition with variety – as many times as you want. Through repeating the reading of the book you are helping build literacy confidence in the learners and I promise they aren’t bored reading the same book. In fact, as readers become more familiar with the text through the repeated readings they may start to join in on reading the story with you! 

Any questions about repetition with variety? Drop them in the comments on this post.

Until next time – happy reading!

~ Megan

 

My favorite AAC tip!

I want to share my favorite AAC tip with you…

This tip is specifically for those who use an iPad as their communication device. If you have worked with anyone, specifically children, who use an iPad, you know that the “home” button can be very distracting, especially since pressing it will take you out of your communication app. If only there were a way to keep that from happening…enter “Guided Access”!

Guided access is a built-in setting within the accessibility features of all iPads. Once it is set up and enabled, the home button is essentially disabled, and if a user presses the home button, they will be prompted to enter a passcode to disable guided access. Before I continue rambling on about the greatness of guided access, let me show you how to set it up.

Open “settings” on the iPad.

On the left, scroll down to “accessibility” and select it.

On the right, scroll down to “guided access” and select it.

Once “guided access” is selected you can select “passcode settings” to set a passcode that will need to be entered to disable “guided access”. (You will be asked to re-enter the passcode to confirm.)

Once your passcode is set up, navigate to the communication app and open it. 

With the communication app open, click the home button three times (triple click) to activate “guided access”.

When guided access is enabled and the home button is pressed, a written prompt will appear at the top of the screen to triple-click the home button to disable it.

If you triple-click the home button, a pop-up will appear, prompting you to enter the passcode you set during setup.

If you enter the correct passcode, you will be prompted to choose “end” or “resume” guided access. 

If an incorrect passcode is entered, you will have to wait a designated amount of time before an additional attempt.

Bonus tip! 

If the iPad “dies” or runs out of charge, guided access is automatically disabled. Therefore, it never hurts to periodically check to see if guided access is enabled. To do so, just triple-click the home button. If guided access is enabled, the passcode pop-up will appear. If guided access is not enabled, triple-clicking the home button will reactivate it. 

Top 5 tips for getting staff buy-in for AAC & Emergent Literacy

How do I get staff to buy into modeling AAC and implementing emergent literacy strategies in their classrooms?

This is one of the questions that I am most frequently asked when talking to other speech-language pathologists (SLPs). While I agree that getting staff buy-in to model AAC and emergent literacy can sometimes feel like a challenge – but, it doesn’t have to! Here’s what I have proposed, introduced, and tried in classrooms I support to help motivate and encourage classroom teachers and staff to continue modeling AAC and implement emergent literacy strategies throughout their day:

  • Make sure they understand the terminology.

Special education has 1 BILLION (if not more) acronyms and we often use them so regularly that we forget that everyone may need to learn what they all mean. When talking about different techniques and strategies, take the time to make sure that those you are talking to are clear on what you are saying. It does no good if one or more people leave a discussion about strategies to increase communication and literacy (or anything for that matter) wondering what it was that was discussed and what they can, or should do going forward. If you find yourself using acronyms often, it may be helpful to have a “cheat sheet” or “key” to share that reminds everyone what each acronym stands for.

  • Reinforce what they are already doing.

No one likes to only hear what they aren’t doing and what they should do. And, I’m sure there are things that the classroom staff are already doing that are great! It is important to emphasize those things that are going well and that are successful – encouraging others and recognizing what they are doing well goes a long way in building rapport in any relationship!

  • Show how they could easily add modeling AAC or emergent literacy into their established routines.

Sometimes, when we hear someone suggest that we “add” something to our day, we immediately stop listening and get defensive. All of us are already doing so much, especially in education, that the idea of adding one more thing is crazy. While this is true, and the last thing we want to do is add more to anyone’s plate – this is a great way to remind those we are supporting that language and literacy are not times of the day – they are always happening and are always around us. Taking the time to show staff simple ways that they can model AAC or implement an emergent literacy strategy into their daily routines can go a long way! Adding in these language and literacy moments doesn’t need to be anything long or time-consuming – it can be a quick mention of the letter of the day while reading instructions, a book, or on a walk about campus, or taking the time to point to a core word or two that naturally comes up during instruction, lunch, etc. 

  • Ask questions and listen to answers.

This might be the most important tip of all! In all collaborative relationships, it is imperative that everyone involved feels comfortable asking questions and knows that their thoughts, ideas, concerns, etc will be listened to. Take the time to ask questions so you can know how to best support each team, team member, classroom, etc. Ask what their concerns are, how they best learn, what they need more help with, how they like to receive feedback, what area(s) they would like to focus on, etc. 

Taking the time to ask these questions and listen to the answers that are given will not only help to build the relationship, it will help guide how you can provide support and feedback as well as know how to help every team member set personal goals surrounding AAC modeling and/or emergent literacy implementation.

  • Work together to brainstorm and establish personal goals focusing on these areas.

Once you have established that you are all on the same page, what’s going well, and where more support is needed, it’s time to set some goals. Depending upon how you support classrooms, you may set individual goals with each staff member or you may set goals with the team as a whole, or both. The great thing is that these goals can be personalized to fit everyone’s needs and adjusted as needed. When you are setting these goals, think of it just as you would writing goals for your students, making sure they are meaningful, measurable, and achievable. It’s up to you but I also like to discuss a reward that will be received when a goal is met – to me, this makes it extra motivating and meaningful. A reward could be something physical like a snack food, social such as a shout-out in the staff newsletter, or functional in the form of a set of printed and prepped visuals. Whatever they are, rewards should be as personal as the goals and chosen by the person receiving the reward.

While these are my top 5 tips for helping get classroom buy-in and what has helped me, it is a continual learning process, and keep in mind that some things may need to be added, deleted, tweaked, etc depending upon the teams you are supporting. If you are interested in learning more about this topic and getting access to interest surveys you can give to staff, data sheets, resource links, etc – check out my e-book “AAC & Emergent Literacy Challenge”. This ebook is filled with information on how to get started, strategies to make the challenge successful and fun, questionnaires to gather information and guide challenge creation and implementation, data collection sheets, and more!

If you have additional tips or strategies for classroom buy-in and support – drop them in the comments!

Free CEUs!

Free CEUs!

It’s the busiest time of the year! Wrapping up the year, buying gifts for all you love, finding time to celebrate with all your friends and family, you may feel like you are running around endlessly, the last thing you should have to worry about is making sure you have all of your continuing education units (CEUs) done to renew your licenses and certifications. 🤪

Before you close this window and start running around again, take the time to read to the end of this post, ‘cause I’ve got a way for you to rack up a bunch of CEUs for FREE! **Bonus if you want to learn more about AAC – these CEUs are AAC focused**

Ready to get started? Here we go!

image of tobii dynavox learning hub home page

  • You will be redirected to a login page where you can create an account or, if you have an account within any Tobii Dynavox or Boardmaker programs, use that account login and password.

image of tobiidynavox log in page

  • After you log in you will be redirected to the Learning Hub, where you can start racking up those CEUs! Click on “Course Catalog” to see all the courses offered.

image showing the home page of tobii dynavox learning hub once logged in

  • Once you see the list of courses, you can also open the categories further to see additional specific courses.image showing the home page of course catalog within the tobii dynavox learning hub image of the expanded view of course offerings within the tobii dynavox learning hub

That’s it – you are ready to rack up a bunch of free CEUs to finish out your requirements for the end of the year, or whenever you need it! 

If you work through any of these courses and find one that you really like, let us know in the comments so we can check it out too!

Say my name correctly!

Names are important!

However, just like words, the pronunciation of some names can not be determined by spelling alone. Various things like accents, pronunciation of sounds, and influence from the sounds around it can influence how we say a person’s name. Therefore, the only way to truly know how to say someone’s name is to ask them. image of blue and pink post it notes with names on them

I can hear you now, “But, what if they can’t talk yet or they use a different way to communicate?” and you’re right. If the learner is too young to say their name, you can ask a family member or someone close to them to know how to say their name. But what if there is no one there to tell you how to say their name and/or they are non-speaking? That makes things a little more challenging; however, using a high-tech AAC system should allow the user to share their name with communication partners – we just have to make sure that the system knows how to say their name.

line drawing of a high tech AAC system

 

That sounds simple enough. At first thought, you might think, “I’ll just type the user’s name into a button and we are all set.” – sometimes it is that easy – but sometimes it’s not. We all know that not all names are pronounced the same as they are written, so it’s crucial that, after you type in the user’s name into the button, you double-check that the device is saying the name correctly. If the name sounds correct you are good to go! But, what do you do if the device mispronounces the name? 

Most, if not all, communication devices have an area where you can input “pronunciation exceptions” for any words included within the device that need to be pronounced differently than they would be pronounced based on their spelling. To activate these pronunciation exceptions and have them saved within the device, you must first type in the word as it appears on the communication device and then pair that with the phonetic spelling of the word, or how it sounds.

This video is an example of how you can do this within the TD Snap application: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0fdlJ9xOEM/?igshid=NzBmMjdhZWRiYQ==

While this may seem like a simple task, sometimes the simplest tasks are the most important! Being able to say your name and hear someone else say your name correctly is vital for social connection and respect. So, next time you program an AAC user’s device or help an AAC user program their device, don’t forget to check how the device is pronouncing their name and adjust as needed.