Go Away Big Green Monster

Go Away Big Green Monster app is actually an interactive book, a really fun one that my students really gravitate towards. It can be read with or without narration or with a song. 

What's great about this book is that each page lends itself to talking about individual body parts using multiple descriptions.  With the turn of each page, the monster gains more and more parts to his face. I stop on each page to comment about each body part the monster gains by using a full sentence. Depending on the student and his goals, I use different types of sentences:  "two eyes," "he has 2 eyes," or "he has 2 big, yellow eyes."  The addition of body parts page by page allows for plenty of repetition sentences with similar sentence structure.

While I read the book or use the app, I use this communication board to enhance and support language. Most of my clients use 1 descriptor at a time, but in some cases up to 3 can be used per body part.

Then, as the book continues, each body part disappears one by one.  I use the turn of each page to practice use of the negatives such as "no hair" or "he has no nose."

I point to each icon on the topical board as I model the intended sentence for each page. The student can then either point to the icons to formulate sentences, or as in most cases, the student will point and simultaneously vocalize each sentence.  After s/he comments on what he sees, the student can touch the body part on the app, which makes a fun sound as it wiggles. As the student is first learning the app, I also have him/her find the same body parts on his/her own body as well.

To generalize the skills learned in this activity, I use the same topical board while playing with "Mr. Potato Head." Most of the time, I will play "Mr. Potato Head" directly before or after using the "Go Away Green Monster" app.  The student can use the board to request pieces (e.g "blue eyes," "2 ears") and sometimes we even comment on what the "Mr. Potato Head" is missing in order to request pieces.  For example, if the student comments, "he has no hair," or "no hair," I respond "that's right, he has no hair. Let's find some." 

I also use the same topical board with my "One-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater" doll right after playing with the app. I model how the same words on the topical board can be used to describe other monsters that look different. 

The app is one my students ask for quite often and I love that the language is so easily generalizable. There are tons of fun things to talk about in the app and book!  The visual supports appear to help student initiate the use of new comments and help add more descriptions to their language as well.

Hope you find it as fun and productive as I did!

The Picture Communication Symbols ©1981–2011 by Mayer-Johnson LLC. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Used with permission.

Boardmaker® is a trademark of Mayer-Johnson LLC.

Balloonimals for core word practice

Balloonimals is a  basic app that goes far! The app is designed so that the person using it can select a color balloon, swipe to inflate the balloon.  Then, the user touches and moves around the balloon on the iPad in order to change it into the balloon animal.  The balloon can be changed in one long movement or in multiple, shorter movements. After it is created, the user can choose to take a picture or continue to inflate the balloon animal so that it will pop!

There are plenty of learning and language opportunities for this app. It is a great app to practice using CORE words (basic but POWERFUL words that can be generalized across multiple situations)  such as, "make," "do," and "more."

The opportunities I chose to focus are incorporated into the visual support below.  The visuals create guidance for both partially verbal students and ones who use AAC. This visual support can be found on boardmakerachieve.com or click here

Instead of focusing on requesting color balloons, I decided to work on creating opportunities to use core words and also to ask "what is it?"

This is how I use it: 

1. I allow the student to pick the balloon.  I model "I do" on the topical board as I inflate the balloon. 

2. Then, using the visuals and gestural prompts, I suggest the student say "I/ you do" or " I/ you make" or the expanded utterances "I/you do it," or " I/you make it."  Then, we can start making the balloon animal. 

3. After a few attempts to make the balloon animal, I move the iPad away from the user. This creates opportunity to practice " What is it?" or " Do more" or expanded utterance "make it change."

4. I model asking the question "What is it?"  The student can also practice making a guess what they thing it is with "it is + animal."  

5. After it is created, I model "make it big," or "make it pop."  It usually takes a few pumps at the end to make it pop, so I usually inflate it a little and work on the comment "it is big" or "make it big" or "do more."

There is a lot to work on with this app. For many of my kids it allows practice of some core words rather than the use of carrier phrases. Sometimes the hardest part working with this app is picking the language to practice!

Hope you have as much success as I do!

The Picture Communication Symbols ©1981–2011 by Mayer-Johnson LLC. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Used with permission.

Boardmaker® is a trademark of Mayer-Johnson LLC.

Learning to ask "where are we going?" and "where is + (location)?" with visuals and google maps

I wanted to share this new activity I made to help teach answering and asking *functional* where questions. 

I created this "book" in boardmaker, found on boardmakerachieve.com here: http://www.boardmakerachieve.com/Activity/1868262

Often times with students with autism, low tech paper visual supports are sufficient in order to help them understand and use the expected language for the activity.  But, to make it slightly more engaging, I saved the Boardmaker book as a PDF and saved it in iBooks so that it could be read from my iPad. (This also helped the book be more available to me across my various locations). 

The most fun part about the activity is that most of the activity is completed in song. What's great about using song is that it allows for natural repetitions of expressive language within the activity. 

I sing each page to the tune of "where is thumbkin."  For example this page:

Would sing like this: " Where is are we going? Where are we going?" Then, I would stop and ask a comprehension question "Where is the place where we buy food?" The students can use the two icons to point to as a means to answer the questions. 

Then, on the next page here:

I sing: "Going to the store, going to the store!" 

In the next verse, we  practice the *functional* question: "Where is the store? Where is the store?" and follow with: "There it is! There it is!"

A great follow up activity is to practice looking up where places are located on google maps or using yelp. Following up with a google or yelp search makes the asking of "where" questions really functional (and not just for fun practice). 

Hope you find this activity as fun as I do!

Free ebook with GREAT learning opportunities!

I downloaded this FREE ebook just the other day. I have to say, after using it 3 times, I am already impressed. It is a simple story about a hedgehog named Ned who is looking for a home for the winter. He stumbles upon homes that are already taken and the residents inside tell Ned “this is my home.” Then, the residents tell Ned to check somewhere else to stay for the winter.  

The book provides a great way for my kids with autism to practice intonation and stress (e.g. “my home.”).  There is the opportunity for the student to record his/her own voice in order to hear what his/ her stress sounds like. If you prefer, the narrator can read the book as well and hear the correct stress.

It also provides and excellent opportunity to make inferences (e.g., if Ned can stay in the homes or not) from indirect requests (e.g., to check somewhere else without directly saying “no”).   I simply ask, “Can the hedgehog stay here?” after each animal asks him to move on.

The story line also provides opportunity to practice preposition including “in,” “out,” “up” and “down” while Ned is looking for a home.

If you are working on 2-3 word combinations, I have created this draft of a topical communication board guide novel utterances such as “leaf falling” “blowing wind,” “open door,” “look in.”  The leaf animations are engaging and fun.

 Not to mention the opportunity for an abundance of “L” practice!

What a great find!

The Picture Communication Symbols ©1981–2011 by Mayer-Johnson LLC. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Used with permission.

Boardmaker® is a trademark of Mayer-Johnson LLC.

Low Tech shout out to Boardmaker ®

I had a huge reality check the other when I got to school and realized I left my iPad at home. For a second I thought: "well, how will I do therapy without my iPad?!" After my mini panic, I remembered that I had purchased Boardmaker® last year which gave me access to create endless amounts of visual supports and activities for my students with Autism.

A moment of gratitude came over me as I pulled out my schedule (you know, the laminated kind with velcro and icons), and my book with topical communication board ready to go. 

I just wanted to take the moment to thank the low tech supports for being there for when high tech user errors occur.  I've posted some of the things I have made on boardmakershare. Feel free to check out my boardmakershare profile here: http://www.boardmakershare.com/Community/FriendsProfile/156926/Elizabeth-Harmon

But low tech supports are more than just a back-up system. They are an important visual supplement to any activity that aids in expanding language and enhancing comprehension. 

Lately on boardmakershare I have been posting topical communication boards. I love using them along side any activity including books and ipad activities. It helps both my verbal and non verbal kids organize language and move up from using basic carrier phrases like " I want" to using core words and various 2-3 word combinations such as noun + verb ("elephant stomp"), verb+noun ("play drum"), adjective+ noun ("yellow shoes"), and novel SVO combinations ("dog eat bone"). Below is an example. 

Using low tech visual supports along side high tech educational tools has become for me a pivotal part of teaching independent communication skills. From schedules, to expanding language to encouraging social exchanges, low tech supports lead to high quality language. 

The Picture Communication Symbols ©1981–2011 by Mayer-Johnson LLC. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Used with permission.

Boardmaker® is a trademark of Mayer-Johnson LLC.

I close my eyes: an interactive story

Every where I turn at work, I see another student with autism completely engaged with the interactive story app "I close my eyes."  The story walks us through Bella's imagination as she falls asleep.  On each page, Bella explains different scenarios she acts out in her dreams such as: "I close my eyes and I am flying in the clouds."

Each page has a cartoon that shows the action she describes. In addition, on most pages there is generally a funny action (such as a sneeze, an overly excited elephant or a monster that eats a fridge) that keeps most students coming back for more.
What is great about this app is that it provides a great and motivating way to talk about actions. I developed this communication board to help guide and support students as they talk about what they see as exciting!  

The app costs about $1.99 and creates an engaging opportunity to connect with a student.  There will be plenty to talk about!

The Picture Communication Symbols ©1981–2011 by Mayer-Johnson LLC. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Used with permission.

Boardmaker® is a trademark of Mayer-Johnson LLC.

First words sampler

First words sampler was probably one of the first apps that I purchased and used in therapy.  I was almost in disbelief about how easy it was to get my clients to vocalize or use AAC (usually icon supports) to talk about what they saw. 

The app itself is really simple: you drag letters blocks up to the visual match to spell a word. The app reads each letter as you drag it to spell the word out loud. Then, after the word is successfully spelled, the icon spins around. 

I swear on my speech degree, that most kids will do anything (including vocalize, use full sentences to say what they see, expand sentences to include color) to see the icon spin around. 

So, using this app to elicit language is easy! Simply hold the iPad and ask the student what he/she sees. After they state the one word ("cat") or expanded sentence ("I see yellow duck," "It's a blue ship."), then they can drag each letter into the correct spot and squeal with joy as the object spins around!

It's a sure thing, and free!