Let's talk about angry birds: digital and analog!

Angry birds is a game that we probably all recognize by now. You know it, right? That game where some green pigs steal eggs from some birds, different colored birds, who become very angry and try to knock the pigs off various structures. Thats the one! It was probably one of my first apps I ever purchased. Lucky for us all, after all these years, it is still a wildly motivating game for students. And lucky for me, there is not only the app, but there is also the board game. Any student would be over the moon to be able to play angry birds (analog or digital) in a speech therapy session. I used to leave it for the "reward time" at the end of a session because I wasn't able to find a way to incorporate language. So, I created this  core word based topical communication board  to accompany the board game to help get us talking while we played together, but I have also found it useful for when using the digital app as well. Find the board on boardmakeronline here. 

To play the board game, there are a few set up steps. First, you pick a card to decide which structure to build. Then, you need to get all the pieces in order to construct the structure. I keep all the pieces by me. This opens up loads of opportunity to communicate. (Note: there is no construction while playing the app.) Here are some of the target phrases I work on while preparing the  board game focusing on the use of core words with a few topically related fringe words: 

I want that

I want more

I want different 

I do it

Help me

You do it more

Turn it there

I get it

Where it go?

It go there

I want 2 triangle/square

I want big rectangle

I want do different

Then, once the structure is completed, the different color birds can be slingshot towards the structure to knock it down. It's actually a little harder than it looks!. Here are some phrases I model and expect from my students while the birds try to knock down those pesky pigs! Many of these phrases can be used while using the app as well: 

I want that bird

I do different bird

Where is small/big bird?

I do it

Help me

You do it

Where is it? (When the bird flies too far away)

It is there.

It go over (when the bird doesn't hit the structure)

It go down (when the structure falls down)

It no go down (when nothing gets hit)

You help do that (I use this phrase a lot when students need help holding the slingshot)

Help there (I also use this phrase when students need help holding the slingshot). 

I'm sure there are even more phrases as well. Hopefully, these phrases can provide some core word inspiration for an "older" and highly addictive app and board game!  If you think of other core word phrases, please feel free to share! Now, playing angry birds can be a motivating way to generalize the use of core words into an everyday game!

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!