By Jessica Steiner, M.Ed., M.S., CF-SLP
Our 2 stories of the week were an adapted version of “Go Dog Go” by P.D. Eastman (Check it out on the Paul C. Sherlock Center for Disabilities website) and the AAC Language Lab story “Look, Let’s Go!” Going through Go, Dog, Go with my kiddos, we modeled each of the phrases using their devices or an enlarged core word board and Velcro standers.
Phrases like “Little dogs and big dogs going around” became “Little dog and big dog go turn” using their device or core word board. The kids who successfully used the phrase or parts of the phrase were able to pet the stuffed dog as positive reinforcement! After reading a part of the story (it is really long so I do it in “Chapters”), we work on phrase building using our fringe vocabulary “Things That GO!”.
As we work through the core vocabulary book, the kids see different things that GO! As we read the sentences together, my kiddos using SGDs use 2-3 word phrases containing both our core word Go as well as the fringe word. For example, “The car can go” or “I can go!” My switch users are given switches labeled with core words “go” and “stop”, and they would be asked to complete the sentence using “go”.
Staff members cut out and glued the core word “go” and made the sentence. Something that I make sure of every group session is that these stories and activities go home with each student. I work in a low income/Title 1 school where resources are few and far between so sending home activities that parents or caregivers can do with their children is really important to me. When we finish, I have what I like to call my Big Box of Core (more on that later)! The kids can pick out a toy that can “go” and paired with either a staff member or a classmate, they can take turns and make it go! Some examples from my lesson today included toy cars, spinner toys, and light up toys.
For more core word ideas, stay tuned for next week’s blog! Want to make your own Big Box of Core? Check out my other blog post titled “Big Box of Core-Make Your Own!”
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