This week the augmentative alternative communication (AAC) activities in our homeschool focused on the words DAY, SORRY, TOGETHER, JOB. I selected these from the PrAACtical AAC August core words list one.  This was a bit harder set of words for Nathaniel and I. All were on a second screen of his app, Speak for Yourself. I was still needing to use the app's search feature to find the words on Wednesday. Thank goodness we only have to navigate two screens to find each word.

My goal is do a fifteen to twenty minute activity per day that allows me to model the week's words, motivate Nathaniel to use his device, and learn new language skills. I am currently trying to model three to five word utterances. In my examples below, I model all the words except those in parentheses. I have put this week's core words in all capitals to draw attention to them. A simpler modeling option would be to only model the targeted core word.

Monday:
We opened and located the week's words. Nathaniel works well with the visual prompt of low tech symbol cards, so I also made sure I had these resource created for all of August's words. We practiced the motor plan for each word multiple times and then I modeled a simple three to four word sentence using the word.

Tuesday: (Photo at top)
Using foil and our play food, we pretended to make carry out food. Words that I modeled during this activity included:

• Put it TOGETHER!
• My JOB is (to) make it.
• It goes TOGETHER.
• Fold it TOGETHER.
• Good JOB!
• SORRY, not have that TOGETHER (yet).

Wednesday:
As I explain in my post about week five in our homeschool, we were short on time at home. I tried to double up activities to make the most of each day. Today's activity included some role playing with a hen, duck, mouse, and pig, to go with our week's story The Little Red Hen. Nathaniel jumped right in and seemed to enjoy this a lot. It was the first time that I've seen him use his device to pretend talk for a toy. Phrases used during this play time included:

• Do JOB!
• SORRY, not I.
• Do JOB TOGETHER.
• (Hen) works at JOB.
• Do JOB in DAY, not (night).
• SORRY not this DAY.
• No JOB this DAY.
• Pig not do JOB.
• Hen and Duck not work TOGETHER.
• I not do JOB TOGETHER with you.
• I not like JOB.
   

Thursday:
Today, we made salt dough and then leaf impressions in salt dough. Sentences that worked with this activity:

• I do that JOB.
• SORRY, I make mess.
• You do the JOB now.
• We can work TOGETHER.
• Put it TOGETHER.
• Push TOGETHER.
• My JOB is (to) pull.

Friday:
We painted our salt dough leaves today. I modeled these phrases and sentences for Nathaniel:

• Do that JOB now.
• You do (a) good JOB.
• This is (a) messy JOB.
• SORRY, green paint (only).
• Leaf is green this DAY.
• We can clean (up) TOGETHER.

Writing:
Our predictable writing chart this week was titled Our Jobs. Our daughter and her husband have been working very hard on building their home. We went to visit last weekend and talked a few times since we were home about the jobs they must to before they move in. Nathaniel chose the word "good" to describe his job. And then he said, "Dinosaur. Can I have a turn?" Out of context this makes no sense, but earlier that day we had gone to therapy and a little boy in the waiting room had brought a personal toy dinosaur. Nathaniel had done an excellent job of asking for a turn nicely then giving it back after a brief time of play. I was delighted that through this writing exercise, Nathaniel instigated telling a story from the past.

So far this year, I have not been able to fit in all the work that I want to do with each piece of writing. I would like to separate the sentences into individual strips, cut the words apart, glue them back together, and make some sort of book with each person's contribution have a page and include photo. For now, we have been reading our sentences a few times a week using Nathaniel's device for core words.

Reading:
We enjoyed the Usborne weather themed books, A Sunny Day, A Windy Day, and A Rainy Day. There is not a repeated line written into the story, but it was easy to model, "It is (a) _______ DAY," a few times as I read each book. This set from Usborne includes a book about a snowy day which we didn't read this week.

Be sure to check out My AAC Immersion Homeschool: Week 5 more ideas on incorporating August words into our daily learning activities.

Nathaniel is a five year old non-speaking child who uses multiple modalities to communicate. His communication device is an iPad with the app Speak for Yourself. He is in kindergarten and is taught at home. Read more about his and our family's journey through blog posts and at his Facebook page, Hold My Words.