AAC Language Lab

Target Vocabulary:

1. all done
2. and
3. arm
4. back
5. behind
6. between
7. bottom
8. chest
9. dog
10. don't
11. ear
12. face
13. feet
14. foot
15. hair
16. hand
17. help
18. I
19. I need
20. leg
21. me
22. my
23. no
24. please
25. to wash
26. toe
27. under
28. want
29. wash
30. what
31. you
32. you want
33. your

Target Language Skill: Producing two and three-word phrases to direct an activity such as personal care.

Suggested Objectives:

1. The person will be able to request help with personal care.
2. The person will be able to ask the question "wash what?"
3. The person will be able to object to having help by saying "you don't help" or "no help."
4. The person will be able to say "all done," or "me all done" to indicate when the task is finished.
5. The person will be able to be polite by saying "help please" or "please help" during personal care activities.
6. The person will be able to say simple sentences such as "I need help,"
7. The person will be able to say names of body parts.
8. The communication partner will model phrases and sentences such as, "Please wash my face," "Please help wash my foot."
9. The communication partner will begin to encourage the person to say some simple sentences.
10. The communication partner will model simple sentences such as "Wash my back."

Teaching Activities:

In language stage three you will be encouraging the person to say simple sentences that contain more than two words. The average length of utterance for stage three is about three words. You can use modeling to show the person how to say longer phrases and some sentences. If the person can say, "help hair," then you model "Help wash hair," and "Help wash my hair." If the person can say "wash face," then you model "wash face and hands." Encourage the person to say the same thing.
In stage three you will be teaching lessons about prepositions. Prepositions in the target vocabulary list are "behind," "between," and " under." Model phrases like "behind ear," "behind ears," between toes," and "between legs." Then increase the length of the phrase by adding the word "my," for example: "behind my ears."
Stage three is also the first stage where people use plurals. Encourage the person to say body parts, and then add the plural s. If the person says "foots" then teach the word "feet." You don't have to stress irregular plurals at this early stage.

A. Speaking

1. Talk about requesting help during personal care activities. Ask questions like, "What would you say if you can't turn the water on by yourself?" Model the word "help" if the person needs help.
2. Talk about requesting clarification with the word "what." Ask a question like, "If you don't understand me, what can you say?" Or ask, "If you don't know what you are supposed to do, what can you say?" (what) Model the phrase "what do."
3. Talk about the body parts that we wash. Ask the person to say "help" if the body part is something he needs help with. Ask the person to say "no," "don't," or "no help" if the body part is something he does not need help with.
4. Teach "all done" and ask the person to say "all done" when the task is finished.
5. Of course you will not be using an electronic communication device with a person who is taking a bath. AAC devices and water don't mix well. You can make a manual board of body parts. Be sure to include on the board the core words from our target vocabulary. PASS software has a component for making manual boards.
6. Teach body parts and plurals of body parts. Refer to the smart charts. You can create flash cards by making enlarged copies of the smart charts.
7. With flash cards of the target words, you can make silly sentences by putting the words out of the usual order. Ask the person to say the silly sentence. Then ask for help putting the cards in the right order to make a good sentence.
8. It's important to teach the person to find and say the target words before attempting to read the book, "Wash What?"

B. Reading

1. Read the book "Wash What?" Model the target words for this lesson when you read them.
2. Read the book again and stop when you come to a target word. Ask the person to say the word. Model the word again, if needed.
3. Read other books about personal care. Stop reading and ask the person questions that may be answered by a target word.

C. Writing

1. Make a cable or BlueTooth connection from the device to a computer. If you need help with this, read the support articles about computer access at support.prentrom.com. Recent PRC devices are "plug and play" and do not require any other software to do computer access.
2. Open a Word document. Let the person write target vocabulary words into the Word document.
3. Print the document. Save a copy and read the words again later.

D. Generalization

1. Talk about other personal care tasks that are not mentioned in the book. Ask the person to say if he needs help or no help with these tasks.
2. Make a poster for the bathroom of personal care tasks that the person needs to do. Use pictures cut out of magazines or clip art pictures. Write "help" or "no help" beside the tasks. Include other core words from the target vocabulary list.
3. Talk about the reasons for and importance of personal care.
4. Encourage and reward the use of three-word phrases and sentences at any time.
5. In other situations and environments ask the person ask the person if he or she needs help. Encourage the person to request help with words, not actions.

© 2009 Prentke Romich Company