AAC / Communication Boards – Page 2

Adapted Who Shook Hook Game

11 Dec

December 11, 2015 Cindy 0

Who Shook Hook Adapted Game

I know some of us do pirate themes in our therapy rooms at some point during the school year. It helps to develop that ARRR you know. This is a game that would work with that theme. I found this game unopened for a few dollars last year at a Goodwill store and decided I couldn’t go too wrong with such an inexpensive game. I see there are some 2nd hand ones you can order quite reasonably on ebay or amazon. Keep your eyes open for it at thrift stores or Goodwill.

I used it for a variety of speech goals. It is good for developing some vocalic r words such as sword, barrel, tweezers, treasure, shark. It also had quite a few sh, ch type words such as treasure chest, cash sack, shovel, beach, shark, bridge, and fishing pole. A lot of the items used in the game were not familiar vocabulary words such as tweezers, hammock, palm trees, and barrel. It seemed that everyone knew what a sword was. Finally, there was a good use of prepositions as there was a shark beneath or below the hammock, the hammock between the palm trees, and Hook hopefully staying above the shark. You of course can add other task cards to get more drill incorporated.

It is not a game I would normally have bought. Some of my students have difficulty with small motor skills and this one looked like it could be frustrating for them. In the game, players move figures around a track. They land on squares that tell them to use various tools to remove treasures from the hammock without letting Capt. Hook fall. I was surprised to find that this game actually worked out quite well. Hook doesn’t fall off the hammock that easily. You can hook his heels into the hammock which makes him pretty steady. You can adjust the difficulty somewhat by his placement. Most of the students could find a tool that worked for them and the tools were quite motivating. Some students just used a tool to shove the treasure off rather than pick it up. It was a fast paced game that didn’t end until all the treasures were gathered or Hook fell. Students enjoyed the challenge of the tools and didn’t get hung up on winning.

I was able to use the game for some of my early language learners so I made a communication board to go with it. You may notice that I try to keep my boards quite similar. The pronouns are to the left and connect easily to my core verbs that are usually want, have, get, or put. My middle area after the verbs has the vocabulary that changes and the far right is the my turn, your turn. This seems to work for me for being consistent and allowing students to find the words they need to develop short sentences and phrases. I print them out on regular paper and slip them into plastic page covers. The board is flexible so fits easily into the game box.

Whirly Therapy Fun

1 Apr

April 1, 2015 Cindy 0

I am not sure what they are called, but as a child I called it a Whirly. They were a great find this last weekend in the Easter basket toys at Walmart. It would be a good time to look for them. I was trying to find new mechanical toys for my early language learners who get engaged by anything that spins and pops. For $2 you couldn’t go too wrong. I did wonder how long it would last but it was sturdy enough to make it through a morning of therapy with the younger K through -2nd grade Life skills class. There is a precaution for aiming it at people and there is the string to watch out for.

I used it this week and it was a big hit. It was great for learning communication intents and making requests. It gave opportunities to review the concepts of around and over. If the string was pulled strong enough the spinner would stay on the ceiling a few minutes spinning over our heads. The students would give me the Whirly and make requests for fast pulls. We also practiced a few more prepositions when finding the location of that spinner after it came down. A few of my students needed a person to hold the device while they pulled the string. This encouraged joint attention to a task. I like it when a toy can offer so much opportunity for natural communication with very little effort.

Here is the communication board I used for the activity.

Adaptive Don’t Spill the Beans

5 Mar

March 5, 2015 Cindy 0

Don’t Spill the Beans is another game that I have used with my language learners. It has always been good for general reinforcement. Many of you probably have the game already.

I often became annoyed by the spilled beans. They were difficult for my students with poor fine motor concerns to pick up and took precious therapy time collecting them. I thought there had to be a better way. Then I remembered my Chipper Chat therapy materials. It is a product from Super Duper which many of you may also have. You can breathe new life into your “Don’t spill the Beans” game by switching out the beans with the magnetic chips. The students are always enthused about using the magnets and it makes it easy to pick up the spilled chips. I usually have the students pick up the chips with the magnets and place them in individual saucers to compare the amounts. You can also vary the game by having students collect specific colors that spill. The magnets have really helped with quick clean up. I added a communication board to practice sentence frames and turn taking..

Poppa’s Pizza Game Adaptation

28 Jul

July 28, 2014 Cindy 0

I have some of my therapy games home for the summer since I had grandchildren visiting. I noticed that I missed putting this one up on the blog. Poppa’s Pizza Topple is a game I found at a garage sale a few years ago and I think it is still being sold in a few stores. It is a game my students enjoy no matter what their ability level. Pizza seems to be a favorite food of most children. I have used this game with students who are working on basic communication skills such as turn taking and making requests. It can easily be adapted for students with limited verbal abilities by adding a communication board. It also works well as a simple reinforcement for doing therapy tasks. At the most simple level, just use the pizza crust and have the student request ingredients and place them on the crust. At the most difficult level, students place the ingredients on an unsteady pizza crust propped up on Poppa’s finger. They pick up the ingredients according to what is rolled on the dice. I recommend picking this game up and adding it to your collection if you get the chance.

I had a request to show the communication board. I do not have Boardmaker available on my home computer to open this board. I ended up taking a picture of it. It will give you an idea of the symbols used.

Don’t Fall Through the Ice

8 Jan

January 8, 2014 Cindy 0

This is our first week back from the holiday break. Some of us are in the grips of winter. Baby its cold out there! It seemed appropriate to go with a winter theme and cold things. I dug into my archives and brought out my version of “Don’t Fall Through the Ice”. This activity has been in the vocabulary section and there are written instructions that can be printed out under the link. I didn’t include pictures so some of you may have missed it. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words. The activity is really very simple and made from recycled materials. I get a lot of use from my coffee cans. All you need is a wide mouthed container like a coffee container, a large rubber band, paper towels, marbles, and a spinner made from a plastic lid. The spinner has the words, one, couple, few, and several. The marbles are placed in a container of water. The paper towel is stretched across the mouth of the container and held by the rubber band. Students take turns spinning the spinner, taking the corresponding amount of marbles from the water, and placing them on top of the paper towel. Eventually the water will weaken the paper towel and the marbles will fall through. I used this activity as a reinforcement for students during therapy or as a group activity to work on the concepts of amount. I have table groups play and then compare the number of marbles they put on top before they fall through. In addition to the spinner words you can talk about the concepts of wet/dry, weak/strong, and most/ least.