Boost AAC Literacy in Your Special Ed Classroom with Free Read Aloud Resources!

My name is Winnie White, and I have been teaching reading for the past 28 years. But these past 4 years, I moved into a self-contained classroom where I have non-speaking students who use AAC devices. Now, I still use a balanced literacy approach to teaching reading in my classroom, but I had to make necessary changes in order to incorporate AAC devices into every aspect of the classroom. So back in the late '90s, I learned the importance of using read-alouds in my elementary classroom by making read-alouds a daily routine to help build the foundation for language literacy and engagement with books. And 25 years later, I have learned that they are even more important in my special education classroom. According to the book Comprehensive Literacy for All written by Karen Erickson and David Copenhaver, daily read-alouds are essential for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They give students access to rich language, new vocabulary, and meaningful stories that they may not experience through conversation alone. So read-alouds are also used to model fluent reading, support comprehension, and create shared literacy experiences for all learners. And for students who use AAC devices, read-alouds provide authentic opportunities to model and practice communication in context. So if you're like me and new to the AAC classroom integration, you may need a little more training and support to make this happen. At an assistive technology conference I went to a couple years ago, I learned about the PRC Sotillo's Literacy Planners. They publish one a year, which includes 12 read aloud guides. This planning guide was created to help you as a teacher or the parent intentionally teach 5 to 6 targeted vocabulary words each month to students who use AAC devices. So each month you'll focus on a book of the month, and then you'll learn how to model those target words, during shared reading. And check out the description box for a link to these literacy planners. But it doesn't stop there. You'll also find fun and meaningful ways to reinforce the vocabulary through writing. You can use a traditional pencil or an alternative pencil, arts and craft projects, music, sensory experiences, and motor activities. Making communication practice part of every area of learning. Now, to support you along the way, the guide also includes these smart charts that can show you exactly where each word can be found on a PRC Cetillo device, such as LAMP Words for Life or WordPower or Unity, as well as a list of websites that are connected to that month's book theme. So with consistent modeling and engaging activities, you'll watch your students' communication and language skills grow stronger every month. And this is a great free resource to help you get started building literacy and language together, one word at a time. You can go back to the different years of literacy planners of the past 4 years, and you can look and see the 12 monthly lessons that are based on a specific child's book. They also have tutorial videos on their YouTube channel that date back to 2020. The link in their channel will be in this description box below. When I first get a planner, I go through the planner and then I make a list of all the books. I will check my school and local libraries to see what books are available. And I'm in North Carolina and our libraries are connected through the state Cardinal library system. So I can actually go on to that system and request any book across the state of North Carolina to be sent to my local library. I'll do this before I actually purchase books. If I cannot get it through the library system in a timely manner that I want it, I will put the books on my Amazon wishlist and usually will get a few of those books from some of my school parents I have friends who actually love to support my classroom, and my own two parents who have been buying books for my classroom now for about 3 decades would love to purchase a book for the classroom. I like to get the books ahead of time so that I can practice with them. The first thing I do is print out this Smart Chart. The Literacy Planner comes with them already, but you can get the New Voice PASS free download software where you can actually print your own SmartCharts for any book that you may use in the classroom. That's another lesson there, and there are plenty of videos on YouTube how to teach you how to create your own SmartCharts with PRC Cetilla resources. I then put it in a sleeve just like this so that I can practice finding each word quickly before I do the actual story. I will then watch the video on YouTube because these videos are created by speech therapists and assistive technologists who actually specialize in AAC and literacy. These are the types of people that I wanna learn from and model after. So let's look at the book Telephone, which was written by, um, Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jen Corris. It's actually in the May 2025 Literacy Planner. I printed the Smart Chart and I practiced finding these words several times before I actually used them in my storytime. I will not read the story to you now or take the time to illustrate how to use it in your classroom. Their tutorial videos do a much better job than I could do. But I watch those videos, I pause them, I practice with them, um, and by the time I have done that a couple of times, I then feel confident and ready to use it in my classroom. Now these videos also help develop AAC and literacy skills in me that can then carry over into other read-alouds into my classroom. With enough training and practice, our confidence increases and our enthusiasm for AAC and literacy becomes more evident as we become more comfortable. So I encourage you to check out these free resources and use them in your classroom. This is a wonderful place to start to improve your AAC skills. And the more you improve, the more your students improve. So check out more AAC in the Classroom videos right here on the Autism Helper YouTube channel.