Winnie shows how a 1st-3rd grade teacher uses AAC devices to teach counting and colors. In one lesson, a student named Cindy Kay counts marshmallows, then builds a snowman by selecting colored clothing on her device, hitting academic and communication goals at once.
Are you always looking for ways to help your AAC users use their devices in the classroom? Well, let's talk about that. I'm Winnie with the Autism Helper, and this is my classroom. I teach in a 1st through 3rd grade classroom for individuals with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities, and I'd like to talk with you about how I adapt our curriculum to help meet the needs of my AAC users in my classroom.
All right, we are going to see how many marshmallows are in the mug. Will you go to your numbers? Very good. And let's start. That's right, 1 marshmallow. So you're going to find the number 1. Now the next one, we're going to touch each marshmallow and count. Let's come down here. Ready to count? Touch it and then count. 1. Then go to your next one. 2. Okay, so then you're going to find the number 2 and put it on the dot. Excellent. Let's see how many marshmallows are in this mug.
Ready?
So take this hand and, and we're going to point with this hand and you're going to count with that hand. 1. Uh-huh. Go to the— count to the next. What comes after 1? 2. Okay. 3. 4. 5. That's right. So you're going to get that number 5, and you're going to put it in its place. Ah, look, this is a new concept. 10. Oh, good guess, Cindy Kay. It is not 10. It is actually zero. There are no marshmallows. Zero. That's right, it's the number zero. So can you find that zero? And put— good, put it in its place. Nice job. All right, Cynthia Kay, look at this snowman. And as you can see, we have a hat, a scarf, and mittens, and it tells you what color to use for each to build a snowman. Ah, wait, just before you start building, we have to follow the directions. Now, what color hat is it telling you to choose? Blue. Purple. That's right, it is a purple hat. So we are looking for a purple Hat. Yeah. Purple hat. Purple hat. Now, can you find the purple hat? Ah, that was fast, Cindy Kay! Where do hats go? That's right, they go on the top of the head. Fantastic! So let's look at the next one. What color scarf are we supposed to get? Blue. Uh-huh, we want a blue, and if you go to Wear under Clothing, you can actually find a scarf. Scarf. Uh-huh. So we want a blue scarf. Can you look at the scarves and find the blue scarf? I want a blue scarf. So come— there, you found it! Scarf goes around his neck. So you're going to want to turn it around. Turn it. Like, yes, just like that, and push down. Excellent. Now the last thing we want Can you find that? Yellow? Orange. Orange. And if you go into "where," go back to clothing, you can find those mittens. Do you see them? Very good. We want orange mittens. So let's pull this up. Can you find 2 orange mittens? There's one. Can you find the other matching one? Where's— you want to put it up there? On his arm. Oh, that's good, that's great. Can you find the other orange mitten and put it on his left arm? That is orange, but it's going to go on his left arm, and that's over here. Oh, are you finished with your snowman? Yes, you are finished. That's excellent.
This student has been using her AAC device for the past 2 years and is very comfortable utilizing her device to learn new materials. I love using leveled materials to help me challenge her to move forward in her academics and also in her functional communication. So for more self-contained autism and AAC Tips, like and subscribe to the Autism Helper channel on YouTube, and check out our resources on theautismhelper.com.
