Facilitator Notes

1. Slides 6-9: Discuss arrangement of vocabulary and color-coding by parts of speech. Highlight similarities despite different arrangements, number of cells and icons.
2. Print core boards from slides 6-9 and others on full page sheets. Searching “Core Vocabulary Boards” in Google Images will give you lots of options.
3. Slide 10: This is a very powerful activity!! Pass out several different versions of core boards. Participants will use these boards to make the sentences presented in the slide. I find it best to call out sentences one at a time and have everyone formulate the sentences at the same time using their individual board. This activity demonstrates that similar messages can be generated across communication displays even if some of the vocabulary varies. For example, “My turn” and “I go” are both bids for participation though the words are different. Discussion points: relevancy of practice phrases / with repetition finding icons get easier/ start small with a few phrases that will get a lot of mileage / color-coding helped with locating icons.
4. Slides 11-18: Rather than reinvent the wheel, I used wonderful examples from a webinar that I viewed on YouTube. The link to the video is in Slide 11.
5. Slides 23-33: Examples of Core vocabulary during a lesson about Wetlands, using the Classroom CORE book. More info on this at http://praacticalaac.org/praactical/how-i-do-it-classroom-core-book-by-tabi-jones-wohleber/

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VOCABULARY

CORE

Fringe

Core Vocabulary

Core vocabulary is a small set of simple words, in any language, that are used frequently and across contexts (Cross, Baker, Klotz & Badman, 1997).

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There are just a few hundred core words.

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Fringe Vocabulary

Fringe Vocabulary is situation specific. Their

importance changes from context to context

and from person to person (e.g., evaporation,

museum, funny, etc.).

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There are many thousands of fringe words.

How do they work together?

They are not the same!

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Nor are they mutually exclusive.

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There are different vocabulary needs and

combinations for each individual and their

particular communication skills and

environments.

Example of Core

Example of Core

Example of Core

Example of Core

Talking with Core

The following phrases, appropriate for many classroom lessons and activities, can be formulated using these boards. Let’s practice:

• I want that/it.
• I want help. / Help please. / Come help.
• My turn. / My go. / I do it.
• Do you want that/it? / What do you want/like/need/eat?
• What is it? It is __.
• What do you/he/she do? I go. / I play. / I eat.
• More. / More please

Core in Everyday Interactions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=293GzUPnFAM

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• Why it’s important

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• How much of what we say is core?

You. Must. Be. Kidding.

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• Example lesson vocabulary across levels

Examples across content areas

Examples across content areas

Examples across content areas

Examples across content areas

Examples across content areas

Examples across content areas

Examples across content areas

Examples across content areas

https://gvantatenhove.wordpress.com/2015/06/13/cooking-with-core-an-aac-mashup/

Principles for Teaching Core

For students with Complex Communication Needs (CCN), vocabulary is best learned when it is...

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• Meaningful (within a context)

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• Versatile (which provides many opportunities to practice)

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• Modeled in context (NAL-Natural Aided Langauge)

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• Accessible

Tips for Teaching Core

• Repetition, repetition, repetition

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• Know the vocabulary on your student’s device/communication display. Provide opportunities to respond using that vocabulary.

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• Be flexible with the words you use. Core may not include the exact words that are part of your personal lexicon. (My turn = My turn, I go, I do it, I play, etc)

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• Don’t get hung up on grammar.

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• Core lends itself to teaching concepts, rather than labeling.

More Tips for Teaching Core

• Build connections between symbols and their meaning by talking about the symbols. The meaning may not be immediately transparent to a student with CCN.

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• Create automaticity and strengthen the retrieval process by keeping words in the same location across communication displays.

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• Expand use of core, by expanding utterance length….more, want + more, I + want + more, I + want + more + that.

Sample Lesson

Sample Lesson

Sample Lesson

Sample Lesson

Sample Lesson

Sample Lesson

Sample Lesson

Sample Lesson

Sample Lesson

Sample Lesson

Sample Lesson

Additional Resources for “CORE”

www.praacticalaac.org

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www.aaclanguagelab.com (now subscription)

Food for thought…

from www.prAACticalAAC.org

Teaching core words isn’t quick and it isn’t easy.

Core language instruction isn’t simple and it isn’t always intuitive.

What it is, though, is powerful.!!!!

It’s teaching kids to fish for themselves rather than serving them up a plate. It’s laying a foundation so that they will ultimately be able to say what they want at any point in time.

It’s worth it!