Enlighted Hound

Little Jyo has proved himself to be a super fast learner! I’m so excited to see how quickly he picks up using his own AAC board! It’s been really interesting and fun to not only work on teaching AAC buttons to a puppy as opposed to Marshall who is 7 and less easily molded, but also to work within totally different lifestyle constraints than my own.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I think finding solutions and work around a to the barriers that come up in teaching AAC has been one of my favorite parts of the whole experience so far. The journey is never boring! I’m gathering lots of good material for the little side project I’ve been working on!!!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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REPETITION⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Last but not least, repetition, repetition, repetition! We all know “practice makes perfect”, but the other side of repetition is showing your learner that this is the new way of things. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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If you only model sometimes, then your learner is probably only going to produce the behavior sometimes, if at all. This goes for AAC or any training model! Consistency is KEY to understanding and integration. Repetition is what gets you deeper understanding, reliable offering of desired behavior, or even muscle memory.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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This goes for repetition in modeling AND repetition in word choice. If you’re modeling the behavior consistently but using different words each time you might achieve a desired behavior from your learner but they probably won’t achieve the desired level of understanding. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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And here marks the end of my Strategies for Teaching Speech & Language series! I hope that they’ve been helpful, if not in bringing you new strategies, at least in affirming the strategies you’re already using and bringing your awareness to actively employing them for your learners benefit!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Marshall’s Morning Enrichment, brought to you by egg cartons everywhere! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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This enrichment activity kept Marshall busy for a good 30 minutes, while I ate my own breakfast in peace, and boy does he look satisfied with his accomplishment! Scavenging opportunities are always Marshall’s favorite, so this activity is among the top on our list. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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ADD ONE WORD⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Adding one more word than what your learner is currently using onto the length of your phrases encourages their understanding of a more complex sentence. Additionally, adding one, or sometimes two unfamiliar words to your board at a time maintains a continuous but manageable challenge.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I have definitely been over excited and given Marshall too many new words at one time before, and regretted it. It ended up being confusing and overwhelming. I certainly learned my lesson that a slow but steady challenge is the winning pace.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Marshall has not formed a multi button phrase yet, but I feel like we are SO CLOSE. Of course switching over to our new board has manifested its own special challenges that are keeping our focus for now, and he’ll surely put words together when he’s ready. In the meantime I’ll settle for not using the “hungry” button as if he’d never been fed in his entire little life!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Happy first day of Autumn!!! In honor of the change in the seasons I’m throwin’ it back today to one of my favorite fall photos and dearest rescue pups that I had the opportunity to foster and work with!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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This is Chickapee, a little Chihuahua x Pug with one the biggest personalities I ever did see! This girl may have been tiny, but man you did not want to be on her bad side. But what stands out in my memory was the way that she softened with love, and the right dog to stand beside her. I very nearly foster failed with this sweet girl simply due to the bond that she and Marshall quickly formed, if not my admiration for her punchy “don’t mess with me” energy.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Thinking about you today baby girl, and wondering how far you’ve come on your journey with the beautiful family you were blessed with!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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SABOTAGE⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I’ve talked about this strategy a couple of times in previous posts, and use it a lot with Marshall. It happens to be my favorite strategy to use as it involves more creativity than the others and often a sense of play! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Marshall is a dog that is known to need a great deal of motivation in order to learn and do new things, not because he isn’t totally capable but because he marches to the beat of his own drum. So sabotage has been one of the best ways to create motivation to learn and use his AAC!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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My favorite way to do this has been abruptly stopping a play session and waiting for Marshall to request more play using his buttons. Have you used sabotage with your learner? How did it work for you?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Blessed by a beautifully nostalgic thunderstorm last night, we finally got to go on a lovely little fall walk this morning in the just “unhealthy” air.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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SAY IT BACK⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Repeating a word back is a great way to reenforce a correct button press, but also gives your learner an opportunity to consider their choice one last time through a different lens! Was that what you meant to push?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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This has been really important while getting used to our new set up because Marshall is doing explorative button pressing with some of his words. He wants something, but doesn’t actually know where the button is... so when he’s clearly “hungry” for his breakfast but he presses the “home” button instead, which sound somewhat similar coming out of the button, by repeating back to him “yes we’re home” he is given a second chance to consider his selection and realize that it may not have been what he intended.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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PARALLEL TALK⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Much like self talk, parallel talk involves narrating what your dog is doing. The more often you utilize your chosen vocabulary in real situations, whether you have buttons for those words yet or not, the more ease your learner will feel with using that vocabulary themselves. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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This is not only a great way to reinforce buttons that you are currently teaching, but also to prepare your learner for words yet to come. Making a point to stress your target words whenever applicable is a key part of giving your dog a well rounded understanding of the meanings behind what for them are just sounds.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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