A great book to use this month is The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams.
Here's a breakdown of how I expand a read aloud into a shared reading and literacy experience:

• Vocabulary: outside, night, behind, actions (hear, walk, clap, shake, etc), clothes, colors and feelings
• I put my hands on my body and theirs to assist with wiggling, clapping and shaking. The level of alertness is high! 
• Use a Step-By-Step to record the text sequence that repeats in the book.
• Use a single message button to record "Not afraid of anything". Pause each time this phrase appears and prompt the child if necessary to "read their part."
• Tell their own version of the story using Wh questions - Who is going on a walk in your story (boy, girl, man, woman, animal)?, When does your story take place? (Day or Night), where is your character walking (home, school, store), what things does your character run into along the way (accept any and all answers or provide yes/no questions), how do they feel (happy, sad, scared, sick, etc). How does it end? Be sure to write down their words! You can share it in written form, recorded form (single message button, step-by-step or button on their device 
•  Tap out syllables  AN - Y - THING - "That's a long word! If we type AN on your keyboard, can we find this long word in word prediction?"
• First Letter - You pick a letter and we will read it again to see how many words tart with your letter. Write down words you read that start with that letter. You could also have the child indicate through any sound or voluntary movement when they hear a word that starts with that letter. 

Here is this month's AAC Calendar! Created by Katelyn Oeser M.S., CCC-SLP and Elizabeth Freund M.S., CCC-SLP, this is a great resource to help you focus on core vocabulary and easy ways to model AAC throughout your day. If you want to be added to the list to receive this monthly, email: [email protected]

Another great resource is the October Writing Prompts calendar created by Lakeshore Learning. You can find this in their "Free Resources" section of their website, along with many others!

If you haven't started following Jane Farrall, stop, drop and look her up! Check out this "NO HAND OVER HAND" poster, print  it, and post it EVERYWHERE.  Watch this video for more instruction: Problem with Hand-Over-Hand

www.janefarrall.com 

Refining switch access takes time and practice. Of course we practice with AAC and language activities, but another way to refine switch access without the language load, is with switch accessible toys. Toys that are made switch accessible can be very expensive. The battery interrupter is a relatively cheap solution for battery operated toys. They can be purchased on Amazon.
​Watch this video to learn more:

"No tech" communication is extremely valuable. This includes facial expressions, body language,  and conventional gestures. Two conventional gestures we use every day are a head nod for "yes" and a head shake for "no." We can teach these gestures to our AAC users!

Using two Talking Buttons, recorded with "yes" and "no", and appropriate placement by the head, we can start to model and teach the conventional gestures paired with auditory output. 

Watch this video for more information on how to get started!