Bluebee Pals and Creative AAC Communication

Bluebee Pals and Whole Group Projects –  Creativity with AAC Communication

Allison Cusumano, MS Ed., CCC-SLP: I am attaching whole group pictures and narrative with Bluebee Pals in Pre-K.

What is AAC communication? AAC means all of the ways that someone communicates besides talking. People of all ages can use AAC if they have trouble with speech or language skills. Augmentative means to add to someone’s speech. Alternative means to be used instead of speech. Some people use AAC throughout their life.https://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/aac/

High-tech Options:

• using an app on an iPad or tablet to communicate
• using a computer with a “voice,” sometimes called a speech-generating device.
• Connecting a Bluebee Pal to a AAC app on iPad to engage speech

Bluebee Pals Week #1

We worked on following 1-2 step directions to complete a craft related to a topic we had been learning about in small group sessions that week, Bees. Hudson, the puppy, started the group session by talking about bees and asking questions after watching a video utilizing the TouchChat App on an iPad mini. “What do bees eat?” “Do you like bees?” Students raised their hands to help answer questions for Hudson. Hudson used his communication board to request items he needed to complete the craft, especially when Mrs. Cusumano forgot to give everyone gluesticks.https://www.bluebeepals.com/autism/

Bluebee Pals Week #2

Heading into the second week of the Bee Project, during the whole group, the students used their bee puppets made during the previous week to follow directions with location concepts (i.e., in, on, under, between, etc.). Hudson helped tell what each picture card said when the students came up one at a time to move their bee puppets around the garden. For example, “Put the bee next to the purple flower.” https://touchchatapp.com