Why do I use core words?
A little back story. I work in an urban, low income elementary school that is a “hub” for students with Autism. I have a caseload that waivers between 45-50ish depending on the time of the year and usually at least half are non speaking. My first few years I nearly burnt myself out trying to do speech the “traditional” way because these students really needed a 1:1 attention and HOW do you do that with so many of them that need so much PLUS make sure you get them their legally required minutes, plan engaging therapy for all of them, keep parents up to date and involved, encourage carryover with teachers and paraprofessionals, etc. etc. etc. It is an impossible task. So I had to find a different way, Enter CORE WORDS.
Where do I use core words?
Personally, this is a format that I use in my Early Childhood self contained classroom. These students have needs that are large enough to warrant spending most or all of their day in a special education environment. But this model can be adapted to other settings as well.
How do I use core words?
I view my core words kind of like a “theme”. In collaboration with the teacher we pick a word a month to be our focus. We pick words that we think would have the most functional impact in our student’s communication. Some of our most targeted words are: help, go, more, again, yes, no, etc. I then pick songs, activities, and toys that encourage my students to use that word functionally – be that verbally, sign language, using an AAC, or a communication board.
So what does this ACTUALLY look like?
So glad you asked. This is what has worked for me for the last few years, maybe it’ll work for you too! Here is the step by step of a morning in my EC classroom
Every morning I lead a 10 minute portion of circle time in the classroom. The teacher and the paraprofessionals remain in the room with me to help with behavior and modeling. The students are seated on the carpet and we use a smartboard. Usually, depending on the year, there are between 8-12 students in the classroom. Reminder: in my district this COUNTS as IEP minutes. I am modeling, greeting, etc. We are practicing routine and following directions. Do not discount this time (but also make sure it counts in your district as well)
- We sing the “Hello Song” from Super Simple Songs. We mimic the motions on the song and/or use the signs for words like tired and hungry.
- I greet each student by saying their name and Hello. and they greet me back either verbally, using an AAC, or waving.
- I remind the students of our word of the month and hand out core vocabulary boards. I use my version which can be found HERE but there are also free versions available from Tobii Dynavox, AssistiveWare and more. I have a jumbo version that I got blown up at Walgreens. You can find directions on how I did that HERE
- We sing a song with the word of the month featured heavily. For example, this month for the word Go one of our songs is “Go Away Scary Monster” from Super Simple Songs. I model the core words with my board and the students follow along with their own.
After circle time I take students 1:1 in the hallway or in the corner of their classroom. We always do the same routine
- I set a visual timer for the number of minutes ( usually 10-15, but it depends on the. student)
- I. remind them of our word and they find it on a communication board
- We read an interactive book that features our word heavily. I sell these in handy bundles HERE (here is a free kit you can try), but you can also find free ones on the Tobii Dynavox Core First Website or make your own.
- My students choose between a few toys that I brought with me to strategically target the core word. For example, for the word go I might bring wind up toys, a car ramp, a train, etc. I model the core word, wait expectantly, etc. depending on the student’s level. You know, all those therapy tricks. It is SO nice to have a little mini “goal” though that they use the core word functionally. We always have a little party if/when they do. Here are a few blog posts with details of what toys I use for HELP, MORE, STOP, IN
- At some point while they play I write a quick note to their parents about what we did and any wow moments we might have had. It only takes about 30 seconds to 1 minute and its a good time that forces me to be quiet and let them play. Sometimes I get the most language during that time.
- When the timer goes off they use a dot marker to find our word on their newsletter as a little comprehension check. I also include these in my bundle, but you can make your own!
That’s it!
