Visual Supports with Voice Output for the “Win”! – Incredible 5 Point Scale and the GoTalk Now app

Posted on October 17, 2020 by OMazing Kids

Visual supports with voice output for the “win”! I attended a presentation by Kari Dunn Buron, coauthor of The Incredible 5 Point Scale, at the Oklahoma Autism Conference offered by the Oklahoma Autism Network in 2017 and was inspired to make this for a patient who had been having a particularly difficult time and exhibiting a significant increase in aggressive behaviors. I watched for very subtle signs of increased agitation and modeled use of this to both talk about emotional states and offered choices to help calm before he got beyond a “Level 3”. He showed understanding of it the very first day and smiled when I acknowledged that he was struggling. He chose “go for a walk outside” and “go back to the house and rest”. The next day he spontaneously tapped “go for a walk outside” before he got beyond a “Level 2” and a huge smile washed over his face as we exited the sensory overload inside the building into the brisk air and total peace outside. I was often totally overstimulated by all the “Christmassy” stuff at our facility too so we ended up taking lots of walks outside 😉.

A video showing several boards including this one:

Thanks again Attainment Company, Inc. for making such a versatile app and giving me access to the most full featured version as well as several extras within it to help the patients at the nonprofit facility where I worked for the last half of my career. I was able to show this to his mother and she was very impressed with how easy this app is to program and to use for AAC and visual supports.

This app is definitely in the top 5 most used apps on my iPad. I saved this to the Online Gallery. Those who have either the GoTalk Now or GoTalk Now Plus versions of the app should be able to find everything that I have uploaded to the public Online Gallery by searching by my last name (Moorad) or a word in the title. See page 23 in the in-app Users Guide for info on how to find it.

There are several versions of the app with varying levels of features:

GoTalk NOW PLUS by Attainment Company, https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gotalk-now-plus/id742150885?mt=8 (most full featured, includes SymbolStix, offers PCS symbols (High Contrast, original and thinline) as in-app purchases, etc…)

GoTalk Now by Attainment Company, https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gotalk-now/id454176457?mt=8

Updated 4/3/22 to add: Encouraging Emotional Conversations in Children With Complex Communication Needs: An Observational Case Study (free access to the full research article & supplementary materials): https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.674755/full. The AAC app in the article is TD Snap but the concepts could be used when adding this type of vocabulary to any AAC system. If you have access to Grid for iPad / Grid 3, take a look at some nice preprogrammed content in the Voco Chat grid set.

GoTalk NOW LITE by Attainment Company, https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gotalk-now-lite/id953164338?mt=8 (FREE lite version, limited to 1 book with up to 5 pages, cannot backup, share or access the Online Gallery)

See this post about the current sale on their apps from 10/16 – 10/31/20: https://omazingkidsllc.com/2020/10/17/rare-sale-on-gotalk-now-gotalk-now-plus-aac-apps/

(Note: Most of the content in this post originally appeared on my Facebook page on 12/12/17.

I updated some info from that to create this blog post.

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Angela Moorad, MS, CCC-SLP, Founder of OMazing Kids, LLC
Facebook: https://bit.ly/2Si6k7Y
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FREE Visual Timer App – adjustable directly on Apple Watch

Posted on May 30, 2017 by OMazing Kids

FREE Visual Timer App – adjustable directly on Apple Watch

Most of the timer apps that can be used on an Apple Watch require you to first set a and activate the timer on the paired iPhone and only work when the phone is within range of the Bluetooth connection with that phone. Although I love the Time Timer app it is not that helpful to me since I work in a facility that prohibits taking your phone into patient areas. The timer app native to the Apple Watch can be adjusted directly on the watch but is not a visual timer.

So I was very excited to discover that one of my other visual timer apps can be used totally independently on the Apple Watch. The key is to customize it on your phone, sync it with your watch and then the timer time can be set, timer activated, paused & reset all directly from the watch WITHOUT it having to be paired with your phone.

Video:

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App Store:

MultiTimer: Visual timer with multiple timers by Sergey Astakhov
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/multitimer-multiple-timers/id973421278, FREE, you don’t need to purchase the IAP and no ads were seen
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Angela Moorad, MS, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Founder of OMazing Kids, LLC – inclusive wellness & educational activities for kids of all abilities
Facebook Messaging for OMazing Kids: http://m.me/OMazingKidsYoga
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Boardmaker Share: http://www.boardmakershare.com/Community/FriendsProfile/10916/Angela-Moorad
Blog: http://omazingkidsllc.com
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Angela Moorad is the founder of OMazing Kids, LLC and is an ASHA certified & licensed pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist and Kids Yoga Teacher with over 27 years experience working in a variety of settings (early intervention, schools, teletherapy & a nonprofit pediatric rehab hospital for children with developmental disabilities). She is an app beta tester for educational & therapeutic app developers and loves sharing info about great apps, products, books & toys to use with kids of all abilities.

{Power of Visuals}

Posted on July 29, 2016 by OMazing Kids

{Power of Visuals} Gotta LOVE the power of visual supports when working with kids with special needs! I have a patient who has had the hardest time understanding and using pronouns (he/she) and prepositions/spatial concepts. He doesn’t have Autism but most of the strategies that I use with that population are helpful for him. The use of visual support cue cards with a picture of a boy or girl, the rule for when to use the pronoun and a picture and description of the mouth shape for “he” vs. “she” in every session for several weeks finally paid off today! So cool to witness the moment it finally clicked for this child. I was able to fade the cue cards today and he had a solid ability to both understand and use these two pronouns correctly. I’m tackling the prepositions/spatial concepts using a similar concept but instead of printed cue cards I’m using the GoTalk Now AAC app as a visual support. Today was the first session where I finally saw the first signs of it clicking for him too. I’m sure for this child it’s the consistent visual + auditory feedback from the AAC app combined with placing a high interest object in/on/under a mini trashcan from the dollar store. I have other prepositions programmed but have them hidden until he masters these first three.

The he/she cue cards are available as part of a free printable in this post: https://omazingkidsllc.com/2016/05/25/free-printable-puppys-pronouns-sentence-building-cards/.

I used the GoTalk NOW PLUS AAC app by Attainment Company (https://appsto.re/us/LlfpS.i). They also have a free lite version of the app (https://appsto.re/us/Yic04.i).
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Angela Moorad, MS, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Founder of OMazing Kids, LLC – inclusive wellness & educational activities for kids of all abilities
Home E-Mail: amoorad1@juno.com
Facebook Messaging for OMazing Kids: https://www.facebook.com/messages/17426452595789
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/OMazingKidsYoga
AppPeeps Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/OMazingKidsAppPeeps/
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YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/amoorad1
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Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/110305433538768736741
Boardmaker Share: http://www.boardmakershare.com/Community/FriendsProfile/10916/Angela-Moorad
Blog: http://omazingkidsllc.com
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Angela Moorad is the founder of OMazing Kids, LLC and is an ASHA certified & licensed pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist and Kids Yoga Teacher with over 26 years experience working in a variety of settings (early intervention, schools, teletherapy & a nonprofit pediatric rehab hospital for children with developmental disabilities). She is an app beta tester for educational & therapeutic app developers and loves sharing info about great apps, products, books & toys to use with kids of all abilities.
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{please ignore any ads that may appear below. This is a free blog and I don’t have any control over ads nor do I profit from them}

Five Count Breathing Foam Stars Craft

Posted on October 19, 2013 by OMazing Kids

How to make:

1. Print the star (1 page PDF) & cut it out leaving a small border of white.

2. Laminate & cut it out again leaving a small border of lamination to help it stay sealed.

3. Attach to foam star with permanent glue runner tape.

(I tried Superglue, Zots adhesive dots & glue runner tape. Superglue did not work well at all. Zots were difficult to position. The permanent glue runner tape worked well. I outlined the back of the laminated star and then put some in the middle before rubbing it down onto the foam star)

4. Kids can decorate the back of their foam star by drawing a picture of something that is calming to them.

Thanks to Edna Reinhardt at Yoga Education Resources for sparking the idea of mounting them on something so the kids can run their finger along the edges of the star as they practice the breathing. I went with foam stars since they are soft, colorful & precut.

I reconfigured and resized the printable to fit the 6.75” foam stars from Creatology at Michaels. I have seen similar stars at Walmart.

This is a wonderful self-calming breathing activity for kids with Autism Spectrum Disorders, anxiety, stuttering & other special needs.

Looking for the full page breathing star printable? See the original post: Five Count Breathing Visual Support

Concept inspired by this handout I found online about “Worry Wars: An Anxiety Workbook for Kids and Their Helpful Adults!” by Paris Goodyear-Brown: http://bookwhen.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/documents/4140/original.pdf?1360464416.

#pranayama #breathing #anxiety #autism #kidsyoga #yogaforkids

More ideas in these albums on the OMazing Kids Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.344029728981372.95741.174264525957894&type=3

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.343461705704841.95556.174264525957894&type=3

Angela Moorad, MS, CCC-SLP, IAYT, RCYP-2

Speech-Language Pathologist

Founder of OMazing Kids, LLC – inclusive wellness activities for kids of all abilities

Radiant Child Yoga Certified – Levels 1 & 2

E-Mail: amoorad1@juno.com

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Blog: http://omazingkidsllc.com

OMazing Kids LLC is an organization that promotes inclusive wellness activities for kids of all abilities. The blog and social media pages share information about books, DVD’s, CD’s, games and other products specifically designed for kids wellness, mindfulness and relaxation, product reviews & giveaways, lesson plan & activity ideas, research, kids wellness in the news and a connection corner with listings of individuals doing adapted yoga and those offering trainings.

NOTE: Please ignore any ads that appear below the crayons divider bar or any ads or unusual hyperlinks that may appear above. This is a free blog site & I have no control over ads appearing here. I have attempted to remove the CouponDropDown but no luck so far…. DO NOT click on any hyperlinks unless you hover above them first to insure they are valid. Ones I included should appear in blue font.

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Five Count Breathing Visual Support

Posted on October 5, 2013 by OMazing Kids

The kids I work with at the J.D McCarty Center needed a little more support to understand the steps in Five Count Breathing. So I made this visual support using a combination of Boardmaker & MS Word.

The free printable 1-page PDF is saved on my OMazing Kids blog at: https://omazingkidsyoga.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/five-count-breathing-visual-support.pdf.

It’s a wonderful self-calming activity for kids with Autism Spectrum Disorders, anxiety, stuttering & other special needs.

Inspired by this handout I found online about “Worry Wars: An Anxiety Workbook for Kids and Their Helpful Adults!” by Paris Goodyear-Brown: http://bookwhen.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/documents/4140/original.pdf?1360464416.