Modeling Communication During the Thanksgiving Holiday

The holidays are a joyful (and often busy!) time filled with family, friends, and meaningful moments. With so many opportunities for connection, it’s the perfect time to model communication and use your AAC device. Be sure to keep it nearby and ready to go!

Family Enjoying A Thanksgiving Meal

Thanksgiving is also filled with lots of delicious foods and family recipes!

If your child enjoys cooking or helping in the kitchen have them help create some of the meals. Here are some ideas of words to model while cooking.

Vocabulary

  • A lot of the communication devices have various vocabulary pre-programmed such as fruits, vegetables, condiments, kitchen utensils etc. Have fun finding the different vocabulary words together!
    • Targeting vocabulary: As you are gathering ingredients you can have the child find the different items on their QuickTalker Freestyle or you can model the word on the device and they can help you find the item in the kitchen
  • Pick a few core words
    • Focus on words such a help, more, all done, like, don’t like, stop, in, open, close. You can focus on just a few core words such as help or more.
    • For example: As you add ingredients you can model the word “more” and then have them add more of an ingredient or model “in” when adding ingredients to the bowl.
  • If you know what kinds of foods will be served you can add them to the device so that this way your child can request what food they want to try next or what they want added to their plate.

Extra Resources:

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