Let’s Give Them Something To Talk About

Language is like a garden that contains many types of flowers. We need to be able to ask questions, make comments, or even tell someone to take a hike!  We need to be able to communicate about a whole range of events and ideas. We need to be able to create narratives to make sense of the world around us.

Narratives share some common elements; a setting, an event, a response, and a resolution. All students need to practice describing and sequencing events to develop their narrative voice. By learning to weave a story, we gain the tools to make inferences by connecting the threads of unrelated pieces of information. There is also power in using this knowledge to make predictions about what is going to happen next. There are so many great skills involved in storytelling!

The ability to tell narratives arises from having conversations about shared topics, such as shared reading and everyday events (Soto, 2006). The ability to generate narratives requires access to language, as well as something to talk about.  All individuals deserve the right to tell their own stories. Learners with complex communication needs too often don’t get that chance.

So, where do we start?  Below, you will find a list of apps and websites that can be used to practice commenting/describing, reading, and creating narratives.  Have fun, tell stories, and make silly guesses!

Describing

• • MSQRD          
    • Transform the way you look through amazing masks and effects! Turn into a panda, zombie or even face swap with your friends. Save and share photos and videos.  
  • Live Butterflies          
    • In this magical Augmented Reality experience, surround yourself with friendly butterflies indoors or out! Turn the screen and see all the butterflies flying around you. Touch the screen and watch them land.
  • Heads Up Game                    
    • From naming celebrities, to singing, to silly accents — guess the word on the card that’s on your head from your friends’ clues before the timer runs out!
    • Use this app to practice describing, a sort of digital barrier game barrier game.
  • Facesnap          
    • Make fantastic photos with crazy funny face filters including the popular Dog filters and many more animals filters. Add Stickers and Image Filters to make your snaps super funny.
  • Create a Bitmoji          
    • Bitmoji is your own personal emoji.  
      • • Create an expressive cartoon avatar• Choose from a huge library of stickers – all featuring YOU• Use Bitmoji in Snapchat, iMessage and wherever else you chat
      • Funny faces are always great for describing and commenting.
• • Image Spinner          
    • Add your photos and spin to choose one to write about
    • Choose up to 10 photos and record 10 pieces of audio to create your own spinner. Press or shake the spinner and it will randomly land in one of the segments
      • Comment on the picture you landed on!

Sharing Stories

• • Interactive Book Apps          
    • such as Blue Hat Green Hat, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, or Big Green Monster  
  • Priory Woods switch accessible videos           
    • With videos, such as Farting Dinosaurs, how can you lose?
• • Bookshare          
  • Read2Go is an accessible ebook reader app that lets you read Bookshare books with ease on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.     
  •     http://www.kizclub.com/          
  • • This site has tons of printable story props that can be used to support reading and telling stories.  You can print them in color, or black and white.

Creating Stories

• • Reading Comprehension Booster          
    • for reading comprehension, but also story prediction, story grammar, could be used to structure a narrative
  • The Write About app          
    • Endless student engagement with 175 included images, 375 text+voice prompts, OR customize with your own pictures. Kick-start all writing genres and watch reluctant writers soar!
  • TarheelReader.org                
    • A collection of free, easy-to-read, and accessible books on a wide range of topics. Each book can be speech enabled and accessed using multiple interfaces, including touch screens, the IntelliKeys with custom overlays, and 1 to 3 switches.
  • Wordless Videos on YouTube          
    • These provide a great opportunity to comment, as well as predict.  And many students love YouTube, so these provide an opportunity for student buy in.
• • Sock Puppets          
    • Sock Puppets lets you create your own lip-synched videos. Add Puppets, props, scenery, and backgrounds and start creating. Hit the record button and the puppets automatically lip-synch to your voice.  You can lip synch to the voice of someone’s AAC device!
• • Pictello          
    • Everyone loves to tell fun, engaging, and imaginative stories. Go ahead and make a social story or visual schedule for a child with autism or a slide show of holiday pictures for your friends – Pictello makes it a breeze to create and share! Whether you use the included natural-sounding Text to Speech voices, or record your own voice, Pictello is the perfect tool for visual storytelling.

Borrow an iPad from PIAT’s AT Lending Library and have fun telling stories!

We Each Have A Story Poster

Soto, G. (2006). Narratives of Children who Need AAC: Assessment and Intervention Considerations. ASHA Convention. Miami.