Plant AAC Bingo

Going with the theme idea I have recently incorporated into my therapy, I am switching around circle time with my Life Skills students. I am working on basic vocabulary (this month with a plant theme) while teaching them to play a group game, “bingo”.

Most of these students are unable to find “3 in a row”, so I’ve made their job easy. The first person to match 3 pictures, gets to push my “Bingo!” button.

A large percent of the class is non-verbal, or minimally verbal, so I’ve designed specific pages for the devices in the classroom: 2 Go Talk 9+, 1 Go Talk 20+, and a Tech Talk. There is also one (not pictured) Vantage Plus in the class. Here are all the materials I use to play Bingo each day….

The students practice saying the vocabulary words as well as “I do”, “I want…”, and “Bingo!”.

After about 6 weeks of playing, I would estimate that 30% get the idea of the game (match 3 pictures to win), but even those who clearly do not understand the game are learning how to match the velcro dot to the picture and are less likely to throw or crumple their game board. Slow progress.

After 6 years of doing the exact same circle routine in this class, it is a relief to do something new. Now I am brainstorming other group games we can play in circle time. I thought of tic-tac-toe, but envision that almost no students would understand it. I need a game that you can win on sheer luck. Possibly, a simple Memory game with theme vocabulary?