About this activity
The fourteen core verbs — go, want, like, help, stop, look, give, eat, drink, play, open, make, put, turn — as a spelling task rather than a symbol one. Derived from the flashcard deck. It suits a literate or emerging-literate AAC user who types rather than selects, for whom these same high-frequency words are the ones that most need to be fast.
How to use it in a session
Practise the ones the student types most. For a keyboard user with word prediction, the first two letters carry most of the load, so accuracy on wa for want and he for help matters more than finishing the word. Say the word, have the student say or select it, then build it — for a student using both speech and typing, keeping the two attached is part of the point.
What to listen for
Watch the short words with irregular spellings — give ends in an e that does nothing audible, and make and like both use a silent e that changes the vowel. Those three are where errors cluster in a set that is otherwise phonetically straightforward. Notice whether the student self-corrects when a word looks wrong, which is a literacy skill worth having.
Carrying it home
Spelling one verb aloud takes seconds. Ask for go, eat or open rather than a list, and let the student say the word before and after — the point is that the letters and the message stay attached, not that a list gets finished.
Questions
- Is this the same as the flashcards?
- Same fourteen words, built from letters rather than selected. It is aimed at AAC users who spell to communicate.
- Do I need to sign in?
- No, it plays free with no account.
- Which version should I use?
- The flashcards for a symbol user, this one for a student who types. For a student doing both, the flashcards give more repetitions and this gives the orthographic practice.