The Power Of Minspeak
The Power of Minspeak® Systems
A Minspeak® system is a powerful way to support development of language and literacy skills in both special and general education classrooms. Teachers who understand and use Minspeak systems with their students know that they are teaching essential language and learning skills.
Language Learning and Minspeak® systems
The use of word families, grammatical groups, and semantic groups all contribute to long-term vocabulary development for a person using a Minspeak system.
- Minspeak Application Programs (MAPs) provide fast and easy access to a robust vocabulary set, including synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms.
- Minspeak vocabulary is organized in word families, which helps in learning word meanings and word relationships.
- Minspeak systems support development of semantic webbing and semantic mapping.
- Minspeak systems are organized in grammatical and semantic groups to promote development of categorical skills.
- Minspeak architecture makes the learning of new words easy and logical.
- Minspeak systems provide the essentials of grammar for normal language development.
- Minspeak systems provide an easy approach to practice syntax and morphology.
- Patterns in Minspeak systems support development of morphology skills.
Literacy Learning and Minspeak® systems
Learning to read is highly dependent upon a person’s language skills, particularly vocabulary. Simply put – understanding and using oral language (listening and speaking) is the first step in mastering printed language (reading and writing). Speaking, listening, reading, and writing develop concurrently (together) rather than sequentially (one after the other).
Minspeak systems, because of their power to support language development – particularly vocabulary development – makes it a powerful approach to also support literacy development. When paired with best-practices in reading instruction, a person using a Minspeak system can both learn to communicate and learn to read!
Maureen Casey, a teacher and reading specialist, has designed an inclusive and highly successful reading program that supports language and literacy development with children using Minspeak systems. This reading approach is being used to teach reading to normally developing children alongside their peers using Minspeak and other AAC systems. This reading approach is built on a strong foundation of language development while supporting learning of language and Minspeak systems.
Download information on The Bridge to Literacy Approach by Maureen Casey.
Read more about other resources to support literacy development.
Using Minspeak® systems in the Classroom
Students using Minspeak systems are included in general education classes and in self-contained special education classes. Teachers who are adequately supported and trained quickly begin to understand the power of a Minspeak system, embracing and promoting it as a valuable tool for building real learning with their students.
Helping teachers use Minspeak systems in the classroom starts by educating the entire class. Minspeak4Kids – a simple book available in both English and Spanish – is a useful resource for helping classroom peers understand how vocabulary is organized in a Minspeak device.
More information about:
- Training teachers and classroom assistants
- Using descriptive teaching strategies
- Using visual vocabulary charts in the classroom