Cooking More with PrAACtical AAC

We have been thinking about what we would love to do more of for 2012.  We seem to be thinking in 5's.   So in getting organized and goal focused for the year we will spend the next 5 days discussing 5 goals.  

Our first goal is More Cooking.  We love to cook with EVERYONE.  Cooking is an activity that everyone needs to do do for independence. Cooking can also be a leisure activity and it is often naturally motivating because of the end result (our personal favorite)- eating. 
1.  You can use any of the picture recipe directions that are already on common food products.  The picture supports may need to be enlarged at the beginning but the idea is to use the picture directions on many packaged foods. These natural AAC supports were pointed out to me several years ago by Dr. Bridget Taylor.

2.  Check out Your Special Chef which was created through a grant from Do Something

by a young woman who has a brother with Down Syndrome.  It is a great resource for visual recipes but so much more.  The recipes are organized with a shopping list, category of food, level of difficulty and lesson guides.  The visual supports are beautifully photographed and inspire me to make ALL of the recipes. This resource is only limited in that we wish there were more recipes.

3.  Widget has some wonderful visual recipes that use widget symbols to show recipes, ingredient and utensil lists and even has warnings within recipes if sharp tools are used. These free recipes are categorized for picnics or outside eating.

4. We also love using Symbolworld resources and there is a great new recipe section that has some great looking options.  It is really nice that there are different and new recipes on this site with many options to choose from.  It is truly a small world because Symbolworld is a free resource by Widget that helps ensure accessibility for EVERYONE. ALthough, cooking is our purpose for discussing Symbolworld here, there are many topics available. 

5. We also have a diigo list with ALL of the cooking resources that we use.  We add resources as we find them and even between each other it is a great way of  staying current. So please visit the AACCooking List for updated resources.