“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California was once called “the bridge that couldn’t be built.” It took ten years of planning because of the intense opposition and another four years to actually build it. Once the building started, the people working on the bridge had to fight wind, fog, rain and exhaustion. It started with a very small group of engineers believing that it was possible and devising a plan to make it a reality. Today, it is one of the seven wonders of the modern world.
Everything great exists because someone had a goal, made a plan, and followed through with it. It’s true whether you’re building a large suspension bridge or implementing augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to bridge a child’s current language skills and his/her potential language abilities. The Learning to Speak AACtion Plan started two months ago, and I know many of you have had barriers – your own wind storms and unbearable fog. This is the time where New Year’s Resolutions are forgotten and goals for the year are exchanged for the demands of everyday life.
I’ve been looking into what makes people stick with resolutions and plans. How do you make that leap from something that you know is good for you so you do it to having it become a habit and a lifestyle change? Two of the important things seem to be getting reminders to stay motivated and having a contract with someone else. People who work towards goals that they’ve publicly shared, even if it’s just telling someone important in their life, seem more likely to stay motivated to achieve it.
I know it has motivated me to continue to post the new AACtion Plan words every week because I publicly said that I would. If I hadn’t promised, there would have been a couple of weeks that I would have slipped. Thanks to all of you who have motivated this Learning to Speak AACtion Plan just by being there.
If you’ve had a tough few weeks, or a tough 2016 so far, the good news is that the plan is still here when you’re ready to work toward your augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) learning and modeling goals. Plans are flexible. All great plans leave room for revision and obstacles.
So, here are the week 9 words:
Here are the Practice Lessons:
And here is the Master List with the Week 9 words added:
If you haven’t taken the Week 8 Survey, please do! And of course, here is the Rafflecopter Link…we’re less than a month away from selecting a winner!
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