BAM-WOW!
Book-A-Month, Word-Of-the-Week
BAM-WOW! (Book-A-Month, Word-of-the-Week) is a language and literacy framework designed for learners with complex communication and learning needs.
The BAM-WOW! framework provides differentiated supports, and interdisciplinary template activities that integrate language, literacy, and social-emotional learning.
BAM-WOW! helps learners build vocabulary, practice communication in meaningful contexts, and connect language to real-world experiences—making reading interactive, accessible, and fun.
Each month, learners engage with a book that serves as the anchor text. A new set of 12-15 vocabulary words are selected each month as targets to learn and use within and outside of the context of the book of the month. And...
...each week, a core or fringe word from within the vocabulary set is emphasized, modeled, and reinforced across activities that are designed to build comprehension, communication, and connections.
Each BAM-WOW! unit comes with an abridged version of the anchor book, icons for the target vocabulary, an accompanying language board, and related digital resources. These materials are designed to make it easier for families, educators, and therapists to explore the book, model many words, and support language learning in meaningful, accessible ways.
01
Video Reading
Reading isn't just reading. It is all about the way we read. Our video recordings include evidence-based shared reading strategies designed to draw attention to important features, visual representations, and concepts.
02
Abridged Book
For our learners, sometimes a shortened, or abridged version of the book is easier to attend to. This doesn't mean simplifying the language, just condensing the book while maintaining the main idea.
03
Visual Scene Display Book
Our colleague, the brilliant Nimisha Muttiah, PhD., told us about paper-based visual scene display (VSD) options supporting interactive communicative exchanges for complex communicators, and we find it really helps.
04
Icons
Icons of various sizes, as well as real pictures, text versions, and definitions of the target vocabulary are the base of BAM-WOW! Like Phyl Macomber's, T.H.E. P.A.C.T., The Unique Curriculum, and other template curriculum tools, some of the best differentiation comes from repeating the "structure" and changing the content, enabling learners to better focus on what is being taught, vs. how it is being taught.
05
The Script
The Script details it all. It lists the vocabulary words, the suggested core words to be emphasized, the activities, how to do the activities, how to talk about the activities with your learners, and "The Why."
