What Have You Got to Say for Yourself?

Teaching a child to use AAC requires a level of familiarity and comfort with the AAC system itself.  Using the pictures while simultaneously speaking to the child provides a level of direct modeling that verbal children receive from birth.  And just as we provide verbal input 1 or 2 or 3 words at a time, we also model use of 1 or 2 or 3 symbols, keeping our models just 1 step ahead of where the child's expression is currently.

This Aided Language Stimulation - also called Partner Aided Input - is crucial to the child learning to use their aac system.

Language is learned through models. Children learn spoken language by listening to others using it. A child using picture-based communication is learning an entirely different language. They need to see models of people using it effectively. And models provided in response to their communication are most powerful.

(click here for a free brochure on ALgS)

What else can we do? 

•  create a positive communication environment
•  respond to all communication attempts

There is a positive communication environment when we respond to all of a child’s communication attempts, provide support as needed, focus on positive results, and find solutions to challenges. Even when you respond to an undesirable behavior, if you do so while also modeling how to use the correct message in the AAC system you take advantage of a communication opportunity.

As much as possible, do NOT ask yes/no questions, do NOT ask closed-ended questions

DO ask Wh-questions or other open-ended questions. If necessary, ask multiple choice questions.

Strategies to create opportunities to communicate include:

     providing choices, 

     sabotaging the environment, 

     giving small amounts of desired item/activity, 

     briefly delaying access, 

     using pause time, 

     using fill-in-the- blank activities.

Respond to all Communication Partner’s Attempts:

All children communicate. They don’t all communicate symbolically - that is, with pictures, words, text. And some of their nonsymbolic communication is undesirable.

Think about how this child responds to his/her own name; what (s)he does when a routine is interrupted; what (s)he does when wanting an item, action, attention, or help; or tells you when something is wrong. What we’re talking about is how this child communicates to reject/protest, request, comment. Those are some of the main, early functions of communication. The earliest communication behaviors are social regulatory - regulating another’s actions.  What we need to do is to respond to those other communication behaviors, while shaping them into more acceptable or understandable forms.

The more you practice using the aac system during real contexts, and increase the number of those contexts in which you use the aac system, the more automatically the child will learn to use the system.  

More to come.....

Keep on talking!

Looking for more AAC implementation help? Try my book: Make the Connection!: A Practice Guide to Parents and Practitioners to Teach the Nonverbal Child to Communicate with AAC