Communicative competence was defined by Janice Light (1989) as:
"– the state of being functionally adequate in daily communication and of having sufficient knowledge, judgment, and skills to communicate effectively in daily life."
I advocate for a 4 step process to building AAC use: Choose, Plan, Prepare, and Implement.
Step 1: Choosing vocabulary - We want to make sure our AAC user has a robust vocabulary so that he can say whatever he wants. We don’t fill the system with preprogrammed phrases that may not represent what he wants to say; but we may use some often-used phrases for speed of interactions in social situations.
Step 2: Once you have the vocabulary set in your AAC system, you wan to plan your intervention strategy. Think about what words you want to target first. Are you going to focus on core words used in a single activity or those identified core words whenever they occur in the environment naturally?
Step 3: Next, Prepare. Prepare with a modeling plan. Become comfortable with the child’s AAC system sufficiently to be able to model the words you have set as targets. This is important. You might even want to practice ahead of time. But don’t worry if you make mistakes or have to stop and think about where a word is. These are perfect times to use verbal referencing and talk about what you are doing.
Step 4: Implement. Provide Aided Language Stimulation (ALgS)/Modeling. The AAC system needs to be available at all times. The partner will model each of the words, showing the child how the word is used in that context and where to find it in the AAC system. Be careful not to give directions, test, make the child perform. Don’t ask the child to “Show me _” or “What is _?” or “Where is _?” Remember that communication for real purposes and messages is the goal, not trying to find out how much the child knows. Use expectant pauses, natural cues.
Step 5: Collect data. Assess and revise the plan as needed.
It is easy to implement AAC in the classroom by
1 Offering choices as often as possible
2 Using consistent vocabulary and sequences within frequently repeated classroom routines
3 Sabotaging the environment during a routine task so that students need to communicate
4 Utilize simple scripts within routines so that staff are consistently modeling the same vocabulary and sentence types
5 Make sure to model vocabulary used during routines that goes beyond requesting; to include commenting, providing information, asking questions, and other communication functions
AAC implementation does not need to take a significant amount of planning time or equipment. Just think about the language you use routinely.
Looking for more information about AAC implementation? Take a look at my book: Make the Connection! Available on Amazon. (affiliate link)
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