COMMUNICATION
Communication partners play a key role in supporting and
expanding the child’s language and communication skills.
Communication is a dynamic, spontaneous, and interpersonal
process that happens in the moment.
as laminated copies of the homepage/core words and
folders/fringe words, is helpful in the event the device
malfunctions. The device needs to be portable and
travel with the child wherever he/she goes.
Creating an AAC friendly environment requires daily
access to vocabulary, communication opportunities,
literacy, symbols, words, schedules, and supportive
communication partners. Every person the child in-
teracts with needs to expect communication, pre-
sume competence, pause and wait for a response,
and encourage and honor all communication at-
tempts, such as gestures, signs, vocalizations, word
approximations, and utterances on the device. It is
important to provide a fun and relaxing atmosphere
by maintaining appropriate pacing, speaking in an
even tone of voice paired with accessing and point-
ing to words and symbols on the child’s device and
allowing wait time for the child to respond.
The value of communication partners
Communication partners play a key role in support-
ing and expanding the child’s language and commu-
nication skills. Communication is a dynamic, sponta-
neous, and interpersonal process that happens in the
moment. We communicate for a variety of reasons
that include expressing needs and wants, informa-
tion seeking and sharing, establishing and maintain-
ing social relationships, and social etiquette.
One of the most effective and evidence-based
teaching tools is Aided Language Stimulation. Typ-
ically developing children have the natural benefit
of thousands of hours of modeling spoken language
by parents and other people in their environments.
Often, emergent AAC communicators do not get the
benefit of language being modeled utilizing their
modes of communication. Aided Language Input
pairs spoken language with it also being expressed
using the AAC system.
There is no more powerful way of sending the mes-
sage that we value the child’s mode of communication
than by actually using the modality ourselves. MOD-
ELING language on the device is probably the most
important teaching tool we can provide. Emergent
AAC users need a lot of modeling and input before
they can provide an output. Supportive communica-
tion partners must always PRESUME COMPETENCE by
assuming that the AAC learners know and understand
more language than they can demonstrate.
It is important to model grammatically correct ut-
terances and different functions of language during
daily activities in the home, at school, and out in the
community. Modeling communication “in the mo-
ment” and in a natural environment is vital to teach-
ing a child authentic language skills.
We can utilize multiple strategies, including expan-
sions or modeling words to add information to what
the child already uses on the device. For instance,
when a child requests an item—I want a car—we can
add the color—red car. Modeling on the device allows
us to learn the system, including where the icons are
located and detect its limitation