“Adam using AAC” by Scot Wahlquist is licensed under CC by 3.0
This is a collection of information and resources related to supporting augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) in children ages five+ years.
This is not an exhaustive list. Do you have a favorite resource or strategy that we missed? Leave a comment to share!
Explore key issues related to this topic. Jump to:
- What does supporting communication development look like at this age?
- Key Goals
- What AAC Looks Like
- Helpful Implementation Strategies
Explore relevant resources. Jump to Resources
Jump to Useful Tips
Jump to Selected References
What does supporting communication development look like at this age?
Kindergarten through Middle School. “School age” encompasses a big range of ages and development! At the younger end we have children moving from play-based learning to a more adult-led academic focus. At the older end we have children entering puberty.
Supporting communication development starts looking more like:
- explicit instruction
- using grade-level content
- developing skills to be able to answer questions and communicate to show knowledge/understanding
- developing skills to be able to participate in class/group discussions
- developing skills to be able to read and write
It looks like developing communicative competence.
During these years we need to start teaching and developing:
- the concept of consent
- self-advocacy skills
- self-determination skills
- the ability to communicate about their emotional, mental, physical self
Students deserve to start learning about their communication rights.
Communication is about connection. Not compliance. It is about the authentic exchange of ideas, thoughts, information, and feelings. During the school years we need to support their ability to engage, participate, and fully communicate in all the environments and with all the people they encounter.
And a little fun sprinkled in doesn’t hurt!
“Learning first occurs as a part of emotional interactions; it involves the split-second initiatives that children take as they try to engage other people, interact with them, communicate and reason with them.”
Dr. Stanley Greenspan
Key Goals
- linguistic competence
- operational competence
- social competence
- strategic competence
- psychosocial competence
- emotional competence
- self-advocacy
- literacy development
- communication partner training and education
Typical communication development helps guide our AAC goals. The infographics below look at typical communication development listed on the ASHA website.
What AAC Looks Like
- multimodal (also see this blog post for more information about multimodal communication)
- environmental supports for communication
- able to grow with the child
- matches access and other features needed by the child
“Students do not learn vocabulary words based on their age or their grade…they learn words based on their experiences.”
Beck et al.
Helpful Implementation Strategies
- communication partner training and support
- attribute meaning
- verbal referencing
- modeling without expectation
- model language for a variety of communicative functions
- create communication and learning opportunities through experiences
- embed AAC in daily routines (motivating, repetitive, predictable)
- partner-assisted/co-constructing messages
- expectant pause
- core words
- language expansion and extension
- descriptive teaching/language
- CAR and CROWD (during shared reading)
- identify, reason and talk about, and respond to emotions
- explicitly teach concepts and word meanings
- morphemes
- grammar
- build in generalization with Rehearse, Practice, Model – GO! from Dr. Caroline Musselwhite
Resources to Explore
Articles, Books, and Documents
- AAC for All: Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Practice (2022) by Mollie Mindel and Jeeva John
- Augmentative and Alternative Communication: Challenges and Solutions (2021), Billy Ogletree
- Part II: AAC Challenges and Solutions: Childhood
- Part IV: AAC Challenges and Solutions: Special Populations and Issues
- Augmentative and Alternative Communication: Engagement and Participation (2017) by Erna Alant
- Augmentative and Assistive Communication With Children: A Protocol and Intervention Plan to Support Children with Complex Communication Profiles (2020) by Lesley Mayne and Sharon Rogers
- Communication Matrix collections
- Fundamentals of AAC: A Case-Based Approach to Enhancing Communication (2023), Nerissa Hall, Jenifer Juengling-Sudkamp, Michelle L. Gutmann, and Ellen R. Cohn (eds)
- Practically Speaking: Language, Literacy, & Academic Development for Students with AAC Needs (2009), Gloria Soto & Carole Zangari (eds)
- Strategies for Talking about Emotions as PartnerS (STEPS) instructional program developed by Na & Wilkinson (2015, 2017)
Learning Modules
- AAC Learning Center Moodle resources for learning about augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) by the RERC on AAC and the AAC program at Penn State University
- Dynamic Learning Maps Professional Development modules related to communicating for a range of purposed and audiences
- POWER:AAC a series of 12 free modules from PaTTAN
Websites
- NWACS website
- AAC Language Lab
- PrAACtical AAC
- SETC: Technology Resources for Inclusive Learning
“Students with CCN often do not get the support they need to participate with their peers throughout the school day, potentially leading to exclusion from full participation beyond the school years.”
Robinson & Soto
Webinar Recordings
- AAC in the Cloud – recordings from past presentations
- Resources to Support the Complex Communication Needs (CCN) Population a series of 24 webinar recordings from the Alberta Regional Professional Development Consortia (ARPDC)
Other Resources
- Road Maps (Patricia Dowden, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, University of Washington; shared with permission at 2017 WSLHA Spring Workshop)
- Talking With Tech Podcast
Useful Tips
- Families/caregivers of and professionals working with children need to be told about the option and benefits of AAC!
- Families/caregivers of and multidisciplinary professionals working with children need training and ongoing support!
- Stay family-centered and child-centered!
- pay attention to the pace that works best for the family
- Focus on communicative intent, not how the message was communicated.
- Learn about prompting hierarchies, different kinds of prompts/cues, and how to fade them.
- Presume competence! Presume Potential! Believe they CAN learn!
- Find your support networks!
- Families:
- Leslie Jeanne Berns Support Group for children who have communication challenges and their families (facilitated by University of Washington Speech and Hearing Sciences clinical faculty (SLP) and graduate students; meets virtually, monthly)
- Family AAC (hosted by NWACS) – This Facebook group (administrated by NWACS) is centered in Washington State, although any parent/caregiver interested in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is welcome. This group is for parents and other family members of children who are non-speaking or unable to meet all of their communication needs with mouth words. While this group does center the family perspective, other AAC stakeholders are welcome in the spirit of collaboration and shared learning!
- AAC vendors and app developers have pages on various social media channels. Many also have Facebook groups that can be a good place to connect with a support network.
- also look for social media accounts and/or Facebook groups related to specific diagnoses
- and look for social media accounts of AAC users and/or parents of AAC users
- Facebook groups, such as:
- Professionals:
- NAACHO: Networking for AAC and Hangout – This Facebook group (administrated by NWACS) is for SLPs in Washington State who support people who use AAC. It is for collaboration, networking, and supporting each other in the grand adventure of augmentative and alternative communication.
- AAC vendors and app developers have pages on various social media channels. Many also have Facebook groups that can be a good place to connect with a support network.
- also look for social media accounts and/or Facebook groups related to specific diagnoses
- and look for social media accounts of AAC users
- Facebook groups, such as:
- Families:
Selected References
- Baker, K., Carillo, D., & Stanton, F. (2011). 200 A Day the Easy Way: Putting It Into Practice. Perspectives on Augmentative and Alternative Communication. https://doi.org/10.1044/aac20.4.125
- Biggs, E.E., Carter, E.W., & Gilson, C.B. (2019). A Scoping Review of the Involvement of Children’s Communication Partners in Aided Augmentative and Alternative Communication Modeling Interventions. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_AJSLP-18-0024
- Finke, E.H., Davis, J.M., Benedict, M., Goga, L., Kelly, J., Palumbo, L., Peart, T., & Waters, S. (2017). Effects of a Least-to-Most Prompting Procedure on Multisymbol Message Production in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. https://doi.org/10.1044/2016_AJSLP-14-0187
- Moorcroft, A., Scarinci, N. and Meyer, C. (2020), ‘We were just kind of handed it and then it was smoke bombed by everyone’: How do external stakeholders contribute to parent rejection and the abandonment of AAC systems? . International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 55: 59-69. https://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.12502
- O’Neill, T., Light, J., & Pope, L. (2018). Effects of Interventions That Include Aided Augmentative and Alternative Communication Input on the Communication of Individuals With Complex Communication Needs: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_JSLHR-L-17-0132
Share your comments or questions.