• Welcome
  • For AAC Users
  • For Parents
  • For Educators
  • For Providers
  • Blog
Menu

NWACS

Street Address
Seattle, WA
Phone Number
Northwest Augmentative Communication Society

Your Custom Text Here

NWACS

  • Welcome
  • For AAC Users
  • For Parents
  • For Educators
  • For Providers
  • Blog

Communicative Competence: Strategic

August 17, 2021 NWACS
Communicative Competence: Strategic

Communicative Competence: Strategic

“Because of their significant disabilities, the substantial environmental barriers confronted in society, and the inherent restrictions of AAC systems, individuals with complex communication needs invariably confront limitations in their linguistic, operational, and/or social competence. In these cases, they must develop coping strategies that allow them to bypass these limitations and to make the best of what they do know and can do (McNaughton et al., 2008; Todman, Alm, Higginbotham, & File, 2008; Williams, 2004).”
— Light & McNaughton (2014)
 
skills contributing to communicative competence

skills contributing to communicative competence

Strategic competence is having ways to fix communication issues. And ways to increase the effectiveness of one’s communication. And knowing when and how to use them. Strategies may be temporary (like when developing skills in other areas) or long-term. Strategic competence “largely determines the extent to which an individual is able to participate in the interaction process when using a communication system.” (Alant, 2017, p. 27) It is the ability to realize there is a communication problem and take steps to fix it. It is knowing that being kind and polite will get different results than being surly and rude. It is knowing how to best use the features of the AAC system to get a message across with as little effort and time as possible.

Skills within the strategic competence area include knowledge, use, and judgement of:

  • telling that a word is not available and giving clues for the partner to guess

  • asking for choices when the needed word is not available

  • using word prediction to increase rate of communication and/or decrease fatigue

  • using pre-stored messages in some situations - when on the phone, with the doctor, to explain about AAC, etc.

  • using gestures to help communication

  • choosing a way to communicate that fits the situation - using whisper-mode or light-tech AAC during a movie, etc.

  • being creative to fix communication errors, breakdowns or problems

  • using telegraphic communication (not full, correct sentences) to improve rate of communication

  • changing the “formalness” of communication based on the communication partner

The goal is that the person effectively and efficiently meets their communication goals. And with all partners and in all environments.


References:

Alant, E. (2017). Augmentative and Alternative Communication: Engagement and Participation. Plural Publishing.

Janice Light & David McNaughton (2014) Communicative Competence for Individuals who require Augmentative and Alternative Communication: A New Definition for a New Era of Communication?, Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 30:1, 1-18, DOI: 10.3109/07434618.2014.885080


Related posts:

Communicative Competence - for an introduction overview of Communicative Competence, check out this post

Communicative Competence - for an introduction overview of Communicative Competence, check out this post

Communicative Competence: Operational - for a closer look at the area of operational competence, check out this post

Communicative Competence: Operational - for a closer look at the area of operational competence, check out this post

Communicative Competence: Psychosocial - for a closer look at the area of psychosocial competence, check out this post

Communicative Competence: Psychosocial - for a closer look at the area of psychosocial competence, check out this post

Communicative Competence: Self-Advocacy - for a closer look at the area of self-advocacy competence, check out this post

Communicative Competence: Self-Advocacy - for a closer look at the area of self-advocacy competence, check out this post

Communicative Competence: Linguistic - for a closer look at the area of linguistic competence, check out this post

Communicative Competence: Linguistic - for a closer look at the area of linguistic competence, check out this post

Communicative Competence: Social - for a closer look at the area of social competence, check out this post

Communicative Competence: Social - for a closer look at the area of social competence, check out this post

Communicative Competence: Emotional - for a closer look at the area of emotional competence, check out this post

Communicative Competence: Emotional - for a closer look at the area of emotional competence, check out this post

Wrap-up post of our exploration of communicative competence in AAC

Wrap-up post of our exploration of communicative competence in AAC

In AAC Education, AAC Assessment Tags competencies
← Communicative Competence: PsychosocialCommunicative Competence: Social →

ADD YOUR VOICE!

Are you interested in contributing to the NWACS blog? Click HERE


WELCOME TO THE NWACS BLOG

Collections by topic:

  • AAC and Literacy

  • Communication Bill of Rights

  • Communicative Competence

Browse around or use the navigation tools below to help you find the information that you seek. 1 - This Blog has several main Categories. 2 - You can also look through the Tags. Tags can exist in any of the categories and across categories. 3 - Or use the Search tool ⬇!

CATEGORIES

  • AAC Across the Lifespan
  • AAC Assessment
  • AAC Awareness Month
  • AAC Best Practices
  • AAC Education
  • AAC Implementation
  • AAC Organization
  • AAC Spotlight
  • AAC Systems
  • AACademics
  • Advocacy
  • Assistive Techonology
  • Awareness
  • Language
  • Let's Talk AAC
  • New Discoveries

TAGS

  • AAC
  • AAC abandonment
  • AAC across the lifespan
  • AAC advocacy
  • AAC and Literacy
  • AAC awareness
  • AAC awareness month
  • AAC collaboration
  • AAC community
  • AAC device
  • AAC families
  • AAC in Early Intervention
  • AAC preparedness
  • AAC professionals
  • AAC rep
  • AAC Rights
  • AAC skills
  • AAC stories
  • AAC supports
  • AAC users
  • access
  • accessory
  • acquired conditions
  • acute care
  • advocacy
  • allyship
  • app
  • approach
  • Autonomy
  • awareness
  • basics
  • Bilingualism & AAC
  • birth to 3
  • book
  • collaboration
  • communication
  • community involvement
  • competencies
  • conference
  • cultural awareness
  • device trials
  • disability etiquette
  • Emergency Preparedness
  • family
  • funding
  • goals
  • interview
  • mental health
  • mindset
  • multi-cultural practices
  • myths
  • neurodiversity
  • reading instruction
  • remote learning
  • research
  • resource
  • school
  • shared reading
  • shared writing
  • strategy
  • symbols
  • Team Collaboration
  • tool
  • transition
  • troubleshooting
  • vendor
  • webinar
  • writing instruction
Donate to NWACS - NWACS is a nonprofit organization run solely on volunteer power! Your donations help us: to cover our operating costs, to grow our events and outreach, to provide conference scholarships, and more! Thank you for your ongoing support
 
Blog RSS

Subscribe to our Mailing List

Northwest Augmentative Communication Society (NWACS) will use the information you provide on this form to be in touch with you via email to provide news, updates, and marketing.

You can change your mind at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of any email you receive from us, or by contacting us at info@nwacs.info. We will treat your information with respect. For more information about our privacy practices visit our Disclosures Page. By clicking ‘Sign Up’, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with these terms.

We use MailChimp as our marketing automation platform. By clicking ‘Sign Up’ to submit this form, you acknowledge that the information you provide will be transferred to MailChimp for processing in accordance with their Privacy Policy and Terms.

Thank you!

© 2016-2025 Northwest Augmentative Communication Society