This presentation is applicable for any AAC device or system. It not specific to Alexicom AAC. The focus is on educating parents, SLPs, and teachers AAC basics, roles, and strategies on how to more effectively teach children how to develop their own voices and become independent communicators.

1. How you can use AAC to
help your child use AAC
Staci Neustadt, M.S., CCC-SLP
September 25th, 2012

2. Today we will talk about…..
Basics of AAC devices
Roles in AAC
Using AAC
Goals in AAC

3. Myths about AAC
 Myth: AAC will inhibit a child from talking
 Truth: AAC can support and enhance speech
production (Millar, Light, Schlosser, 2006)
 Myth: The child doesn’t need AAC, I understand him/her.
 Truth: When around peers or unfamiliar
listeners your child may not be understood
losing out on social opportunities.
 Myth: The child is too young for AAC
 Truth: Basic communication is learned in the
first 3 years of life (Romski, Sevcik, 2005)

4. What most devices have in common?
 The words are organized by
category
Colors are either in
school/art/activities/coloring, etc
Food is under eat/kitchen/food
Bath/wash are under
tub/bathroom, etc
 All devices should all have core
words

5. What most devices have in
common?
 Charger – need to be charged
nightly
 On/off button – our goal is to teach
the children how to access their
voice
 Need a case/strap – comes with one
from DDD or can order cases
through AMDI, Amazon, etc

6. Troubleshooting
SEARCH – exploring a device can
never hurt it
Support – most if not all devices
have on-line access or a phone
number for support
Contact me/your child’s DDD
SLP
Take baby steps

7. Questions?
Questions about your
child’s device?
Do you know how to turn it
on/off?
Do you know where the
food is or your child’s
favorite activity is?

8. Everyone’s role is to……
Explore with your
child and
MODEL!!!!!

9. Everyone’s role is to teach/model the
power of AAC….
 Have devices out and with your child
at all times.
 YOU use the device when you’re
talking to your child
 Navigate and find pages/vocabulary
(While the user is watching!)
 Ask or give commands using your
child’s device

10. Encourage your child to own the
power communication!
They all have carriers so the
children need to carry the device
This is their voice, teach them to
bring it with at all times
Don’t make it your responsibility
to carry.

11. Roles and Responsibilities of the
support TEAM………….
 Remember that one person
doesn’t do it all.
A team approach is the most
effective.
Designating roles and
responsibilities to all of those
working with the student will
alleviate unwanted stress.

12. Parent/Guardian
 Programming new vocabulary into the
device
 Identifying situations in which the student
experiences
 Communication breakdowns to report to
team for help in devising strategies
 Identifying successes and useful strategies
 Charging the student’s device on a daily
basis
 Carrying over strategies implemented at
school at home (i.e. reading weekly books
at time)

13. Teacher’s, SLP’s, Aide’s roles….
(summarized)
Program
Provide language opportunities
Teach new vocabulary
Model
Provide and teach social
language through social
activities

14. Questions
How can you fulfill your role?
What help would you like from
your team?
Where have you taken your
child’s device or could you take
their device to provide the power?
What have you programmed into
your child’s device or what would
you like to program?

15. This “box” “talker”
“voice” “computer”……
is your child’s
VOICE TO BE HEARD!
Your child’s “voice” should be used and with your child at ALL times

17. Ways we communicate
 Requesting (I want.. Can I have..)
 Commenting (I like that.. Cool…)
 Protesting (No, Don’t like)
 Greeting (Hi, good morning)
 Telling (Today at school I….)
 Questioning (what’s that…)
 Express discomfort or feelings (hurt, sick)
 Joke (knock knock, that’s an apple with eyes)
 Socialize (play with me)

18. What communication isn’t
Show me
Tell me
Say….
Do this
Where is….

19. What kind of communicator is your
child?
 Emergent communicator
 May use gestures or haven’t developed that
skill yet
 Need a visual cue to communicate
 May have “lucky” hits
 Does not yet understand that a word has a
meaning (ex. “no” means no or “chair” means
chair)
 Context
 Communication is intentional but dependent on
environment and communication partner
 Independent
 the ability to communicate anything on any
topic to anyone in any context

20. Where is your child in language
development?
 Brown’s Stages of Language Development
Single words
Two words or morphemes, use –ing, in/on, s-
plurals (i.e. go car, walking)
Irregular past tense, possessives, copular verbs
Articles, regular past tense, third person, present
tense
3rd person irregular, uncontractable auxiliary,
verbs contractable copular verbs
Brown 1973

21. Teach communication and
language
Communication:
By modeling and providing
opportunities, teaching the
cause/effect of AAC, children learn
communication
Language:
Reinforcing specific words (i.e.
cookie gets cookie, car gets a car)
teaches language/vocabulary

22. Moving beyond non-verbal
communication
 How to:
Play dumb (i.e. sabotage)
Model (Ex. Your child brings you a
remote, you say “tv” with device)
Provide visual cues
 Why:
Words are easier than gestures
Teaches vocabulary
Beginning stage of language/speech
development – single words
Teaches expressive language

23. Sabotage
Betsy walks over to her teacher holding her
coat. (with the zipper stuck) Her teacher
says “Yes, that’s a nice coat.” Betsy pushes
the coat towards her teacher. “Oh, you want
me to wear your coat,” says the teacher.
Betsy grabs her coat back. The teacher
points to the Dynamyte that is lying nearby.
“I need to understand what you are trying to
tell me.” Betsy gets her device and presses
the button, “I need help.” “Yes,” says the
teacher. “Now I see that the zipper is
stuck.”

24. Language opportunities (see
attached)
Activity : Non-verbal Inferred communication Language that can be taught
communication/intent intent
Ex. Mom is Pulling on mom’s shirt, Child wants to vacuum “my turn”
vacuuming reaching for vacuum “I do”
and making noises “I help you”
Making upset noise Child does not like vacuum “stop” “don’t”

25. Teaching Language Acquisitions
 You have to provide the foundation, start
where your child’s language development is
at (i.e. single words, short phrases,
developing syntax/grammar etc. )
 Don’t get stuck (i.e. “I want”)
 Model expansion (i.e. car-car go, cookie-
yummy cookie, etc)
 Provide opportunities (i.e. missing spoon with
cereal, commenting on fun activity, refusing
undesirable food/toy)
 Model words that go together to make a
phrase/sentence (I like that, she/he is +
action)

26. Teaching powerful words - language
 Motivating words (i.e. food, sensory
toys/activities, movies, etc)*Fringe words
 Core words:
In Banajee, M., DiCarlo, C., & Buras-Stricklin, S. (2003). Core Vocabulary
Determination for Toddlers, Augmentative and Alternative Communication,
2, 67 – 73
1. all done/finished 9.mine 17. that
2. go 10. more 18. the
3. help 11. my 19. want
4. here 12. no 20. what
5. I 13. off 21. yes/yeah
6. In 14. on 22. you
7. Is 15. out
8. It 16. some

27. Teaching phrases - language
 Model expansion (i.e. more-more that, go-
you go)
 Carrier phrases (i.e. I like, I go, I play)
 Model what you say showing how you put
the words together
 Talk at the same level as your child (amount
of words)
 Model verbs that go with noun
 Ex. Your child says cookie, you model
“eat cookie”
 Ex. You child says “car,” you model “play
car”

28. Story
Josh enters the classroom each day as the other students
are circling around the teacher to tell some exciting thing
they did the night before. Today when Josh gets his
Dynamyte out of his backpack, he takes it up to the
teacher’s desk. Pushing a single button on the comments
page, he announces, “Guess what I did last night.”
(sentence based message). His teacher looks over and
responds, “Well, Josh, I don’t know. What did you do last
night?” Josh quickly navigates to his core page and
presses “I” “go”, then to the people page he presses
“Grandma”. (word based vocabulary) His teacher
responds again, “Oh, you went to Grandma’s house. What
did you do there?” Josh navigates again on the Dynamyte
and presses “eat” “popcorn” …back to the comments page
“That’s yummy in my tummy.” His teacher says, “That
does sound like a good snack.” She then moves on to
another student who is seeking her attention. And Josh
walks happily to his seat, Dynamyte in hand. Today, Josh
had his chance to communicate too!!

29. Child/Home communication
 Please record what your child does the
night or weekend before so he/she can
share like his/her peers do in class
(under “at school I…”)
 Personalize your child’s device with
favorite items/activities, soothing
activities or items, desired food/drink
 Use real pictures or pre-stored images of
people in your child’s life
 Ask your child what he/she did at school,
who they played with, etc

30. Beyond the basics (“my child
talks”)
“My child talks, why do I need AAC”?
Some of our kiddos think in pictures, can’t find word (Temple
Grandin)
YOU can model longer sentences/grammar with device to help
your child learn longer sentences
AAC is truly “alternative” communication, sparks the thought
Most often, won’t be needed long term
How to use AAC when they “say” the word?
Acknowledge what your child says, YOU support by repeating
and expanding on what your child says using the device
Don’t make them say it again, MODEL the next word or help
them be specific
 Ex. Child “says” ball…. You can find out if they want to
“throw ball, bounce on ball,” comment “cool ball” by
modeling the phrases with the device

31. Questions
When does your child “attempt”
to communicate?
How can you start to use AAC at
home?
What routines do you have
common vocabulary in
everyday?
What does your child love to do?

32. Goals
 Teach your child to be an
independent communicator
 Help your child learn the power of
communication
 Provide your child with a voice to
comment, refuse, request,
command
 Give your child a voice to tell us
what they know or may want to
learn

33. We are a TEAM!
We work TOGETHER!
We all take a step up to
teach your child to use
their VOICE!