Don’t Wait to Communicate:
Why Your Child Needs Augmentative and
Alternative Communication (AAC)
Dana Nieder
www.CTDInstitute.org
Overview
• Introduction
• What is AAC
• Early Access to a Robust System
• No need to wait
• Speech acquisition and AAC
• Early Access to a Robust System
• The AAC hierarchy
• All the words!
• The Myth of Mindreading (“we understand her”)
• The Impact of Early Access to a Robust System
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About Me
• Former middle school science teacher
• Maya’s (and Will’s) mom
• SLP grad student
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AAC (Augmentative and Alternative
Communication)
• All people are multimodal communicators
• AAC augments verbal speech or provides an
alternative to verbal speech (or both!)
• AAC does not remove connection or emotion from
conversations, it becomes an extra modality
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Neither robotic nor disconnected
• Video: Maya talking about games
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Early Access to a Robust System
• Do not wait. Do. Not. Wait.
• There is no such thing as:
• “too young”
• “too cognitively
impaired”
• “too behavioral”
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We are going to
PRESUME COMPETENCE
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Early Access to a Robust System
• Do not wait “to see if speech is coming.” AAC will not
impede speech development, and your child has the
right to communicate right now.
• When speech is an available option, it will be used.
• “Available” can mean motorically, can mean
emotionally/stressor-linked
• AAC is slow
• Speech seems to become the default
• Maya wanted yogurt:
“I want” yogurt “please”.
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Early Access to a Robust System
• AAC has been shown to increase the acquisition
of verbal speech.
• consistent auditory model (on demand)
• removal of pressure to form a plan spontaneously
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Early Access to a Robust System
• The Hierarchy (yuck)
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Playing with Play-doh
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Playing with Play-doh
• Videos: Maya and I playing with play-doh
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Early Access to a Robust System
• Flaws with the hierarchy
• It’s not how speech development naturally works
• It centers around requesting
• It is more likely to lead to rejection (from boredom or
frustration)
• Kids want poop, Thomas the train, disgusting, etc.
• They want polar bears made of play-doh
All the words, all the time
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Robust Systems can be accessible to very young
children
• Video: Will learning “drink”
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What is this child communicating?
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Myth-busting: We aren’t mind readers
• I-know-what-you’re-thinking is a natural step in the
parent-child relationship (although most toddlers
are often frustrated by our inability to get it
correct!)
• If we stay in this mindset, we will underestimate
our kids. We will lower our expectations.
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The School Bus
Maya and I are playing outside after school. A yellow
school bus drives by and she jumps up, points at the bus,
looks from the bus to me and yells “Bus!” (She’s a big
bus lover, and “bus” is a very clear word for her.) She has
wide, excited eyes.
I know she’s thinking Wow, I love that bus! and so I reply
“Yes, a bus! I know you’re excited to see the bus!”
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I see a bus!
I like that bus!
That bus is yellow!
That bus is big!
That looks like my school bus!
That is not my school bus!
I want to go on that bus!
I have a toy bus that looks just like that!
I want to play with my toy bus!
Look at the wheels on that bus!
That looks like the bus from (movie/book/show)!
I had fun riding the bus to school today!
Did you see that bus?
• Something happened to me
Is that my school bus?
on the bus
Can I ride on that bus?
Is there a driver on that bus?
Can we sing the Wheels on the Bus?
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What “early access to robust AAC”
really looks like:
• Providing AAC as early as possible
• Ensuring that the AAC provided allows for a
comprehensive, interesting, motivating
vocabulary (both right now and with room to
grow).
• Model. Model a lot. Model interesting things.
Don’t stop modeling.
• Respond purposefully and enthusiastically to any
use of the device
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Early access to robust AAC has changed
Maya’s life:
• I get to know what’s on her mind
• I got to know that she was interested in the weather (and
other things)
• I know who she plays with at school
• She can tell me things about her day
• If someone isn’t nice to her, she can tattle
• If something makes her laugh, she can tell me what it is
• She is hilarious
• She can prove herself (nonspeaking kids always
have to prove themselves)
• It changed the course of her academic life, and therefore
entire life
• She showed us (beyond a doubt) that she is reading,
among other impressive things. No one would have known.
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Artist: Mohamed Ghonemi
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Contact Information
• Uncommon Sense (blog):
• http://niederfamily.blogspot.com
• Facebook: “Uncommon Sense Blog”
• Twitter: @UncommonBlogger
• email: [email protected]
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TweetChat
Continue the conversation with me and CTD
Institute with a TweetChat~
When: Thursday, June 11. 7:30 – 8:30 pm, EST
Where: Twitter, use hashtag, #CTDTechTalk
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“Assistive and Instructional Technology Supporting
Learners with Disabilities”
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