An overview of the Do's and Don'ts of AAC

3 minute read • December 9, 2015

Implementing Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is not easy so we created a poster and overview series of blog posts about the do's and don'ts of implementing AAC.

There are practices in AAC implementation that lead to better outcomes for every individual with complex communication needs.

There are also practices that lead to poorer outcomes for those same individuals. As we always focus on communication for all, we felt it was important to address both the do's and don'ts together. Sometimes addressing only the good practices might mean the bad ones don’t get tackled too!

Below we list the essential do's and don'ts with accompanying blog posts or articles to read for more in-depth information.

Do's

Don'ts

Aim high Demand prerequisite skills
Use a well-designed, comprehensive vocabulary (core vocabulary or PODD)Provide an AAC system with only a handful of choices
Make sure AAC is available all day, every day
Limit access to the AAC system
Respect multimodal communicationSay "now use your talker"
Use the AAC system to talk yourself
Expect the AAC user to communicate without you modelling how
Focus on key words when modeling
Think you always need to model grammatically correct sentences
Allow exploration and access to the whole vocabulary
Create custom pages for specific activities
Provide wait time
Do all the talking
Ask open-ended questions
Ask questions the AAC user knows you already know the answer to
Describe what you want to say using core words
Focus on adding lots of vocabulary


Remember, communication is a human right, fundamental to literacy development and participation in education, and occurs all day, every day. We are all responsible for making sure this happens for everyone.

Get the poster

Download the AAC Do's and Don'ts poster (PDF)

View the presentation given by David Niemeijer and Jane Farrall at AGOSCI 2015 that inspired this blog post series and poster.

Authors

Written by
David Niemeijer

Founder and CEO

Jane Farrall