AAC
Learn the essentials, plan useful therapy, write a measurable goal, and document the work.
- Learn
- Therapy Ideas
- Write Goals
- Document
- Use Resources
General Information
Augmentative and alternative communication includes aided systems such as devices and boards and unaided modes such as gesture and sign. It can supplement speech or provide another reliable route to communication. Assessment considers access, vocabulary, languages used, communication functions, partners, and the environments in which messages matter.
What to consider in assessment
Observe communication with familiar and unfamiliar partners in more than one activity. Check physical and sensory access, positioning, vocabulary organization, language options, and whether the system is present and charged. Sample functions beyond requesting, including refusal, comments, questions, and repair.
What the SLP can address
The SLP helps select and adapt a communication system with the person and team, teaches partners to model and wait, and reviews whether the system supports autonomous messages in daily life. Speech, gesture, signs, and AAC can all be valid parts of the same communication repertoire.
Therapy Tips
In a shared book or cooking routine, make several messages available, model a comment and a choice, then leave time for an independent response. Accept any meaningful mode and record whether the message was spontaneous, modeled, or prompted.
- Offer opportunities to comment, refuse, ask, and connect as well as to request.
- Model language on the person’s system without requiring immediate imitation.
- Plan partner coaching and ensure the system is available in natural routines.
Choose strategies using assessment findings, the person’s preferences, and the treatment context.
Goal Writing
Specify the functional context, observable response, criterion, support level, and how progress will be checked.
During a familiar activity, the student will initiate one of three personally meaningful communication functions through speech, AAC, or another chosen mode in 4 of 5 opportunities, with the agreed partner support.
SOAP Note Tips
Distinguish device access from language use. Note the vocabulary and page location, partner modeling, communication function, and actual message. If the system was unavailable, record that barrier rather than scoring the person as unable.
- S: Record device availability, preferences, and partner report.
- O: Name the communication function, access method, vocabulary, opportunities, and type of modeling or cueing.
- A and P: Interpret functional participation and plan vocabulary or partner support based on observed performance.
With the device available during snack, the student independently used AAC to request in 3/5 opportunities and to reject in 2/2; the partner modeled “more” twice without requiring imitation.
Site Resources
Continue with resources currently available on Culturally Speaking SLPs.