3 Ways to Promote Interest in Language Therapy for AAC Learners

In an earlier post, we raised this question: Why work hard at something you don’t care about? The truth is that all of us put more effort into learning things that allow us to accomplish something important to US. As SLPs, we can spout many reasons why learning to use and comprehend more advanced language is a good idea. Making that meaningful to our clients, though, is another thing altogether.

How can we align our therapy objectives with things of true value to our clients?

• Figure out what the AAC learner wants: More friends? A job? Good grades? Link the language and AAC objectives to those things.
• Seek the AAC learner’s input on goals and objectives: If the learner can’t nominate his/her own goals for consideration, maybe you can offer choices or help them use a rating scale to give their opinion on the suggested goals.

• Provide rationales for why you believe certain language or AAC skills will help them: When we don’t understand WHY we’re being asked to do something, we’re not likely to give it 100% effort. Help build ‘buy-in’ with a clear, meaningful explanation of why you think a particular goal is worth working toward.

What have you found to be successful in inspiring AAC learners to further develop their language skills? We’d love to hear your story.