About This Week
Welcome to Week 12 of your Stepping into AAC journey!
You will explore the following concepts this week:
- Motivation: Let’s look at different facets of motivation and discuss ways we can help our AAC learners become more internally motivated to use language to express themselves.
- Beyond Requesting: There’s more to life than asking for things you want or need. Learn how we can support communication for more socially-oriented purposes.
- Turn-taking: Join us as we consider ways to build interactions in which AAC learners take a more active role.
- Communication Bill of Rights: You’ll be introduced to the Communication Bill of Rights, an important set of principles that guide how professionals, families, and others support AAC learners.
- Language Walk-Through – Games & Creative Activities: How can we support AAC use during leisure activities like games and art activities?
AACtion Steps
Week 12 AACtion Steps
Signposts
Intrinsic Motivation & Initiation
Initiation is an important aspect of communication, both verbal and nonverbal. It can be challenging to shape initiation with Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) learners, but intrinsic motivation and meaningful activities play a significant role. AAC modeling, creating fun experiences, and teaching ways to gain attention are effective strategies. AAC learners can initiate by sharing information, commenting, giving compliments, sharing jokes, or asking partner-focused questions, which enhances their communication skills and autonomy.
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Take-a-Turn
Turn-taking is essential for effective communication, but it can be challenging for AAC learners. Overly directive interactions and lack of modeling can hinder participation. Conversely, deferring all turns to the learner without adequate modeling may result in apathy or frustration. It’s important to find a balance by modeling AAC, offering opportunities for the learner to respond, and maintaining a conversational flow.
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Language Walk Through – Games & Creative Activities
A language walkthrough involves being intentional about thinking through and anticipating language opportunities for a task. It is important to consider the beginning, middle, and end of the task, as well as opportunities for requesting, commenting, describing, and sharing information. This video focuses on using AAC during hands-on leisure activities, specifically games and creative activities.
Travelog
Week 12 Travelog
Print the Week
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