

Speech therapists, educators, and families often report additional benefits. more employment and volunteer opportunities.improved personal safety in a variety of care settings, such as hospitals or long-term facilities.improved information sharing with physicians.greater participation in their family lives and communities.increased autonomy and decision-making power over their own life.deeper social roles: family member, friend, professional, student.richer, more frequent social interactions.stronger friendships and deeper relationships.People who use AAC describe countless benefits, including: When a person cannot speak, giving them more tools to communicate their thoughts and ideas, desires and wishes is truly powerful. Giving a person with limited speech, an AAC system will give them more words and language, and the possibility of communicating far more than they can with speech alone. Just because a person has some spoken communication in the form of words or vocalizations, it does not mean that they should not be eligible for AAC. Any communication will tell us something about the person and the situation.

All different methods of communication should be valued and respected. Maybe they use a combination of vocalizations and word approximations, some gesture and signs as well as an AAC system. This means they have multiple ways to communicate their messages. Many people who cannot speak but use AAC are multi-modal communicators. Proloquo2Go is AssistiveWare’s symbol-based AAC solution. We introduce these users to visual symbols that represent words or maybe phrases. Many people who cannot speak are not yet literate. a Speech Generating Device, or AAC app on an iPad), or a light-tech/paper-based tool (e.g. Generally, when we are setting up for AAC, we may use a high-tech tool (e.g. Unaided AAC – or AAC that does not require a physical aid or tool:Īided AAC – or AAC that uses tools or materials. What types of AAC are often used?ĪAC incorporates all the tools and strategies a person can use to communicate when they are not able to speak.
#I SYMBOL FROM PROLOQUO TV#
that the TV show reminds you of a family member who is gone). reaching for the TV remote to suggest you want to change the channel), and some things are hard (e.g. A person who does not speak will quickly learn that some things are easy to communicate (e.g. When a person is not able to speak, others often make judgements about their competence, potential and ability to think and learn. Often a non-speaking person will have many thoughts they wish to communicate, but there is no way to get these thoughts out. Both the non-speaking person and their communication partner can become confused and frustrated when messages cannot be conveyed effectively. Communicating without speechĬommunicating without speech can lead to frustration for many people. They may have an acquired disorder that has affected the person’s ability to speak. They may have a developmental disability which has affected the person’s development of speech. There are many reasons why a person may not be able to communicate using speech. In this case, you need a different way to communicate.īasically, AAC are the tools, systems and strategies that help a person communicate when they are not able to communicate effectively using speech. This is when you are not able to speak, or your speech is not understandable even when you add something to it.


The second “A” in AAC stands for Alternative Communication. Augmentative communication is when you supplement your speech with something (signs, symbols, a letter board, for example) to make your message clearer to your listener. When you augment something, you add to it or supplement. The first “A” in AAC stands for Augmentative Communication. These tools support a person who has difficulties communicating using speech. AAC is short for Augmentative and Alternative Communication.Ĭommunication systems, strategies and tools that replace or supplement natural speech are known as augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).
