If your child is struggling to speak, you might receive suggestions from professionals or fellow parents encouraging you to introduce augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to help your child communicate. AAC is a term used to describe tools and strategies that supplement or replace spoken communication when speech and language challenges prevent speech from developing as expected. AAC includes methods of communication that do not rely on speech skills, such as sign language and communication devices. Many parents worry that providing their child with AAC will discourage them from using any speech that they may have, or even prevent them from developing speech entirely. However, research and practical experience tells us that this is simply not true. Although the degree to which a child with speech delay will go on to develop spoken language is difficult to predict, using AAC of any kind will not slow your child’s development of speech and language skills. In fact, there is strong evidence that suggests that using AAC within a total communication approach to speech and language delays has a positive impact on communication development, and here’s why.
AAC Supports Receptive Language
The ability to communicate with others using speech is made possible by several different skills working together. Simply put - communication involves understanding the words you hear (known as receptive language), forming your own ideas using the words you’ve learned to understand (known as expressive language), and then expressing those ideas by coordinating and producing the sounds needed to express the words using your mouth (known as speech). For many children who struggle with speech development, understanding what others are saying may be a contributing challenge. Even children who are known to have functional hearing ability may struggle to process the spoken language they hear each day. Often, providing a way for children with receptive language challenges to see the language they hear offers much needed learning support. AAC is a powerful way to make the fleeting nature of spoken language more concrete, visible, and long-lasting. As parents and educators model words on an AAC system while they speak, the child receives visual support from the picture to help them understand the meaning of the word. Many children have strengths in learning through visual pathways, so the visual nature of AAC language lends itself well to not only teaching children the meaning of new words, but also how to use those words to achieve their own goals, within everyday activities. You can think of the pictured words on an AAC tool as similar to the pictures you might use on a schedule to show your child what to expect during their day. AAC can serve as a support to understanding language and expectations in a similar way by showing your child what you are saying.
AAC Offers Access to Expressive Language
When a child struggles to speak, it is challenging for caregivers and others charged with supporting them to know just how much that child understands. When words are hard to come by, the child is also less able to show others what they want to say. Speech is the fastest and easiest way to communicate with others- but only when speech is fast and easy. Unfortunately, many children with speech delays struggle with the physical act of producing speech, therefore making speech an effortful path to expression. When children are taught to use AAC methods like sign language, gesture, communication boards, and AAC devices, these tools can offer a less effortful path to expressing ideas while speech skills are developing. If we wait for children with speech delay to have the physical skills needed to produce speech, we risk missing valuable opportunities for them to build language. AAC offers access to language so that every child has the opportunity to interact with their world using communication, and to feel successful in doing so. Every communication success a child experiences will serve as a building block for more complex skills.
AAC Offers a Means of Repairing Breakdowns
We all know how frustrating it is when what we say is misunderstood by others. Even the smallest misunderstandings can bog us down and prevent us from achieving our goals. Children also experience frustration when they are not understood, whether that be because they are not able to use a clear form of communication, or because their speech is difficult for others to understand. When you have a breakdown in communication, you might repair that breakdown by speaking more loudly, slowing down your speech, using different wording, or even showing someone what you mean by writing it down, drawing it, or gesturing. For children with speech challenges, these common repair strategies may not be readily available or sufficient to lead to being understood. When children are taught to use AAC not only to learn new words, but also to repair what they are already saying when others do not understand, frustration is reduced and confidence is built.
AAC Offers Spoken Language Models
The best way for a child to learn how to say a new word is to hear that word repeatedly when they are engaged in meaningful activities. When children see and hear others using words, they are receiving “models”. Parents are encouraged to model words as they care for, teach, and play with their children, repeating words often as they come up in everyday life. If you're supporting a child learning language skills with AAC, you will not only model words by saying them with your own speech, but also by showing the word on the AAC tool. If your child is using an AAC device that has a voice, they benefit from hearing your voice as you say the word, and their AAC voice as the device speaks the word out loud. As they explore their AAC device independently, they also have access to spoken word models each time they press a word, even if you aren’t there to model with them.
Using AAC to support your child’s communication is part of an effective approach that honors all forms of expression and understands that children need options in order to develop skills. Using AAC with your child does not slow their development and instead, offers this much-needed flexibility as your child is learning, growing, and working to pursue their passions and goals.
If you want to learn more about helping your child connect and communicate with AAC, book a free consultation with us!
Originally posted on the Goally Blog, 2022
References
"Effects of Augmentative and Alternative Communication Intervention on Speech Production in Children With Autism: A Systematic Review" by Ralf W. Schlosser and Oliver Wendt in American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, August 2008, Vol. 17, 212-230. doi:10.1044/1058-0360(2008/021)
"The Impact of Augmentative and Alternative Communication Intervention on the Speech Production of Individuals With Developmental Disabilities: A Research Review" by Diane C. Millar, Janice C. Light and Ralf W. Schlosser in Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, April 2006, Vol. 49, 248-264. doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2006/021)
Gary Cumley & Susan Swanson(1999)Augmentative and alternative communication options for children with developmental apraxia of speech: three case studies, Augmentative and Alternative Communication,15:2,110-125,DOI: 10.1080/07434619912331278615
Hillary Zisk, A & and Dalton, E. (2019). Augmentative and Alternative Communication for Speaking Autistic Adults: Overview and Recommendations. Autism in Adulthood: Jun 2019.93-100.
Mirenda, P. (2008) A back door approach to autism. Augmentative & Alternative Communication. 24(3), 220-234.
Romski, MaryAnn PhD, CCC-SLP; Sevcik, Rose A. PhD Augmentative Communication and Early Intervention, Infants & Young Children: July 2005 - Volume 18 - Issue 3 - p 174-185