Keeping Communication Skills Strong This Summer Using AAC

Practical Tips for Parents of Nonverbal K-5 Students Using AAC Devices

Summer is a time for rest and family fun, but for children who are nonverbal and use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) systems, a little consistent practice makes a big difference. Whether your child uses PCS (Picture Communication Symbols), GoTalk, TouchChat, Proloquo2Go, or another static or dynamic system, maintaining their skills over the break helps them return in September ready to continue progressing.

Why Summer Practice Matters

Children with autism who rely on AAC devices can lose confidence and vocabulary if the device is not used regularly. Short, meaningful practice sessions help reinforce:

• Vocabulary recall
• Navigation skills on the device
• The habit of using the device to communicate needs and thoughts

Even 10–15 minutes spread throughout the day is very effective.

Key Areas to Focus On

1. Core Vocabulary These are the most important everyday words. Practice them in real situations using your child’s specific system:

• PCS / GoTalk: Use the core word symbols for I want, more, help, go, stop, finished, eat, drink, bathroom, yes, no, etc.
• TouchChat / Proloquo2Go: Navigate to the core vocabulary folder or Quick Chat and model words like eat, drink, more, help, bathroom, yes, no, happy, sad, mad, etc.

2. Making Requests Help your child actively ask for what they want:

• Examples: “I want juice”, “I want play outside”, “Watch tablet”, “I need help”
• In TouchChat/Proloquo2Go: Use the “I want” sentence builder or core buttons.
• In PCS/GoTalk: Point to or exchange the “want” symbol + desired item symbol.

3. Making Comments & Sharing Ideas Encourage your child to comment on the world around them:

• Examples: “It’s hot”, “I like this”, “Big truck!”, “Mommy cooking”, “That’s funny”
• In dynamic systems (TouchChat/Proloquo2Go): Use comment or social pages.
• In static systems (PCS/GoTalk): Have dedicated comment symbols ready.

Easy Daily Practice Ideas

Use the device naturally during these routines:

• Mealtimes — “eat”, “drink”, “more”, “finished”, “I want + apple”
• Getting dressed — “shirt”, “shoes”, “help”
• Bath time — “bath”, “water”, “done”
• Park / Store — “outside”, “swing”, “I want ball”
• Bedtime — “book”, “story”, “sleep”

Suggested Simple Daily Schedule

• Morning: Breakfast and getting ready
• Afternoon: Playtime, snack, or park
• Evening: Dinner and bedtime routine

Helpful Tips for All AAC Systems

• Keep the device charged and within reach all day.
• Model on the device: Speak and press buttons at the same time so your child sees how it’s used.
• Give wait time — count slowly to 10 after you ask a question.
• Celebrate every attempt, even if it’s not perfect.
• Take occasional short videos of your child successfully using the device — this will help the speech therapist in the fall.

Remember: The goal is not perfection, but consistent, functional communication in real life.

By keeping the AAC device active over the summer, you are giving your child the best chance to maintain their progress and continue growing their voice. Every bit of practice you do together is valuable.

Enjoy your summer!

From Villages to Clinics: The Knowledge That Was Always Ours

In 2005, early in my career as a Speech-Language Pathologist in the United States, I came across a book that stopped me in my tracks: "Disabled Village Children" by David Werner, first published in 1987 - nearly 40 years ago. What struck me was not just the quality of the content, but the philosophy behind it.

That book led me to Hesperian Health Guides — and I have never looked at my profession the same way since.

Hesperian is a nonprofit organization with a remarkable mission: to travel the world, listen to community health workers, families, villagers, and rehabilitation workers on the ground, gather their collective wisdom and lived experience, and publish it - clearly, practically, and freely - so that anyone, anywhere can use it.

Their guides address a wide range of disabilities and health challenges, and are designed specifically for people working in communities with limited resources. Yet the strategies they document are so solid, so field-tested, and so human-centered that they remain just as valuable in well-resourced clinical settings today.

Here is what I keep thinking about: so many of the ideas that Hesperian collected from ordinary people around the world have since been repackaged, trademarked, and sold back to us as premium tools, specialist training programs, and proprietary frameworks - often at significant profit.

The original source? Frequently uncredited. Often forgotten.

As professionals, we owe it to ourselves - and to our clients - to go back to the roots occasionally. To ask who really developed this idea, and where it came from.

Check books on disabilities: https://hesperian.org/disabilities/

Explore Hesperian's free resources at hesperian.org. Forty years of gathered wisdom, freely shared. That is rare. That is worth your time.