Communication Functions for AAC Users

Communication functions include more than just requesting and labeling!

I don’t know about you, but I work with A TON of beginner communicators who benefit from the use of AAC. I kept finding that I was spending so much time on making visuals for requesting. I wanted a way to expand the length and type of utterances my kiddos used so I created this product! Since I created it and began using it, it has saved me so so so much time because I no longer have to reinvent the wheel each time I need a visual. I created a binder and keep all of the visuals in there, organized by increasing difficultly (MLU) starting with 2 word utterances up to 4 word utterances, and then to answering personal questions using 5-6 words to answer (e.g., My favorite animal is a dog).

Check out the goodness of this packet below:

The packet is divided into four major sections. First, there are interactive visuals for describing and requesting. It includes 5 sections:

1) Commenting Boards

Commenting is one of the important pragmatic communication functions. I’ve included interactive boards to use to make comments about the environment! It is organized by 2, 3, and 4 word phrases. Included is: want _______, I see (outside, school supplies, animals, shapes), I feel ______, It tastes ______, It sounds _______, It looks _________, I (do not) like ________, It is ______ outside, AND additional I see pages with attributes (colors, numbers).

 

2) Blank Board Pages

Boards to print for storing icons and communication strips. Contains pages for 2, 3, and 4 word phrases. Additionally, I’ve included versions for removable communication strips (that you can choose to print on colored paper to make them stand out).

 

3) Asking/Answering Personal Questions

These are my most used section of this packet! They contain interactive and print & go versions. They are visually based pages for important communication functions: answering and asking basic, personal questions. Included is: what is your name?, where do you live?, how old are you?, what is your favorite color?, what is your favorite animal?, what is your favorite food?, and how do you feel?. These pages include the question at the top, answer options in the middle (either interactive or boxes for pointing), and the answer sentence strip (My favorite food is ____) at the bottom. For the name and where do you live page, I have not included icon choices because these will need to be customized for each individual.

 

4) Basic Carrier Phrase Sentence Strips with Visuals

I like to keep these carrier phrase strips on a storage page in the same binder as the other materials. You could also choose to keep them on a metal ring! There are too many to list but some of the included carrier phrase strips are: I want, I see, I found, I made, I spy, I have, She has, He has, They have, I am, and I feel. In addition, there are basic information sentence strips such as My name is, I am __ years old, and My favorite animal is.

 

5) Companion Cards

These cards are for use with the activities in the packet. They include the following cards: colored animals, colored animals in multiples (2, 3, 4), weather cards, and I Spy cards (cards with tons of items mixed up on them). There are 44 cards included total.

 

This packet is perfect for students who use AAC, who have difficulty formulating questions or sentences, who have ASD, our younger language kiddos and beginner communicators! We want them to be able to use a variety of communication functions, not just simple requests for their favorite things!

 

The pages of this section, once assembled, look like the picture below:

You’ll notice that there is a sentence strip along the top (I printed these on different colored cardstock to make them stand out), and removable icons on the bottom of the page.

The sentence strip can be removed so your kiddos can hand it to you!

What I love about this product is you can customize each page including the number of words on the sentence strip. You can mix and match everything! See how the same page can be used with both a 2 and 3 word sentence strip below:

I have included sentence strips up to 4 words so your kiddos can practice using descriptors as well:

Below is an example of another page with many common descriptors:

And this is how I set up the sentence strips so they are removable and interchangeable:

The next section targets asking and answering personal questions. If you can’t stand the thought of cutting out squares and Velcro anymore (I’ve been there) I’ve included two versions. One is interactive and one is not for easy prep!

The picture below is an example of an interactive page. The question is along the top line, and the sentence strip to answer is along the bottom:

Here is the same page, but the non-interactive (and super easy prep) version:

And below are two more examples of these question pages:

The next section of the binder includes tons and tons of sentence strips.

I like to keep these on a binder ring and pop out the ones that I need for various activities:

The last section of the binder includes optional cards for use with the commenting pages.

 

I keep these in a plastic container that goes in my favorite storage box. This makes the cards super easy to grab and go!

If you are interested in checking out this product, click here to see it in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I am constantly adding pages to it as I think of questions/comments!

For more tips on access and materials for training your entire team on AAC, click here to check out my AAC Implementation Toolkit! It contains everything you need – how-tos, handouts, challenge tracking sheets, resources, core word activities, goal writing helps, and more!

{thanks for reading}