Looking to make your classroom a more AAC friendly environment? The following resources are a good place to start:

• Fostering an AAC-affirming Classroom by Cheri Dodge Chin https://presenters.aacconference.com/videos/UVRReFFUSXk= 

• “AAC users may be the only child in their classroom with a communication tool... but they don't need to feel alone! Learn strategies to affirm and celebrate AAC with peers and educational staff.”

• Resources for Communication Partners https://www.aac.tools/communication-partners 

• “If this is the first time you're communicating with someone with AAC, you may be a little overwhelmed. Everyone with complex communication needs uses AAC differently, but these general guidelines should help you navigate your first interaction regardless of the mode of communication.”

• 54 Tips and Tricks for Implementing Alternative and Augmentative Communication in the Classroom by Lesley Gallagher and Amy Litton  https://www.naperville203.org/cms/lib/IL01904881/Centricity/Domain/89/Top-tips-for-implementing-AAC.pdf 

• This article shares tips and tricks on “how to create opportunities, strategies and resources you might use, ideas of games you could play and how to get peers involved. You’ll see real-life quotes from staff working in education about how this intervention and these strategies have supported them using high tech AAC in their classrooms.” 

• Educating School Staff to Model AAC in the Classroom by Jill Senner and Matt Baud https://presenters.aacconference.com/videos/UWpVMVFUSXk= 

• “School staff instruction in AAC has numerous benefits to students, including increasing communicative turns and facilitating longer utterances. However, in-service style trainings rarely result in increased AAC use in the classroom. Participants will learn the benefits of staff education, benefits of modeling AAC and elements of a successful partner education program.”

• Strategies for Supporting AAC Use in Inclusive General Education Classrooms by Jacqueline Kearns, Jane Kleinert, and Karen Erickson https://ici.umn.edu/products/impact/312/Supporting-AAC-Use/#Supporting-AAC-Use 

• This article summarizes five strategies based on developing research being completed by the authors that support successful learning and use of AAC in inclusive classrooms. 

• Do’s and Don’ts of AAC Implementation by Lauren Enders https://liberator.net.au/pub/media/wysiwyg/Do_s_and_Don_t_s_of_AAC_Implementation.pdf 

• This handout lists things to keep in mind when implementing and interacting with someone who uses AAC. Can easily be printed and posted.

• Implementing Core Vocabulary in a Life Skills Classroom by April Weitkamp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVbeHg2Vl2Y 

• “Core Vocabulary comprises many of those everyday words so many of our complex communication needs students struggle to include when using AAC tools. In order to help students learn the meanings for these “high frequency” words and when to use them, we have implemented strategies, which can actively teach students to combine the words to form short novel sentences. In this webinar, you will learn some strategies you can use to introduce your students to the core vocabulary, and simple ways to allow students to ‘play with the Core’ and begin to apply these words on a daily basis, with speech and with AAC systems”

Written by Sarah Black (SLP Graduate Student)