What are Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Systems?
AAC strategies provide ways to add to or augment a child’s natural communication behaviors. When children receive assistance with communicating early in their lives, potential behavior problems decrease, language skills increase, and relationships between siblings, peers and family members improve. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), communication is the essence of human life, and all people have the right to communicate to the fullest extent possible. No one should be denied this right, regardless of the type and/or severity of communication, linguistic, social, cognitive, motor, sensory, perceptual, and/or other disabilities they may have. AAC is actually a system. It involves an ongoing program of decision-making that considers individuals, their methods of communicating, and the effectiveness of that communication with a variety of listeners, as well as environmental variables that foster or impede communication. The communication methods associate
