By Chris Faulkner
The inability to communicate with another person may be one of the most frustrating things in life, especially for a young child.
But thanks to an Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) device, students who don’t talk, have a speech impediment, or struggle with expressing thoughts can still communicate with their teachers and classmates.
Erika Freeman is a speech pathologist with the Area Education Agency who teaches at Sunnyside Elementary School and sings the praises of an AAC.
“Communication is a basic human right,” Freeman said. “We use it to be social. We use it to communicate our wants and needs. We use it to let people know that we’re hurt.”
The AAC looks like a tablet, but this is a separate device, not simply an app or a program on a tablet.
Students touch the screen on a square with a visual cue, and the machine gives the answer.
Students with autism are often non-verbal or have limited speech.
Those students in the Burlington school district attend Sunnyside, and they comprise many of the 17 students who use an AAC there.
But, Freeman said, an AAC can help any child with a speech impairment or who has trouble communicating. Maybe the child has cerebral palsy or trouble pronouncing certain words.
“We have some kids who truly use it to augment their verbal speech,” Freeman said.
“They might be able to say lots of things, but they’re hard to understand.”
Freeman said previously educators thought a child needed to be able to do “x, y, and z before getting a device. Now we are using devices so much sooner,” she said. “There are no prerequisites.”
The devices are not provided by the AEA or the school system. Parents must be on board and buy the devices, but insurance will often cover it as a medical need.
A child, even a preschooler, can be evaluated and approved for an AAC.
“They take it wherever they go,” said Shalee Brown, a Level 2 special education teacher, who works with first- and second-grade students with autism.
“My room is self-contained, but I also have kids who go out to (general education classes),” Brown said. Nine of her 10 students use an AAC.
“Some of them are verbal, but they also use their devices to help them with words that they can’t find or we have trouble understanding,” Brown said.
Jaimie Hecox, a Level 1 special ed teacher, works with students who go to the general education classes all day, “and then they come to me to work with me for maybe 30 minutes for reading or 30 minutes for math,” she said.
For those with speech difficulties, Hecox said, “Since they’re in Gen Ed all day, they have to have that device to communicate basic needs, or if you have a student that just needs it to help them communicate what they’re talking about.”
Hecox said she has no fourth-graders that use the device but that younger ones will continue using it in fourth grade and, if need be, through the rest of their school years.
The devices have different degrees of complexity.
One of her students, Hecox said, “can do full sentences on hers. We’ve even adapted writing for her onto her device because writing was hard. She does her paragraphs on her device.”
It’s as if she’s typing but with whole words, Freeman said.
Kensley Andrews, a second-grader at Sunnyside, demonstrated how the device works.
She was asked, “Do you have any dogs?”
Andrews pressed a button. “One,” said the AAC.
“Do you have any cats?”
“Two,” said the device.
“What’s your favorite food?”
Andrews pressed a button to access the food section and then pressed “Candy.”
That should have been obvious, so what is her favorite supper meal?
“Pizza.”
But then Freeman asked Andrews why the device was good for her and prompted with, “Because what you want to say is...,” and Andrews finished with her own voice: “Important.”
Student Brysin Wixom used the device to say his name and answer other questions. But he often punctuated it with his own voice: “See!”
When the interview was over, Freeman told him, “Goodbye,” and Wixom used the AAC to return with, “See ya later, alligator.”
Not new technology
“AAC has been around for quite some time,” Freeman said.
“But it’s really been in the past five years that we have just seen it really take off and that we have really been using so many more robust language systems.”
She said, “The incredible thing about AAC and about the devices is it has given so many kids the power to communicate, and it has given them their voice.”
One concern parents sometimes have is that their child may be able to improve their speech but get too attached.
“That’s a question parents definitely ask,” Freeman said. “They say, ‘I just want my child to talk.’ And I always try to tell parents and families, ‘So do we.’ We will never stop working on verbal speech. But AAC gives kids the power to communicate. It gives them the tools.
“The research shows that AAC only supports verbal speech,” Freeman said. “It does not prevent verbal speech, or it does not slow down the process of acquiring verbal speech.”
Andrews’ mom, Cassie Sedan, had those concerns as well at first when her daughter started using one in kindergarten. But those concerns faded quickly.
“She went from being very non-verbal and not being able to speak up for herself and tell me what she wanted so that device really helped her. If I couldn’t understand her, she would just whip it out and tell me what she wanted.”
There’s no concern it will be used as a crutch. “She’s very independent.”
The fact that parents have to purchase the device means they’re committed and, combined with the teachers at school, makes the program a success, Freeman said.
“With AAC, it is truly a team effort,” she said.
“It takes a village. When you have parents’ buy-in and parent involvement, and they are using the device at home, that helps the child so much.
“I’m so blessed with an amazing team who embrace AAC, and they are constantly modeling on the devices,” Freeman said. “That truly is what the child needs to be successful.”