[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ theme_builder_area=”post_content” _builder_version=”4.27.8″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.8″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column _builder_version=”4.27.8″ _module_preset=”default” type=”4_4″ theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ theme_builder_area=”post_content” _builder_version=”4.27.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”1px||0px|||”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.8″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column _builder_version=”4.27.8″ _module_preset=”default” type=”4_4″ theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.8″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n
Some children arrive at three or four years old with very little spoken language, and the question the family is really asking is not whether to wait longer. It is whether there is another way for their child to be understood in the meantime. There is, and providing it does not mean giving up on speech.<\/p>\n
Jump to:<\/strong><\/p>\n Augmentative and alternative communication covers every method a person uses to communicate when speech alone is not sufficient. The word augmentative matters: most of the time the system sits alongside speech rather than replacing it.<\/p>\n It is also more familiar than the term suggests. Pointing is AAC. So is a photograph on the refrigerator, a gesture agreed between a child and their family, a picture board, and a tablet that speaks a sentence when its buttons are pressed. Clinicians group these as unaided, meaning the body alone, and aided, meaning something external.<\/p>\n The purpose in every case is the same: to give a child a reliable way to say something and be understood by someone who does not already know them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nearly every family asks a version of the same question. If we give him a device, will he stop trying to talk?<\/p>\n It is a reasonable worry and the research has examined it directly for several decades. The finding has been consistent: introducing AAC does not suppress speech development. Across studies, most children show gains in spoken language after AAC is introduced, and almost none show a decline.<\/p>\n The mechanism is not mysterious. Communication is reinforced by working. A child who successfully requests something is more motivated to communicate again, through whatever channel is available, including speech. A child whose attempts routinely fail tends to attempt less.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The more common outcome we see clinically is the reverse of the fear: a reduction in frustration, because the child now has a way through.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n AAC is not restricted to children who will never speak. It is indicated whenever the gap between what a child understands and what they can express is wide enough to limit participation.<\/p>\n A child with a handful of words who needs a way to say more while spoken language develops.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A child who speaks but is understood only by immediate family, and gives up with everyone else.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Where the difficulty lies in producing speech rather than in language itself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A child who speaks at home but not in the classroom, and needs a bridge for the places speech is not available to them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n There are no readiness criteria. A child does not need to demonstrate a particular cognitive level, match pictures on demand, or work through a hierarchy of easier systems first. Those gates were once standard practice and have not held up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Most children end up with more than one. A device on the table at dinner, a small board in the car, and signs for the handful of things needed fast. Redundancy is a feature: no single system is available everywhere.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The selection follows an evaluation rather than a preference. A speech-language pathologist assesses receptive language, motor access, vision, and the environments the child actually spends time in. A device that works beautifully at a table and not in a pool or a playground is only a partial answer.<\/p>\n What an evaluation<\/a> establishes:<\/p>\n Worth asking about if: your child is approaching three with few or no words; is understood by you but not by other adults; shows clear frustration when trying to be understood; or has receptive language noticeably ahead of what they can express.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The single largest predictor of whether AAC succeeds is not the device. It is whether the adults use it too.<\/p>\n Speech-generating devices are often covered as durable medical equipment when an evaluation documents medical necessity. The process involves a formal report and can take time. What insurance covers in Florida<\/a> sets out the wider picture, and we prepare the documentation as part of the plan.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n Sometimes, as a trial. The risk is a system the child outgrows in months, because moving between layouts costs a child real learning. An evaluation before you buy tends to save both money and time.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n Both, where possible. Removing a language from a child’s environment does not accelerate the other one, a point we set out in full in bilingualism and speech delay<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n Early signs appear within weeks: reaching for the system, using it without a prompt, attempting a message to a new listener. Vocabulary growth is measured over months.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n No. Speech goals continue alongside. AAC removes the pressure of it being the only route, which is generally when speech attempts increase.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n<\/div>\n Tell us what communication looks like at home and we will tell you whether an evaluation is warranted.<\/p>\n Contact us<\/a> Speech therapy<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00bfUn dispositivo de comunicaci\u00f3n va a hacer que un ni\u00f1o deje de hablar? La evidencia dice que no. Qu\u00e9 es la CAA, para qu\u00e9 ni\u00f1os es, c\u00f3mo se elige un sistema y qu\u00e9 hace que funcione en casa.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[40,41,21],"class_list":["post-826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-therapy-works","tag-aac","tag-communication","tag-speech-therapy","sfg-tx-speech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skillsforgrowth.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skillsforgrowth.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skillsforgrowth.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skillsforgrowth.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skillsforgrowth.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/skillsforgrowth.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":832,"href":"https:\/\/skillsforgrowth.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826\/revisions\/832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skillsforgrowth.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skillsforgrowth.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skillsforgrowth.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
What AAC actually means<\/h2>\n
The concern every parent raises<\/h2>\n
Which children it is for<\/h2>\n
The main kinds of system<\/h2>\n
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How a system gets chosen<\/h2>\n
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What it looks like at home<\/h2>\n
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Questions parents ask<\/h2>\n
Will insurance pay for a device?<\/summary>\n
Is a free app on a tablet good enough to start?<\/summary>\n
My child is bilingual. Which language should the system use?<\/summary>\n
How long before we know if it is working?<\/summary>\n
Does this mean we stop working on speech?<\/summary>\n
Keep reading<\/h2>\n
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Is your child understood?<\/h2>\n