Augmentative Communication Systems at Home and in the Community

It's important to support the use of augmentative communication systems at home and in the community. Although students receive direct instruction and guidance in developing augmentative communication skills in school, they must practice and use their system at home and within their communities. Using their systems in these other places reinforces the communication skills learned in school and helps generalize them to other settings. Teachers must be actively involved in ensuring that there is appropriate carryover and use within the home, among the family members, and across community sites. 

The development of a working relationship between school and home is critical to the success of augmentative communication. Both environments reflect different and varied communication demands, and coordinated efforts can significantly increase the likelihood of effective communication. Training in the use of augmentative communication systems should be provided to families. This may include strategies for expanded use of the system and providing new vocabulary for the unique communication demands of home and community. School personnel must provide direct instruction to parents, who in turn can teach other family and community members to interact with their child. 

In contrast, the community at-large is less familiar with the augmentative communication user and may be less willing to accept the unfamiliar approach to communication. Communicating with unfamiliar partners is extremely challenging for most users. Unfamiliar partners are people who have no shared knowledge with the user, no understanding of the system, and no understanding of the rules of communicating with an augmentative communication user.

Tips for Guiding Parents to Promote the Use of Augmentative Communication:

• Provide direct instruction on the use of the system 
• Identify Vocabulary that is relevant to the home
• Teach family members to provide opportunities for communication and to wait
• Provide simple data and evaluation sheets for home and community use
• Give parents permission to expand the child’s communication

The next blog post will discuss how a student's augmentative communication system can be designed to meet the communication demands of home and the community. 

Sources:
Dell, A., Newtown, D., & Petroff, J. (2012). Assistive technology in the classroom . (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey : Pearson Education.