Quick and Easy AAC App Board Construction

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Quick and Easy AAC Board Construction

Hi all! I created this file this morning prior to a meeting – took me 20 minutes total on BRIDGE Communication Builder app. It’s not the typical way I do AAC with our apps, but this is a special case and this works too!
 
AAC should be quick, immediate, stressless, and accessible.
 
Keep building! There is no wrong way for a team to implement AAC.
 
~Danielle
BRIDGE Communication AAC app. Home, Community activities vocabulary board.
BRIDGE Communication AAC app. Food choice vocabulary board.
BRIDGE Communication affordable AAC app. Customize communication board for making requests.
BRIDGE Communication affordable AAC app. Customize communication board for item activity choices.
BRIDGE Communication affordable AAC app. Customize communication board for item activity choices.
BRIDGE Communication affordable AAC app. Customize communication board for food choices.

Scheduling Boards and Reminders

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Scheduling Boards and Reminders

I’m personally not a scheduling person. I really resist a typical TO-DO list or maybe “being told” what to do on some level lol, but using visual imagery to enhance understanding and to conceptualize events and tasks helps calm the inner monologue and all the “what ifs”. It can be very black and white. It doesn’t have to be done in order and in fact, it doesn’t all have to be done at all in my opinion, but using visual “scheduling” boards to have open ended language interaction supports language with others as a joint activity with a common ground for understanding VERSUS language with others as nagging auditory reminders. Let’s take that part out – the reminders should eventually come from within anyway. The sooner you can get on that page with the ones you love, the more pleasant the interaction tends to be.

Scheduling boards and reminders are easy to create in the moment. Use boards as a springboard for discussion. I use this from nonverbal kids to highly verbal adolescents to my own kids and their family calendar, but I honestly use this same method for myself in BRIDGE Communication Builder AND LOVE IT!!! One day, I’ll show ya’ll my wicked calendar/planner/reminder boards I built lol.

We do looooove to build 🤗

~Danielle
BRIDGE Communication affordable AAC app. Customized board for karate class.
BRIDGE Communication affordable AAC app. Easy to customize instruction steps.
BRIDGE Communication affordable AAC app. Communication board for cooking steps.
BRIDGE Communication affordable AAC app. Communication board for morning routine.
BRIDGE Communication affordable AAC app. Communication board for bedtime routine.

Create Communication Boards on the spot

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Create Communication Boards on the Spot

Using communication supports to aid lessons helps understanding. I use and create these supports in sessions with the children I treat in therapy. We program together, discuss picture options, select vocabulary together, compare, contrast, I let them select the images (even over teletherapy, we have a system in place for them letting me know what image they are selecting), and we talk about what we want the selection to “say”. We also talk about spelling, phonics, reading, first letters, sounds, appropriate articulation – everything!

Even though my focus and specialty is AAC, I use these supports with very verbal children as well. These lessons created are from issues that came up in the therapy session where we either needed clarification or needed to brainstorm thoughts.

Boards below were created for and with ESL kids, AAC kids, and past AAC kids who are now totally verbal but benefit from supports in therapy/teaching.

The 2 boards on “moving” are from siblings I see. They both have autism. They both started verbally talking with me and the use of the app, one at age 6 and one at age 8. They were both completely nonverbal (and apraxic) prior to that. They are ages 9 and 12 now, and still need some help with articulation and language, but just look at the thoughts they had and articulated on the “moving” boards below! So pleased. 💖

Create boards in the moment! It’s a ton of fun and helps a ton!Connection and understanding yields growth.

~Danielle
BRIDGE Communication AAC app. Example of student-made animal vocabulary board.
BRIDGE Communication affordable AAC app. Customized board. Vocabulary for family move.
BRIDGE Communication AAC app. Example of student-made family move vocabulary board.
BRIDGE Communication affordable AAC app. Example of student-made winter vocabulary board.