AAC user tips!
puppy will cover diy symbol based card and board aac as well as high tech aac! is free for anyone to take inspo or advice from! if have more questions pls ask! if anyone want reformat in easier to read way, please do! but pls credit or just add in rbs
under cut bcuz long!
There's no wrong way to use AAC! anyone can! as semispeaking part time AAC user, AAC is for everyone!!! now onto the tips....
If want symbol based aac but have no way to get it, consider talking in emojis over text! or if irl, just using expressions! if want text-based, write everything or type and then show other person. btw, discord has /TTS command so you can type and it read what you typed out loud!!
DIY AAC cards: strat 1
Need:
paper
scissors
writing instrument (pen pencil crayon etc)
clear tape
write or draw what u want card to be, cut it out, and cover back and front in clear tape fully. trim edges off and you have card! not fully water safe tho be careful! and make sure pen ink is dry before stickying it! if have hole puncher and key ring, can put them on ring! other option is in envelope or pencil case
AAC card strat 2
Need:
paper
printer w/ ink
OPTIONAL device w/ art program or Internet
lamination machine (cold or hot) w/ sheets
scissors
This how puppy makes cards! design card with art program , or internet site like canva, or get card design online - print out on paper and put into laminator, then cut out! can do same thing with holepunch as other cards!
if made cards with strat 1 can use laminator on them, be careful with hot ones might melt crayon? or if made with strat 2 can put tape on to secure if not have laminator! remember cards can be double sided to not waste paper!
Board AAC strat 1
need:
thing to write/draw/put stuff on
thing to write/draw with OR premaade words/pictures
glue OR sticky velcro dots (tape not work very well)
I think u get it ... take board made of anything, make basically aac cards and stick them on OR draw directly into board! here how puppy does it:
take thing like cardboard from box or smt, draw grid on it, make AAC cards, take sticky velcro dots and line up with squares on board. can add/remove words or pictures at will, just have big bag of words!
if colorcode can make categories of words for easier to find! OR have multiple boards full of different words, and a blank board to make sentence on (or no blank board and just point to words on dif boards!)
Board AAC strat 2
Need:
magnet board w magnets
aac cards
think u understand this too :P just have dif cards that stick to board, if dry erase board can draw the pictures/write on it or circle cards. tbh not best strat but IS one of them!
Text-based AAC
lots of free text AAC! puppy know of apps like speech assistant, things like TTS(text to speech) (like on discord :p) - can also do low-tech and just write what want say on thing like paper or dry erase board or chalkboard, texting on notes app or discord and then showing someone irl OR just texting them normal even if they in the room/in front of you. if you has high tech aac device / proper aac app, plenty offer keyboards you type on!
Symbol-Based hi tech AAC
This where it get tricky. find much better solutions on other posts, but puppy try paws best.
Not many (good) free symbol AAC apps. most are subscription/pay to access. best for beginner is probly proloquo, $12 a month (ish?), has keyboard, word search function, lots of settings and voices, is what puppy uses rn! but many others Not subscription (or at least not fully...) , heard Weavechat is good!
Many aac not run very good on phone, and more not made for devices like computer/laptop/pc. best option for aac is ipad or tablet because many apps on iOS or android. proloquo for example only on iOS. can get good refurbished ipad for less than $300 on sites like amazon or ebay and are guaranteed to work good! best to get ipad still getting updates btw - absolutely do not need newest model, puppys ipad is from like 2020 and still get updates, got for LESS than 200! can even draw on it! - which also good for aac!
puppy hope this post helped!! if any questions or anything to add pls inbox/dms/add on!!
