Honoring All Communication Attempts 🔗

We all use many ways to communicate like speaking, texting, writing notes, and body language. All of those forms of communication are valid. There is no one way of communicating that is better than another.

For individuals who need communication supports, communication might look like vocalizing, gestures, body language, eye gaze, or an AAC device, and all of these methods are okay. Many AAC users will already have lots of ways of communicating. Honoring all forms of communication means treating all types of communication as meaningful.

What Does This Look Like?🔗

For example, if an individual uses a vocalization and you understand that vocalization to be “yes” or a preference, honor it. Respond to their message even if it wasn’t communicated using their AAC device.

As communication partners, our job is to reinforce and acknowledge all communication attempts, especially the ones that come naturally to the user. We want to avoid requiring someone to say the same message, just in a different form.

Think of it like this: imagine you’re walking down the street and you see a friend. You want to say “Hi” to, but there is something preventing you from doing so. Instead, you wave. That person wouldn’t stop you and make you say, “Hi,” right? Probably not. Instead, they would accept your wave as a substitute for a greeting. The same respect applies here.

What If I Don’t Understand?🔗

What happens if you don’t understand the communication attempt? It’s still important to honor this attempt by presuming that it was intentional. To still honor the attempt, reflect on possible meanings, encourage the user to try again, or ask for clarification. Once we understand their message, we can model what that might look like by saying it on the AAC device.

By using these strategies, we build trust, reduce frustration, and support all meaningful connections.