The holidays are a joyful (and often busy!) time filled with family, friends, and meaningful moments. With so many opportunities for connection, it’s the perfect time to model communication and use your AAC device. Be sure to keep it nearby and ready to go!

Tips for Communication🔗

Below are some helpful tips to support modeling and keep AAC accessible throughout the Thanksgiving holiday.

1. Travel with your device: Be sure to keep the device charged and bring it with you to holiday gatherings! Having it available during conversations helps ensure your communicator always has access to their voice.
2. Add holiday-specific vocabulary: Many AAC systems already include seasonal words such as “Thanksgiving,” “turkey,” or “pumpkin pie.” Use your system’s search function to find and model these words while talking about upcoming holiday plans.
3. Program family traditions: If your family enjoys sharing what they’re grateful for, consider programming this phrase into the AAC device or modeling how to express it. Then, provide an opportunity for your communicator to complete the sentence with their own unique response.
4. Add names of family and friends: Thanksgiving is also about who you spend it with! Make sure to include names of family and friends on the device. This helps your communicator greet others, increases engagement, and may spark interest from relatives who don’t see them often.
5. Prioritize and practice self-advocacy: While the holidays can be fun and full of traditions (and yummy food!), they can also be overwhelming. New environments, loud settings, and lots of people can feel like a lot. Use the AAC device to model and prepare for upcoming activities. Practice requesting breaks or comfort items, and model emotion words to help express tough feelings when needed.

Play and Learn!🔗

Try out the activities below to support communication!

Cook Together🔗

If your child enjoys cooking or helping in the kitchen have them help create some of the meals. Here are some ideas of words to model while cooking.

• Have fun exploring cooking vocabulary together.
  • As you are gathering ingredients, model vocabulary on the device and have the child find them in kitchen!
  • Swap roles and have them use the device and you find the ingredients!
• Pick a few core words
  • Focus on words such as “help,” “more,” “all done,” “like,” “don’t like,” “stop,” “in,” “open,” “close.” 
  • For example: As you add ingredients you can model the word “more” and then have them add more of an ingredient.
• Add vocabulary for foods being served at dinner and practice asking for them.

Thanksgiving Parade Bingo🔗

One of the best Thanksgiving traditions is watching the Parade together on Thanksgiving morning! Get out your child’s QuickTalker Freestyle, print the bingo sheet, and have fun spotting the parade floats. Push buttons on the device when you spot something to model its use! Whoever gets five in a row first wins!

Sensory Food Play🔗

Thanksgiving is a great time for hands-on sensory food play, allowing children to explore new textures, smells, and tastes. This interactive play can help increase food tolerance and reduce mealtime anxiety. It’s especially beneficial for picky eaters, as kids need to feel comfortable with food before tasting it. During this activity, introduce holiday-themed foods and demonstrate how to engage with them.

• Mashed Potatoes: Encourage children to use their fingers to draw in the potatoes or use a spoon for stirring and mixing. Mashed potatoes are perfect for squishing and poking!
• Cranberry Sauce: Children can slice, squeeze, or pinch canned cranberry sauce! Try hiding small objects inside so chilren can explore by toughcing and digging through. Just be careful of choking hazards.
• Stuffing: Stuffing provides great exposure to different textures, smells, and flavors. Crumble the stuffing into a bowl or smash it with a fork. Flatten stuffing and use cookie cutters for extra fun!
• Turkey: To encourage carryover on Thanksgiving, try to provide turkey meat that will look like the kind your family eats on Thanksgiving. Use turkey meat and condiments for drawing, writing, smashing, or ripping.

Thankful for AAC!🔗

Including your loved one in the Thanksgiving activities and conversations will build their confidence and independence. Encourage family members to honor all communication attempts and celebrate the many ways there are to communicate.