{"id":1778,"date":"2025-10-01T11:12:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T18:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/slp\/?p=1778"},"modified":"2025-10-01T11:12:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T18:12:40","slug":"helping-aac-users-build-friendships-in-the-classroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/slp\/2025\/10\/01\/helping-aac-users-build-friendships-in-the-classroom\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping AAC Users Build Friendships in the Classroom\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1787 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/slp\/files\/2025\/10\/AAC-awareness-month-200x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/slp\/files\/2025\/10\/AAC-awareness-month-200x300.png 200w, https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/slp\/files\/2025\/10\/AAC-awareness-month.png 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>So much of AAC instruction focuses on requesting, labeling, or sentence-building. These are important, but if we want students to connect with peers, we must also model <strong>greetings, jokes, comments, and conversation star<\/strong><strong>ters<\/strong>. Think:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cHi, what\u2019s your name?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cThat\u2019s funny!\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cCan I play too?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cCool shirt!\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Use the student\u2019s device to model these during real-life social moments \u2014 recess, snack time, group projects \u2014 and encourage others to do the same.<\/p>\n<p>Pro Tip: Customize the device to have pre-programmed social buttons that are easily accessed. Modify the social page to contain socially appropriate phrases for the student\u2019s age.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Include Emotion and Personality<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>AAC users need vocabulary that reflects <strong>who they are<\/strong> \u2014 not just what they need. I always encourage programming in favourite TV shows, silly phrases, personal opinions (\u201cThat\u2019s boring!\u201d or \u201cI love pizza!\u201d), and emojis or slang. Social connection grows when students can <strong>share themselves authentically<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Celebrate All Communication<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Whether it\u2019s a gesture, a glance at a symbol, or a full sentence from a device, all communication matters. Peers will follow the lead of the adults around them. When we slow down, give wait time, and treat AAC as a valid and natural form of interaction, we set the tone for inclusive friendship-building.<\/p>\n<p>Check out some AAC Friendly Social Games to play and tips for success:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1782 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/slp\/files\/2025\/10\/How-Positive-Thinking.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"360\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/slp\/files\/2025\/10\/How-Positive-Thinking.jpg 360w, https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/slp\/files\/2025\/10\/How-Positive-Thinking-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/slp\/files\/2025\/10\/AAC-Social-Games-blog-post-1.pdf\">AAC Social Games &#8211; blog post (1)<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So much of AAC instruction focuses on requesting, labeling, or sentence-building. These are important, but if we want students to connect with peers, we must also model greetings, jokes, comments, and conversation starters. Think: \u201cHi, what\u2019s your name?\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s funny!\u201d \u201cCan I play too?\u201d \u201cCool shirt!\u201d Use the student\u2019s device to model these during real-life [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8698,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/slp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1778"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/slp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/slp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/slp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8698"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/slp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1778"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/slp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1791,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/slp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1778\/revisions\/1791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/slp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/slp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/slp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}