Robin Hurd

Motivation: Fun Ways to Increase the Desire to use AAC this Summer

Recently, our family went through an illness that reduced Caleb’s motor skills and took a toll on his ability and desire to use his AAC system. Caleb, who is 8 years old, just finished 2nd grade and is affected by cerebral palsy, got Mononucleosis. Because of the illness, he spent 2 months out of school, and is still working to regain motor skills. The ideas I share in this article have come out our search for motivating ways to get his desire to use AAC back, so that we can help him re-gain motor control and accuracy. I hope that this article will also help give you some ideas to keep you busy the rest of the summer.

My family when everyone is well.

Whenever a child is not motivated to use the AAC system, the first thing to do is to model using it like you would like to see your child using it.

Because Caleb’s lack of motivation was due to the frustration of his hands not working as well as they used to, I reduced any pressure to make a complete sentence and began to “translate” his signs and gestures using his device. Eventually, he began to use his device a word or two at a time, at times grabbing it from my hands as I tried to model it! (What a great thing to see—a child grabbing back the AAC system because he can’t wait to use it!) I have inserted a copy of a letter that Caleb and I co-wrote to his friends at school while he was sick. He selected a picture of himself that looked as tired as he felt at that moment!

When a child is not motivated using the AAC system, one of the reasons can be that the child needs to see that using the AAC system results in something really great happening . Using AAC can take a lot of physical effort for some children. The results must be worth the effort it takes. For many children, the computer can provide this.

One of the first things I did to help Caleb want to use his AAC system was to program in the URL’s of some of his favorite web sites and teach him how to choose his own web site by himself. (Caleb accesses the computer using a joystick and his AAC system as a keyboard. Even with impaired hand function, he was able to access the mouse without the frustration he felt using his AAC system.) Caleb was delighted to be able to independently get to his favorite web sites, and at the same time was safe from mis-spelling the name and ending up someplace I didn’t want him to go! Once he is on the computer, he also uses his AAC system to answer questions and play games. Caleb and Joshua, his twin, still need some reading support and occasional help with difficult motor activities to play games geared toward their age level, but the computer is a very motivating place to work and use AAC.

Another reason for lack of motivation can be too much emphasis on right and wrong answers, versus exploring and enjoying communication in all of its forms.

A fun activity for my sons has been creating stories on the computer using KidPics—an off the shelf program for drawing and writing. The boys love that KidPics has computer voices that read their finished stories, along with available musical backgrounds to set the mood. The “stories” they create begin as pictures, with the written part being totally their own ideas. Things can get pretty wacky when one boy is writing and three are standing around watching and giving advice, but it is a great way to enjoy communicating with AAC. In contrast to the writing they have been doing in school, where they are expected to work and edit until they have each sentence “correct”, our goal is not to turn out a story that will win “Young Author of the Year” awards, but to have a lot of fun using AAC. Choosing to save your story and edit it later is an option, but there is no pressure to do so.

Another fun activity that our boys all enjoy is doing madlibs. For anyone who hasn’t encountered them, madlibs are stories that have words left out. Players fill in the blanks without knowing what the rest of the story is. The resulting stories can be hilarious, and in the process kids learn about the parts of speech and get to explore their AAC systems.

We have also had a great time playing Charades using AAC. Caleb usually makes sure that all of the family members take a turn acting something out, and everyone gets to guess. (For beginners, it may be helpful to “think out loud” as someone acts out their charade.) Another version for beginners is to play Reverse Charades, where the child tells you what to act out, and then someone acts it out.

A final reason why children sometimes lack motivation is that they don’t connect “using their words” with any useful results. “Using your words” to make something is a powerful motivator.

A fun way to eliminate this barrier to motivation is to make your own t-shirts. Iron on transfer paper that goes right into your printer makes this an easy project. Children can use their AAC systems to write cute sayings to put on their shirts. Ideas range from funny sayings such as “It’s my brother’s fault”, to making a special shirt for a gift, to making matching shirts for a family reunion. You can add photos or clip art to decorate your shirt, as well.

Instead of making shirts, consider making refrigerator magnets, banners to celebrate family occasions or decorate a bedroom, greeting cards or anything else that sounds like fun.

Because words said on the AAC system translate directly into something your child can hold in their hands, any of these types of projects can be highly motivating. A great side benefit is that others who see your child’ work may view them in a different way because of what they are able to accomplish. This positive feedback from others also fuels motivation for future accomplishment using the AAC system.

Questions, comments, Ideas??

Many of the suggestions I have made here involve using a voice output AAC system to write directly on the computer. If you have never done this before, please feel free to e-mail me and I can walk you through the process. My address is: parents@aacinstitute.org. As always, I look forward to hearing from you!