Getting Started with AAC: The Practical Guide That Picks Up Where the Theory Leaves Off

Interactive guide 

If you've made it this far, it's because there's someone you care about and want to support in the best possible way in how they communicate. With that, you already have the most important thing; the rest can be learned. Maybe you're only discovering today that augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) exists, or that there are tools that could have supported this person earlier. Today you're here, and the best moment to start is always now.

And I want to say something from the start: supporting the communication of an AAC user is not one person's job, and definitely not the family's alone. It belongs to all of us around them: parents and caregivers, professionals, teachers, therapists, friends, and the whole community. If you're a professional and this topic felt distant or like "someone else's specialty," this invitation is for you too. The more people in someone's life who know how to support their communication, the freer and more sustained that voice becomes. Breaking the myth that this falls only on parents is essential, because what's at stake is more than meaningful learning: it's strengthening a bond, one in which the autistic person feels comfortable connecting with you.

What follows comes from a perspective that guides everything I do: moving from judgment to curiosity. Judgment stops us, puts us on the defensive, closes us off. Curiosity does the opposite: it relaxes us, invites us to observe, lets us truly see the person in front of us. And it turns out that this same curiosity isn't just a kinder way to begin: it's also the starting point. Because before "teaching" a communication system, what you're really doing is exploring it alongside the person — looking at them, following what interests them.

Let me give you an example that might seem small, but isn't. Let's say the person you support loves a soccer team. You can start using the AAC system so they can let you know when they want you to look up a game for them. From the outside it looks mundane, and yet it's an exercise in connection: you're talking with them about something that matters to them, you're showing them that you see them, that you know what they like, that you want to share it. You're not assessing them or meeting a clinical goal; you're inviting them to communicate from desire, not from demand. And that comes first, because communication is deeply relational: an autistic person, like anyone, needs to feel safe and truly seen in order to feel free to communicate. That bond and that trust are the first thing any communication partner builds, before any words.

Dismantling myths 

There's a fear that holds many families back, and sometimes even professionals: "if I give them a communication system, what if they get used to it and stop talking?" It's an understandable fear, but the evidence says the opposite. Augmentative and alternative communication doesn't hold back speech development, and in fact often supports it: when you model using the system alongside the spoken word, you're giving the person more language input, not less. ASHA itself (the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association) puts it this way, and gathers the evidence behind it in its public guide on AAC. Offering AAC doesn't close any doors for your loved one, it opens them. 

But I want to go a step further, because beneath that fear there's usually a harder idea to spot: that "real" communication is only spoken communication, and that everything else is a stopgap in the meantime. That's not how it is. AAC isn't a springboard toward speech, nor a lesser way of communicating. It's real communication: valid, complete, available right now, in this very moment. That it sometimes accompanies or boosts speech is an added benefit, not the measuring stick for whether it "works." If we wait for someone to speak before we recognize that they have things to say, we leave them without a voice for as long as that takes, and some people we leave without a voice forever. Recognizing AAC as full communication is, at its core, recognizing that the person already has something to say, and that they deserve to be heard through whatever means that may be. 

The communication partner's stance

Throughout all of human history, communication hasn't been learned in sessions or with objectives: it's learned immersed in daily interaction, sincere, ordinary. That's how we all learned to communicate, long before words and far beyond them: a thumbs-up to say yes, a waving hand, the gestures we understand without anyone ever explaining them to us. No one sat us down to teach them, we absorbed them from seeing them used around us. The same holds here. Our role isn't to apply a protocol onto the person, but to create real, everyday circles of communication with them: commenting on what's happening, sharing what matters to us, responding to what matters to them, using the AAC system with the same consistency and ease with which we'd use words.

I want to pause on something that AAC guides often overlook: questioning our own place as communication partners, and what we expect from that interaction. It's deeply important to understand that perception is always there. Every person perceives the world, feels it, makes sense of it in their own way. Here I want to be very clear, because it's a fine line: our job isn't to "rescue" a voice we imagine trapped inside, nor to uncover a person different from the one in front of us. It's to support the person who is already there, exactly as they are. If they have an intellectual disability, their perception of the world will be that of someone with an intellectual disability, and that doesn't make them any less valid, any less real, or any less worthy of being heard. Communication isn't an intelligence test you have to pass to deserve a voice. Seeing the person for who they are, not for who we wish they were, is, at its core, all we're asking. And it's a request so simple and so human that it's hard to argue with.

Let me tell you an example from my own experience, because I think it shows this better than any explanation. Some time ago I supported a young AAC user, a basketball fan. During our movement breaks, when he was resting in the sun, I'd ask his permission to use his communication system and I'd ask him questions, unhurried, about what he liked. There was no objective to meet, no token to earn: just two people talking in a quiet moment. Over time, something beautiful began to happen: he started asking me "how are you?", saying "thank you" more and more often. No one asked him for those words; they emerged as if he felt safe enough to take an interest in me too. That back-and-forth — that circle — was built from a place without pressure, and it held far better than it would have by forcing him to sit and "practice" in exchange for free time. Communication isn't trained, it's cultivated.

Principles that empower 

Core vocabulary

So where do you start? Here's something that might sound backwards from what you'd expect. The intuitive thing would be to start by teaching the names of things: "cookie," "ball," "car." But if you think about it, there's a small group of words we use all day long, in any situation: more, want, look, go, stop, help, come, yes, no, I, you. They're words that open up options instead of locking you into just one. "More" works for more food, more play, more of anything; "look" works for sharing any interest at all. Starting there makes the most sense, because it gives the person tools that work in every context, not just in front of one specific object. You can lean first on paper pictograms — low-tech, no screens — and then bring those same words into the iPad or the app. It's work that combines connection, scaffolding, and above all, agency: every word that opens up options is a word that gives the person back the power to choose. 

Returning trust, not rewarding

When the person communicates something to you — for example, that they want to watch their team play — what comes next isn't a reward. It's not about "you asked me nicely, so I'll give you five minutes." That turns communication into a transaction, where the person has to "earn" what they want. What I'm proposing is different: it's responding the way you'd respond to anyone who tells you about something that matters to them. "Okay, let's watch it together," and maybe we comment on it using AAC too, and we really watch it, and we share that time. What you're doing, quietly, is proving to them that you're someone trustworthy: that when you say yes, you follow through; that there's predictability and stability in you. And that trust isn't a small detail: it's what keeps the person regulated. Feeling seen, heard, and with agency regulates the nervous system, and a regulated person communicates more, for longer, with more freedom. You're returning their trust, not rewarding a behavior. That difference changes everything.

The device is their voice

One principle I want to underline, because in practice it gets broken very often: the device or communication system is the person's voice. It's not a toy, not a reward, not a privilege earned or lost depending on behavior. Taking it away as punishment is, literally, silencing them. And that doesn't just damage the relationship: it can be dangerous. Imagine that in an emergency the person really needs to say something — that they're in pain, that something is frightening them, that they need help — and they have no way to. If they can't communicate it and we misread them or react badly, we fail them at the very moment they needed us most, and that trust is hard to win back. What's more, the communication system isn't only useful to the person for expressing themselves: it's useful to us for getting to know them, for discovering what they like, their identity, what they need. Taking it away leaves us blind to who they are. Their voice stays with them, always, even on the hard days.

Dynamic disability

And here's something that we, families and professionals alike, need to understand about the nature of autism. I describe it as a dynamic disability, a concept that comes from the autistic community itself, and so, in the case of communication: the ability to communicate isn't fixed, it changes according to the person's state and factors like the environment, fatigue, anxiety, or sensory overload. There will be good days and available moments, and there will also be crises (especially with the youngest) when the person won't be able to use their system even if they "know" how, because they're overwhelmed and thinking, feeling, and moving the body all at once becomes almost impossible. In those moments, demanding that they communicate what they've learned doesn't help: it adds frustration to someone already at their limit, and it sinks them further. That's why the when matters as much as the how. Communication isn't practiced at just any moment, but when the person is regulated and available for the encounter. And the only way to know when that moment is the only way for any strategy to work and, above all, to be respectful, is to observe. To truly observe. That's where it all begins and ends: in looking at the person in front of us.

Honesty about complex cases 

Here I want to be honest about something important. Everything above — starting to model, following their interest, building trust — a family can begin today, without waiting for anyone. But there are profiles where professional support makes a real difference: for example, when apraxia (the body that can't always do what the mind wants) and intellectual disability come together. Not because the person is worth less, nor because you have to "wait for the expert" to begin, but because that's where a finer kind of work appears, one that's hard to sustain alone.

One of the most delicate challenges is reading intentionality. In complex profiles, not everything the person selects on their system is necessarily what they mean to say: sometimes they're patterns they've carried over, learned ways they've made sense of relationships up to now, sometimes weighed down by difficult experiences. Distinguishing between a communicative intention and a relational pattern, and supporting the person so that their communication becomes more and more their own, is work that benefits enormously from a professional eye, ideally an interdisciplinary one. And to be clear: presuming competence doesn't mean assuming that every selection is a deliberate message; it means committing to truly understand what the person is communicating to us, instead of projecting our own assumptions onto them.

But, and this is key, a profile being complex doesn't mean you have to wait to begin. Exposure to communication, the bond, regulation, respect for the person's timing: all of that can and should start now, at home, while you look for professional support (or even if you never find it). Starting to model with free tools is something any family can do today. What a professional adds is the ability to fine-tune even further: adjusting the system not only to that person's neurology at that point in their development, but also to their culture and their specific social setting — to their family, their language, their world. They don't compete: one opens the door, the other helps make the path more and more tailored to the person. Waiting for access to a specialist shouldn't cost anyone the right to begin communicating.

A quick note on the previous post

Before the practical guide, a quick clarification. In my previous post on AAC I explained the basics: what augmentative and alternative communication is, why speech is difficult for many autistic people even when comprehension is intact (apraxia, myelination), why AAC is a right and not a last resort, and what tools exist — free and paid — to get started, with AsTeRICS Grid as my top recommendation. If you want that foundation, it's all there.

What follows is something else. That post explains what happens and why; this one is the how. Because you can understand all the theory and still not know where to start on a Monday morning, or worse, start with the best intentions and stumble without realizing it: trying it with someone you don't yet have a bond with, or falling into reward logic ("if you tap 'more,' I'll give you more recess"), which turns communication into a transaction. This is the practical guide that avoids those misunderstandings: the step-by-step, and above all how to set up the conditions for AAC to truly work.

Setting up AsTeRICS Grid with core words

So far we've talked about the what and the why. This is the concrete part: how to get the tool working, in just a few minutes, with a board that already comes with core vocabulary built in. You don't need to build anything from scratch or know anything about system design, we're going to use a model that already exists and just needs activating.

My suggestion is to go first to grid.asterics.eu and try it without creating an account. That way you get to know it with no commitment; if the format suits you, you can register later to save and sync your boards across devices. But to get started quickly, this is enough.

1. Enter without registering. On the welcome screen, choose "Use Asterics AAC without registration." Everything is saved on your device, and all the features are available just the same. 

2. Set the language and the voice. Open the settings (the gear icon in the sidebar). Under the "General" tab, set the "Application Language", this translates the app's menus and buttons. Then go to the "Language" tab, which sets the language of the boards and the voice (not the menus). Check "Show all languages," open "Select language," and choose the variant that fits the person you support. Just below, in the "Voice" section, check "Show all available voices" and pick the one that feels closest to them. Ideally, choose it together since this will be, literally, their voice when a message is spoken aloud, so it's worth taking a minute to try a couple.

3. Go back to Main and find the board. Click the house icon (Main) and scroll until you find an English core-vocabulary communicator (or type "core" in the search bar at the top). This is the board that already comes with core words built in. When you find it, click "Use it."

4. That's it: the board is ready. What you see now is the board working. At the top is the white bar where messages are built, with buttons to play and delete. Below are the words. Some (the ones marked with a grey square in the upper-right corner) open up options like verbs, help, food, expressions, and more. From here you can start modeling core words (more, want, look, go, stop, help, come, yes, no, I, you), exactly as we saw above.

And one thing, right now that the tool is ready: having it set up is the beginning, not the goal. What truly sustains communication isn't the app on its own; the heart of this learning is in how we connect with each other, and to do that in the best way possible, I have the following tips for you.

Where to start, step by step

If you've made it this far thinking "okay, I get it, I care about this person, I know them, I have a device with the software installed and I want to understand them exactly as they are… now what?", what I'm about to write is for you, whether you're one of their parents, their classroom aide, their therapist, a friend, or a relative. What follows is a short guide to keep on hand and come back to whenever you need it.

1.The bond first, not the device. Before anything else, let the person feel safe and seen by you. Everything else is built on that.

2.Observe. What they like, what bothers them, when they're calm and available, when they're overwhelmed. No strategy works without this.

3.Start with words that open up options (core vocabulary). Instead of starting with the names of things ("cookie," "car"), start with words that work in a thousand different situations: more, want, look, go, stop, help, come, yes, no, I, you (you can find these in the AsTeRICS Grid software we already installed). These are the ones we use all day long, and they give the person tools that work in any context, not just in front of one object. 

4.Model: use the system while you talk to them. Tap the word "give" on the screen when you say "do you want me to give it to you?" or as you hand them something they asked for. You're showing them how it's used, naturally, without demanding that they respond. It's like learning a new language: there's a time when you receive and absorb a lot before you communicate. That silence isn't a lack of progress, it's part of the process. 

5.Be patient with timing. A response can take a while, and that's okay. And in moments of crisis, don't demand: support. 

6.Start with what matters to them. Their sports team, their show, their favorite topic. Communication blossoms from interest, not from obligation.

7.Respond for real; don't reward. When they communicate something, respond the way you'd respond to anyone. Keep your promises: that's how trust is built. 

8.Never take their voice away as punishment. The device is theirs, always. Especially on the hard days. 

And if at some point you feel stuck, go back to step 1. Almost always, the answer is there: in the bond, in looking at the person in front of you.

A note on different starting points

There's something many guides take for granted: that we all come to AAC from the same place: a young child just beginning, who doesn't use words yet. But in real life, there are many starting points. There are those who support a person who has never used a device, and those who support someone who already handles one and who maybe first needs to distinguish "this device is for communicating, this other one is for my interests." There are children, but also adolescents and adults. 

And there are those who speak most of the time, but who, when they become dysregulated, feel their voice taken hostage. For them, having a system on hand is what gives them back access to communicating right when they need it most. Because AAC doesn't take speech away from anyone: it adds a path for when words fall short.

And here, too, it isn't always about modeling. There are people, especially adults, who don't need anyone to teach them how to use their system — they simply need the tool to be available, on hand, and free of stigma. For those who are learning, on the other hand, modeling looks different in each case: some people connect faster if they see you use it at first; others need it to be only theirs from the start, and to model without taking their voice you can use a low-tech duplicate, a printed board with the same symbols.

There's no single right way, and whatever stage you arrive at is okay. If the road to AAC were orderly and fair, we'd all start out even — but it isn't: it's messy and unfair, and it leaves each person managing as best they can from where they are. That the system fails you is not your fault, and it doesn't have to stop you. The guide, always, is the same: observe the person in front of you and move toward their voice becoming more and more their own.

Resources to keep going

Here I'm leaving you free, trustworthy material to support you. I chose sources that are respected in the AAC world and that understand communication from a place of respect, not as a training exercise.

To learn to support and model

AssistiveWare has a free learning section, Learn AAC, that's among the best out there. If I had to recommend where to start: their modeling guide. The heart of it is modeling without demand: you show the person how the system works without ever requiring them to copy you. The AAC Language Lab puts the same idea in a phrase worth carrying with you: inspire communication, don't require it.

– Start modeling

– Aided Language Stimulation

– Top strategies for using AAC at home

For reading together, Emerge Pediatric Therapy has a guide on shared reading and AAC, built on the idea that reading is for connecting and enjoying, not for testing.

– AAC & Literacy

Free low-tech material (to print and pair with the app)

The nice thing here is that you can make a paper version that's identical to your digital board, so the person has the same layout whether they're on the device or on paper — a vital backup when the battery runs out or a screen isn't an option.

– For a free 36-word core board in English: the Smarty Symbols version of Project Core's universal board, or one of Project Core's own printable Universal Core boards in several layouts.

– For bilingual Spanish/English families, Bilingüe AAC offers a free 36-word bilingual core board.

– And if you support a person with low vision, Project Core offers something rare: 3D tactile symbols you can print.

References

• Banajee, M., DiCarlo, C., & Stricklin, S. B. (2003). Core vocabulary determination for toddlers. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 19(2), 67–73. https://doi.org/10.1080/0743461031000112034
• Schlosser, R. W., & Wendt, O. (2008). Effects of augmentative and alternative communication intervention on speech production in children with autism: A systematic review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 17(3), 212–230. https://doi.org/10.1044/1058-0360(2008/021)
• American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). (n.d.). Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) [Practice Portal]. https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/professional-issues/augmentative-and-alternative-communication/