Alternative & Augmentative Communication (AAC)
Alternative & Augmentative Communication (AAC)
What is AAC?
Augmentative & Alternative Communication (AAC) includes tools, systems, and strategies that support individuals who benefit from additional ways to communicate beyond spoken language. AAC can help individuals express their thoughts, wants, needs, ideas, and feelings in meaningful and empowering ways.
At Creative Therapy Associates, we believe communication looks different for everyone. AAC is not intended to replace speech, but rather to support connection, self-expression, participation, and independence across everyday environments.
Who May Benefit from AAC?
AAC can support individuals who experience difficulty communicating through spoken language alone. For many children, youth, and adults, AAC provides a compassionate and supportive way to express wants, needs, thoughts, emotions, and ideas while reducing frustration and helping others better understand them.
AAC may benefit individuals who:
-Experience frustration when trying to communicate
-Benefit from visual, supportive, or alternative methods of communication
-Are minimally speaking, nonspeaking, or prefer access to multiple forms of communication
-Have speech, language, or motor-planning differences, including Childhood --Apraxia of Speech
-Have developmental or neurological differences
-Need additional support participating in social interactions, learning environments, home routines, or community activities
At Creative Therapy Associates, we believe every individual deserves access to communication that feels empowering, meaningful, and respected. AAC can help foster connection, confidence, independence, and participation in everyday life.
