AAC: Job Interview Phrases
Pre-stored phrases for an AAC user going into a first job interview.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Pre-store everything and then practise the timing. An interview is a series of questions with a socially expected response window, and the whole task is getting inside it. Run mock interviews with someone the student has not met, and let the silences sit — an interviewer who fills them is the realistic case, and I'm available after 3 p.m. on weekdays needs to arrive while the question is still live. Finish with I'd like to follow up by email, which converts a hard live exchange into a medium the student controls.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentSet up the moment, then wait with an expectant look for 10 seconds.Log as correct
- GesturePoint toward the device or the right area of the page.Log as cued
- ModelTouch the symbols on the device yourself while you say the message.Log as cued
- Partial physicalOnly if the team agrees and the student accepts touch: a light touch at the elbow toward the page. Never press the symbol for them.Log as cued
Adjust it
Fewer symbols on the page, and model the message several times before you expect it.
Wait longer before prompting, or expect one more symbol in the message.
Matching IEP goal
During structured activities, Student will use their AAC system to use work-related phrases such as greetings, requests and thanks in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than a gestural prompt.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Eight phrases for a first interview: Thank you for meeting with me. I'm interested in this position. I have experience with customer service. I use a device to speak — give me a moment to answer. Can you tell me about the schedule? What are the next steps? That fourth phrase does more than the other seven combined, because it tells the interviewer what the pauses mean.
What to listen for
Watch what happens after a question the student has no stored answer for. The recoverable outcome is a disclosure phrase and a slow answer; the unrecoverable one is silence that the interviewer reads as no answer. Notice whether the student uses the device introduction early rather than after the first awkward pause — early changes the whole interview.
Carrying it home
Practise with adults outside the family who will behave like strangers. A parent asking interview questions is useful once; a neighbour or a family friend asking them is closer to the real thing, and the difference in pressure is the point.
What's in this activity
- Thank you for meeting with me.
- I'm interested in this position.
- I have experience with customer service.
- I use a device to speak -- give me a moment to answer.
- Can you tell me about the schedule?
- What are the next steps?
- I'm available after 3 p.m. on weekdays.
- I'd like to follow up by email.
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Ninth through twelfth, aligned with transition and vocational goals.
- Do I need an account?
- No, it plays free in the browser. An account is only for assigning it or scoring it toward a goal.
- Should the student disclose device use up front?
- That is the student's decision, and worth discussing rather than deciding for them. The phrase is on the board so the option is available and fast, not so it is mandatory.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.