About this activity
Fourteen symbols for the requests that fill a day: I want, I need, more, all done, help, break, eat, drink, bathroom, my turn, stop, go, different, open. Requesting is where most AAC use begins, for the obvious reason that it produces an immediate and visible result — and this set covers most of what a young student needs before any topic vocabulary is added.
How to use it in a session
Model in the moment rather than at a table. More at snack, open at a door, break when the work is hard — the word attached to the situation is learned far faster than the word on a card. Stop and break are the two worth prioritising, because they are the messages whose absence usually gets expressed as behaviour instead. Ten minutes on the board, then a session of modelling.
What to listen for
Watch for break and stop being used before the difficulty rather than after it. A student who requests a break when already overwhelmed has the vocabulary and not the timing, and the timing is the target. Notice different, which is a refinement rather than a request and is often the last of these to appear.
Carrying it home
Families can create the opportunities without adding any work. A preferred item in sight and out of reach, a container that needs opening, an activity that pauses — each one makes a request necessary rather than optional.
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Kindergarten through fifth grade, and any emergent AAC user building a requesting vocabulary.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all fourteen symbols play with no account.
- Which symbol should be easiest to reach?
- Help, break and stop. Those are the messages whose absence produces a real problem, so they should be one hit from wherever the student usually is on the system.