Supporting Augmented Communication in the home and in the community

Supporting students with augmented communication devices is just as important at home and in the community as it is at school. By using the communication device within the home and community will reinforce the skills learned in school and helps then transfer and generalize them into other settings. Because the transfer of skills would greatly benefit the student, it is very important that school and home communicate effectively with each other. First off, training of the device should be provided to the family so that they know how to operate the device and troubleshoot if something goes wrong.

Other tips for implementing the communication device in the home and community are below:

• Provide Direct instruction on using the system 
• Identify key vocabulary relevant to the student's home and community
• Teach Family Members to provice opportunities for communication
• Provide simple data and evaluation sheets for home/community
• Give permission to parents to expand studnet's communication
• Keep it simple

For ways to help the child communicate with people who are less knowledgeable about the device, you as a teacher should plan assemblies, field trips or other special activities that will get the student to communicate with unfamiliar people.