“I don’t want him to use AAC because then he won’t talk”. “That’s too complicated for him”. “She’s too young”. “But they can talk”. “I don’t want him having anymore screen time”. AAC myths like these can close the door to communication before we even start our first day of intervention. With more families accessing information online, therapists and educators must have better strategies to address myths and misinformation about AAC. This talk will help you uncover the origins of these myths and provide you with the research refuting them. We will include a variety of handouts addressing these myths directly. Because people need more than just “facts” to move beyond misinformation, this talk will also walk through a variety of tools from the CDC’s (2024) Practical Playbook for Addressing Health Misinformation and other sources to have better discussions about AAC misinformation. We will categorize various types of misinformation by its origin in order to get to the heart of the issue. For example, is the myth based on such “outdated research” or is it being spread by someone providing certainty during an uncertain situation. We will also discuss how to best target your message to relevant parties. We will also discuss important questions to ask misinformation spreaders as well as preventative strategies you can use to stop AAC misinformation in the first place. This presentation will also discuss the presenter’s personal experience of being a newly graduated speech-language pathologist who found herself surrounded by other professionals who believed and used a lot of these AAC myths and the changes she made in her personal approach to myth-busting.
Speech Language Pathologist, Stottlemyer Early Childhood Center
Christel Ciolino is a preschool speech-language pathologist at Stottlemyer Early Childhood Center. She has been introducing students and families to AAC for the last 6 years and has a special love for helping students with physical and sensory needs access communication devices. When... Read More →
