ABSTRACT
Attention and listening is likely to improve because adults will tend to use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) to talk about what the child is interested in. Whilst AAC can be demanding on a child's attention skills, it offers opportunities to practise coordinating looking and listening, and switching attention between an interesting event and the AAC, and back again. Receptive language is likely to improve following the introduction of AAC because language is made more tangible. AAC is more effortful, time-consuming and frustrating than speech. Parents are very good at interpreting their child's non-verbal communication. They are highly attuned to every facial or body movement, however subtle. The newer the technology, the more likely it is to go wrong. Therefore, no-tech, low-tech and light-tech AAC are an essential balance to high-tech. If a high-tech device needs to go in for repair for a few days, then the AAC user needs to have a backup means of communicating.
