ABSTRACT
Aided Language Stimulation provides a social context for communication. In typical language development, a child is immersed in a language-rich environment from birth. The child hears spoken language from the moment they wake up to the moment they are tucked into bed at night. They are exposed to a rich a varied vocabulary, myriad phrases and sentence constructions, and an appropriate range of pragmatic functions in different social situations. Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) users also need to be immersed in Aided Language Stimulation from the moment they wake up to when they are tucked into bed at night. This chapter provides 10 top tips for Aided Language Stimulation which might be shared with parents, carers and teaching staff. For a more formal approach, they might be used in Adult- or Parent-Child Interaction Therapy. It is important that such approaches always emphasise what the communication partner is already doing to support communication.
