Back-to-School with the AAC Language Lab: A Year of Communication Growth Starts Here!
As backpacks are packed, classrooms are prepared, and therapy schedules begin to fill, many AAC teams are asking the same question:
How do we support communication growth from day one?
Whether you're a speech-language pathologist, educator, parent, or communication partner, the start of a new school year is a great time to set meaningful goals, establish routines, and create opportunities for AAC users to communicate throughout their day.
That's why we're excited to launch our Back-to-School AAC Language Lab Campaign! Over the next several weeks, we'll be sharing practical AAC ideas, implementation strategies, activities, and featured resources on our Facebook page and our new Instagram account,@AACLanguageLab. Each post is designed to help you move beyond planning and into action with simple, evidence-informed tools that support real-world communication.
What Is the AAC Language Lab?
The AAC Language Lab is an online resource and implementation platform designed to support language development and communication for AAC users. It provides a variety of tools, lesson plans, activities, curriculum supports, and resources that help communication partners make informed decisions about instruction and implementation. The platform is designed for speech-language pathologists, educators, parents, and caregivers and helps users move from assessment and planning to meaningful communication practice.
The AAC Language Lab helps answer questions such as:
- Where should I start?
- What skills should I target next?
- Which activities match my AAC user's current communication needs?
- How do I carry over AAC goals into everyday routines at home and school?
One of the strengths of the AAC Language Lab is that it connects tools such as the Language Skills Survey, the 6 Language Stages, activities, lesson plans, and support resources into a practical workflow that helps guide intervention and implementation.
Bringing AAC Into Everyday Life
AAC success doesn't happen only during therapy sessions. The most meaningful communication growth occurs when AAC is supported consistently across environments and communication partners.
As Jamie Rosenstein of Expansion Speech Therapy explains:
"Ever wonder 'how do we practice this at home?' — you're not alone! Language Lab's activities are the perfect bridge between speech sessions and everyday life. Each one includes step-by-step instructions, words to focus on, materials to use, and smart charts to help find the target words."
This idea captures what makes the AAC Language Lab unique. Activities and lesson plans are designed to help communication partners feel confident implementing AAC through meaningful interactions, while providing guidance on objectives, vocabulary targets, materials, and implementation supports.
Clinical Recommendations for the Start of the School Year
As you begin a new school year, consider these AAC best practices:
- Start with a communication snapshot. Take time to learn about the AAC user's strengths, interests, communication partners, and environments.
- Use the Language Skills Survey. A quick survey can help identify the AAC user's current language stage and guide goal selection.
- Focus on meaningful communication opportunities. Prioritize communication that is relevant and motivating to the AAC user.
- Model consistently. Communication partners play a critical role in language development by modeling language throughout everyday activities.
- Build carryover across settings. Select activities that can be used in therapy, classrooms, and at home to create consistent learning opportunities.
New Features to Explore This Year
We've been busy making updates to the AAC Language Lab, and we're excited to highlight some of the newest features during our Back-to-School campaign.
Language Skills Survey
The updated Language Skills Survey helps communication partners identify an AAC user's current language stage and supports goal-setting and progress monitoring. The survey is designed to help users determine where to begin and what skills to target next.
Favorites
One of our most requested features is here!
The new Favorites feature allows subscribers to save frequently used activities, lesson plans, and tools for quick access. Create your own collection of go-to resources and personalize your AAC Language Lab experience.
Smart Charts
Smart Charts continue to be a valuable implementation support by helping users quickly locate target vocabulary within their chosen language system.
New and Updated Resources
In the coming weeks, we'll be highlighting a variety of updated and expanded resources, including:
- The AAC Language Lab Guide
- Literacy intervention supports
- Communication partner resources
- Curriculum connections
- Manual boards and implementation materials
- The Culturally Inclusive Checklist
- Lesson plans and activities organized by language stage
Many of these resources have been updated to help teams plan, implement, and support communication throughout the school year.
Follow Along All Season Long
Our Back-to-School campaign is designed to provide practical ideas you can put into action right away. Each week, we'll spotlight specific AAC Language Lab tools and resources, share implementation tips, and offer strategies to support communication growth in classrooms, therapy sessions, and homes.
And don't forget—our featured Back-to-School articles will be hosted on the Making AAC Work Blog, located within the AAC Language Lab. There you'll find expanded tips, implementation ideas, success stories, and deeper dives into the resources highlighted on social media.
So grab your favorite AAC resources, follow us on Facebook and Instagram (@AACLanguageLab), and join us as we kick off a new year of communication, learning, and growth.
Let's make this school year one where every AAC user has opportunities to communicate, connect, and thrive.
See you next week for our first featured resource and implementation tip!
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