AloraTea

From left to right, top to bottom: happy wave, talking, rest at table, pondering, loaf, staring at ceiling, laying on top, happy mouth open, putting my entire hand flat on your face

Glad to be joining this community :) stay tuned for more and feel free to give requests eheheh

howdy!

the key to getting comfortable with AAC is using it in situations that YOU perceive as low stakes. generally, situations where being misunderstood does not result in drastic consequences can be considered a low stakes situation.

for some folks, this might mean using it with trusted friends or family, because being around people who support you can make a stressful situation calmer.

for others, this might mean using it in public with strangers (like to order coffee, etc) because the anonymity lends itself to like, if it goes horribly you never have to see them again in ur life.

once you get the hang of that, you can move on to things that you perceive as higher stakes, ie, things that dont have a super drastic consequence for being misunderstood.

for me, this looked like, doctors appointments, school and lab before i dropped out, and interacting with authorities such as law enforcement.

hope this helps you anon <3

sorry if this is poorly worded, let me know if anything needs clarification.

i hope something good happens to you today!

(there are very many people who do this, actually. they can speak but it comes out in a way that changes the meaning of what they want to say, or speaking causes them too much pain even though they can do it, or just to save energy in between speech loss episodes.)

you don't need the stamp of nonverbal or mute to use your AAC all the time. it's literally allowed and you can do it.

shoutout to autistics who don't / are unable to have encyclopedic knowledge of their special interests.

shoutout to autistics whose special interests feel unsafe or tainted by traumatic experiences.

shoutout to autistics whose special interests are considered to not be useful or profitable.

shoutout to autistics whose special interests are called "boring" by others.

shoutout to autistics who can't remember all of their old special interests.

shoutout to autistics who rotate between many special interests, and can't think about the others while focused on one.

shoutout to autistics who don't have any special interests and feel left out due to it.

shoutout to autistics who feel like they don't deserve to call their interests "special".

shoutout to autistics who feel embarrassed or ashamed about their special interests.

shoutout to autistics who aren't allowed to spend money on their special interests.

shoutout to autistics who can't financially afford to participate in their special interests.

shoutout to autistics who can't participate in their special interests because it's illegal where they live.

shoutout to autistics who can't participate in their special interests due to physical disability or other medical reasons.

It helps to not think of AAC as a set of things and more as a type of communication, one that doesn't necessitate relying on speech.

One popular form of no tech AAC are called communication cards. communication cards cost money though, and you can diy them if you have the right materials, and i bit of help if you need it. (my grandma helped when i made mine) anyways, there are lots of ways you could make communication cards, but for now im just going to post a little of phrases that are good to start with on your communications cards, and you can add more as needed.

here’s the list of phrases i thought were good to include, becuase when u started making mine, my brains sort of froze and couldn’t think of anything. it’s taken me awhile to refine this whole list, and took lots of trial and error to find out phrases that i might need in the moment, so having a starting point might help, and i love to help people out!

I’m

in pain

dizzy

hot

cold

thirsty

hungry

on my period

overstimulated

unable to talk right now 

not ready

I feel

sick

okay

happy

overwhelmed

upset

confused

sad

uncomfortable

scared

I need

a break

space

help

to rest

something to keep my hands busy

new pants

time

I want

to go home

to be left alone

my headphones

my blanket

Can I

have Tylenol

have a hug

have a pad or tampon

go to the bathroom

Can you

please lower your voice

please talk for me

explain

repeat that

rephrase that

Please

stop

stay with me

I have

a headache

cramps

It’s too…

loud

bright

much

What…

are we doing next?

is that?

should I do?

Where…

is the bathroom?

are we going?

can I sit?

When…

are we leaving?

will it start?

can I go?

will you be done?

How…

do I do this?

does that work?

are you feeling?

Why…

is that happening?

can’t I go?

are we doing this?

not?

Standalone phrases

yes

no

maybe

I agree

I disagree

I don’t know

please

thank you

you’re welcome

hi

bye

I love you

soon

later

btw, you probably noticed at some point that there is a few afab specific phrases relating to period needs, so if you don’t get a period then your obviously more then welcome to not add that into your list .

i really hope that i can help people benefit from this!! 🖤🖤🫶

- they

- them

- their

- themself

- he

- him

- his

- himself

- he

- him

- his

- himself

- she

- her

- hers

- herself

- dont want

- wont want

- didnt want

- eat

- will eat

- ate/eaten

- like

- will like

- liked

"do not correct my words"

"do not correct my language"

Both symbols were requested on the AACIL Discord server