I have been asked for advice on how to pick an AAC app twice today – so I thought I would jot down what I know in case it could be a help to other parents getting started on this journey.
First of all let me be clear that I am not an SLP and whenever possible it would be best to get an AAC evaluation from an SLP/AAC-specialist.
It is my understanding that you can get your AAC app or device in one of three ways:
- You can have your child evaluated within your school district – in this case the AAC device chosen will be owned/provided by the school district. From what I have heard in various AAC facebook groups different school districts may have different policies regarding the students’ ability to take these home after school or during vacation breaks.
- If your insurance covers AAC or speech generated devices you can have your doctor write a prescription for an AAC evaluation from a private SLP/AAC specialist who will determine which device will fit your child after trying out a couple of different types and will fill out the paperwork with your health insurance for the device.
- You can purchase an iPad and an AAC app yourself. You can do this and have it in your hands right away. You may need to work with your student’s school to get use of this ipad/AAC use written into their IEP.
Choice 1: AAC provided by the school:
This is the option I actually know the least about. I would recommend contacting the Special Education department of your child’s school to see about getting your child evaluated by the school district.
Choice 2: AAC provided by personal health insurance:
This is the route that we went. In 2015 my daughter was receiving speech therapy both in school and privately. When we weren’t making progress with my daughter’s speech delay the private speech therapist mentioned pursuing an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) evaluation. She had to mention this more than once to us as we slowly warmed to the idea. Once we decided to get our daughter evaluated we had our doctor write a perscription for an AAC evaluation and our private speech therapist gave us a list of three or four places that she knew did evaluations. All of them were over an hour away and most of them had a several month wait – we ended up hearing from a friend that they had a great experience going to location that didn’t have a wait so we decided to go there as well. In our case we had an evaluation done at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After the evaluation the SLP at Mary Free Bed worked with our insurance and the device company to get the device. In our case it took several months and some fighting with insurance to get the device.
My daughter has a NovaChat10 with WordPower vocabulary set. If insurance didn’t cover it we would have purchased an ipad, an AAC app and a good case and paid for them out of pocket.
Choice 3: Purchasing an AAC app for an iPad
There are many great choices for iPad AAC apps. To get an idea of the options that are out there there is a great figure including all the current apps out there. The most common apps out there are TouchChat/NovaChat, Proloquo2Go, Dynavox, Snap+Core, and Speak for Yourself. Please see this helpful figure of the options out there: http://www.callscotland.org.uk/common-assets/cm-files/posters/ipad-apps-for-complex-communication-support-needs.pdf
You will notice that most of the apps that I just mentioned can be found in the section of the figure between 2 & 4 o’clock in the figure. This section has a lot of good options and many of them go on sale or up to 50% off a couple of times a year for Autism Awareness Month (April) and AAC Awareness Month (October).
If you have some specific questions about apps I would encourage joining the following facebook groups – they have AAC SLPs, parents, and users from all around the word and are a fantastic resource and members often post updates on AAC app sales:
Facebook Groups:
AAC – Alternative Awesome Communicators
AAC through Motivate, Model, and Move Out of the Way
Additionally there are some great AAC families that are sharing their experience online on Facebook and Youtube:
Uncommon Sense Blog Facebook Page (uses Speak For Yourself)
Lotsacomptons Facebook Page & youtube (uses Tobii Dynavox)
We Speak PODD Facebook Page & youtube (uses PODD)
I also have a blog post about my favorite AAC resources which is a great place to start if someone is wondering where to look to teach themselves about AAC.
https://aacmodelingideas.wordpress.com/2018/01/25/favorite-aac-online-resources/
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