AAC Without Borders: Practical Strategies for Supporting Communication Across Cultures, Languages, and Resource Contexts

Abstract

Speech-language pathologists, educators, and interdisciplinary teams increasingly serve AAC users whose communication needs extend across countries, cultures, languages, and systems of support. Across these varied contexts, AAC implementation reflects a wide range of strengths, experiences, resources, and community supports. Some teams benefit from robust AAC technologies, specialized training, and interdisciplinary collaboration, while others build meaningful communication opportunities through creative problem-solving, family knowledge, low-tech tools, and local partnerships. Recognizing this global variation helps professionals design AAC supports that are responsive, practical, and sustainable for each learner, family, and setting.

This session centers on a critical question: How can professionals design AAC supports that are both culturally and linguistically responsive and realistic within the resources available to each learner and family?

Participants will explore a practical, adaptable framework that acknowledges wide variation in AAC knowledge, access, and family support across global contexts. Grounded in culturally responsive practice, the session emphasizes that effective AAC implementation must begin with understanding the learner’s home language(s), dialect(s), cultural identity, and communication priorities, while also considering the realities of their environment- including available technology, training, consistency of support, and opportunities for practice.

Core vocabulary approaches are underpinned by a strong and well-established evidence base and play a key role in supporting generative communication. However, vocabulary and language structures are not universally transferable across languages, and research indicates that core vocabulary alone may not always fully represent the concepts needed for meaningful communication across cultures. This session therefore focuses on supporting participants to move beyond a “one-size-fits-all” model of AAC. Participants will examine how semantic primes can provide a flexible starting point for identifying shared underlying concepts across languages, while still allowing for language-specific grammar and culturally meaningful vocabulary to be incorporated.

The session also addresses the need to move beyond traditional core vocabulary by intentionally including relational and basic concepts – such as spatial, temporal, and comparative terms – that are essential for academic participation and daily communication yet often underrepresented in AAC systems.

Importantly, participants will learn how to apply these principles within real-world constraints. For example, some teams may rely on high-tech AAC systems with multilingual capabilities, while others may use low-tech boards or partner-assisted communication due to limited access. Families may vary in their familiarity with AAC, available time for implementation, or consistency of communication partners. This session will provide strategies for adapting AAC supports across this spectrum – ensuring that recommendations are feasible, sustainable, and aligned with family priorities rather than idealized conditions. Research and practice guidance emphasize the importance of aligning AAC intervention with family context and available supports to promote meaningful communication outcomes.

Participants will also explore how to build culturally inclusive AAC systems that reflect the learner’s lived experiences. This includes incorporating home-language vocabulary across word classes, recognizing dialect differences as valid language forms, embedding culturally relevant routines and materials, and supporting translanguaging across communication partners and settings.

To support immediate implementation, the session introduces a step-by-step planning process that can be used across settings and resource levels. This includes: identifying language use across environments, gathering family perspectives and priorities, reviewing available tools and supports, checking for gaps in vocabulary (including semantic primes and relational concepts), and selecting a small set of meaningful, culturally relevant targets to implement right away. These steps align with culturally responsive AAC frameworks that prioritize collaboration, flexibility, and real-life communication opportunities.

Participants will leave with practical tools, including a global AAC planning framework, culturally inclusive vocabulary checklist, and adaptable strategies for implementing AAC within a range of resource contexts. The goal is for attendees to leave equipped not only with knowledge, but with immediate, actionable steps to create more equitable, relevant, and effective AAC systems for the individuals and families they serve – regardless of geography or access.