Lauren Enders Gonzales, MA, CCC - SLP

10/29/2025

10/29/2025

A new update just released includes:
* An additional 200 highly optimized core/common images 🎉

10/29/2025

10/29/2025

Kacey is seven years old and began using Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) a few months before her second birthday.Nicole, Kacey's mom, remind...

10/29/2025

Thanks for sharing, Cashina C Rodriguez

What is interoception?

>>> https://www.kelly-mahler.com/what-is-interoception/

10/29/2025

Another peak for what's coming this way with the new editing interface but on a mobile device.

The board presented is a vertical core 40 board with scrolling disabled.

We also believe we hunted down an illusive bug on custom audio recording playback that was impacting some users, so that will come out with this release as well.

If you want to get a feel for how this may work, check out Weave Chat Connect (weavechatconnect.com).

10/28/2025

It’s Halloween Week!

Hope you all have a spooktacular time ❤️🎃

10/28/2025

10/28/2025

Our Board Chair Jordyn Zimmerman advocates that people who need & use AAC must be leaders & co-designers of AAC technologies. She writes about this in Impact, a journal from the Institute on Community Integration. She's featured in its 40 Big Ideas issue! https://lnk.to/bigidea

[Image: A smiling Jordyn Zimmerman takes her place at a conference table. On the table in front of Jordyn is her AAC device, an iPad.]

10/26/2025

Via OMazing Kids

‘How does he communicate?’
I get asked that often.
By professionals and well meaning strangers.

And my stock answer is, ‘body language, facial expressions and vocalisations’.

These three photos are absolute favourites of mine. No words needed; what Hugh is thinking is right there in his face, his body language and in his vocalisations (which you can’t hear but can imagine in that middle photo).

You see, for a child or young person who is reliant on others to have all of their basic needs met; being fed, getting dressed, personal care, moving around … in fact accessing absolutely anything at all in this world, then a really important thing to be able to communicate is no.

No!
NO!
Stop!
I don’t want to!
I don’t like this!
F**k off!
Leave me alone!

No! No! NO!

Be it being made to get up too early in the morning (picture 1), or your dog being all up in your face and annoying (picture 2) or your Mom doing your head in taking photos of you (picture 3), being able to communicate no/stop is an underrated but unbelievably important skill.

It doesn’t make life easy. If he doesn’t want to get dressed, he’ll refuse. And it is near on impossible to get a pair of trousers on an angry young man, that’s bigger than me, and with legs that he resolutely refuses to bend.
I don’t fight that.
I respect his right to say no.
He’s 15.
If he doesn’t want to get up and get dressed on Saturday so be it. (Thankfully, he’s usually still asleep/half asleep when he’s being dressed for school or that would be an unbelievable daily battle).

When you can’t use spoken word to communicate. Being able to communicate ‘NO’ is probably the most important skill of all.