ABSTRACT
AAC is not a natural way of communicating to most people, and so they will inevitably find it weird and awkward at first. The rate of communication is slower, and this can disrupt the normal ‘to and fro’ rhythm of conversation. Communication is about connection with another human being. We connect with other human beings primarily through our non-verbal communication: eye-contact, proximity, and mirroring of body language and facial expressions. Non-verbal communication is how we convey emotional nuance to our spoken or AAC messages. Communication is typically slower when using AAC. The rate of AAC speech is generally under 10 words per minute, where spoken language is over 125 words per minute. Communication partners have to get comfortable with silence, whilst they wait for the AAC user to compose a message.
