Inclusive Holiday Moments: Helping Kids Shine with AAC
By: Taylor Maggard, M.A. ccc-SLP
The holiday season is a wonderful time for connection, traditions, and joy. Whether your family celebrates Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Diwali, Winter Solstice, or simply enjoys cozy winter days together, it’s a perfect opportunity for children to use their AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) systems to participate and express themselves.
Holiday Favorites Page
One way to support communication is by creating a “holiday favorites” page on your child’s AAC device. Include words related to decorations, foods, music, and family—like lights, candles, gifts, celebrate, or favorite treats. This allows children to share preferences, ask questions, and comment on what they enjoy most about the season.
Take a look at this holiday AAC Core Board, filled with words and phrases that can help your child express themselves during this festive season!
Merry & Bright Words
Cooking, baking, and decorating together are natural ways to encourage AAC use. While mixing ingredients, lighting candles, or making crafts, model words such as:
- help
- more
- done
- pretty
- happy
- together
Encourage your child to request items, describe what they see or smell, and share feelings about the activity. High tech devices can be placed inside of a plastic zip bag to protect them during messy activities, and still be activated by touch!
Unwrapping Holiday Words
Gift giving and quiet moments are also opportunities to practice communication. Let your child use AAC to help choose gifts, say thank you, or comment on cozy traditions like drinking cocoa or listening to music.
When visiting or hosting gatherings, help others communicate with your child by introducing the device early with either a preprogrammed message used by the child, or with caregivers explaining how their child communicates with AAC. Gentle reminders to others that AAC communicators may need extra wait time to communicate their full message may also be helpful!
By incorporating AAC into holiday traditions, children build confidence, strengthen connections, and fully share in the season’s joy. At
Hogg Therapy Pediatrics, we wish all families a warm, inclusive, and communicative holiday season filled with laughter and love!
