How to Redefine Stimming on AAC Devices

How many times have you heard:  "They are just stimming on their device.” The implication here is typically that students aren’t using their AAC system functionally with purpose. 

In this blog post, I’ve teamed up with Laura Hayes (@AACinnovations) to take a magnifying glass and zoom in on how AAC learners may “stim” on their devices and how we can utilize this information to better support them. Click here to check out this series on Instagram. And be sure to visit Laura’s website and watch her AAC in the Cloud presentation to learn more about stimming and AAC.

“The big takeaway: Stimming has a purpose, and when we redefine these behaviors, we can support our AAC user’s regulation AND develop more meaningful communication exchanges and connections”

Below are the different types of stimming that our AAC learners might be engaging in (see image below). 

Exploration/Babbling 

Typically developing babies need to practice playing with the sounds in words (i.e. babbling) for an entire year before they start communicating intentionally with words. So when we introduce a child to language through AAC (regardless of how old they are), we have to give them adequate time to explore their device and learn how to use it to communicate meaningfully and intentionally. We can’t skip over this essential part of typical language development.

Communication partners are absolutely vital to this process and can help teach AAC learners how to use the words they are exploring by attributing meaning. This means that when an AAC learner activates a message, communication partners respond to that as if it was on purpose.  

Just because AAC activations may appear random or off-topic to the listener, doesn’t necessarily mean the child is stimming. It simply means they’re exploring and learning how to use language! When communication partners ascribe meaning to a child’s words it teaches them the meaning of those words and how to use them more intentionally. 

Specific/Preferred Vocabulary 

AAC learners are often ignored or discouraged from repeating preferred vocabulary on their device. This can result in frustration for the AAC learner, device abandonment, and lack of AAC progress simply because communication partners discredit this as "stimming" and "non-purposeful communication.”

By re-framing an AAC learner's repeated use of preferred vocabulary we can acknowledge the communication as meaningful, and look at how it might open up opportunities to incorporate the vocabulary across new teaching contexts to build off a learner's strengths.

Echolalia/Scripting 

Daniel Tiger, Sophia the First, Finding Nemo, and Baby Shark—how many learners do you know who recite scripts from their favorite TV shows, songs, and movies?  

Children using delayed echolalia (or scripting) are typically biased towards gestalt language processing, meaning they learn language through chunked phrases instead of learning to use single words and combine those words into phrases over time. 

Instead of removing the device or ignoring these scripted messages, it’s crucial that we acknowledge a child's scripts as meaningful communication and work closely with communication partners to discover their communicative intent. 

To learn more about gestalt processing follow Alexandria Zachos over @meaningfulspeech and read more about the Natural Language Acquisition Framework by Marge Blanc. 

Auditory Self-Stimulation 

We all use different forms of self-stimulation (e.g., tapping our foot, twirling our hair, biting our nails) to help get ourselves regulated. For AAC learners, they sometimes use the auditory output of their device as a way to self-regulate.

If a child's sensory and emotional systems are not regulated, it's nearly impossible for them to focus and learn. Just think about a toddler who is having a meltdown—when emotions and senses are heightened, it is important to support regulation first and foremost. The same is true for our AAC learners.

It can get tricky when children are using their device for self-stimulation AND also for meaningful communication exchanges.

Bottom line: Regulation and communication don’t have to be treated as separate entities—we can focus on supporting regulation needs, self-advocacy, and increasing meaningful communication all at the same time!

We hope that this blog post helped you start re-thinking stimming and AAC and helped you see “stimming” as a way to gather even more information to better help support students and their communication development. 

If you liked this blog post, don’t forget to share it! We want to spread this message far and wide.  And don’t forget to check out this series on Instagram and follow us for even more AAC insights @rachelmadelslp & @AACinnovations 

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