The DTA Blog

Families and school teams work incredibly hard to support students who need AAC. Devices get ordered. Apps get installed. Vocabulary gets selected. And then real life happens.

This week, a new Barbie showed up with a detail that feels small until you sit with it: Barbie with Autism is holding an AAC device.

In the world of school-based AAC implementation, districts sometimes wrestle with the question:“Should we pick one AAC system for all of our students?”

One of the most overlooked—and most critically important—roles of AAC is its power to develop language, not merely replace speech.

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We’ve all seen it: an adult places their hand over a student’s hand to guide them to a button or symbol on their AAC device. It looks supportive—but in reality, it’s taking away the most important part of communication: agency.