AAC Basics: Motor Planning

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A post shared by Halle Demchuk, MSc(A), SLP (@haepislp)

Motor planning is the "muscle memory" that we all have when doing tasks, such as typing, driving, or even knowing where to reach your phone in the middle of the night.

For children who use AAC programs (such as LAMP Words for Life that you see pictured here), it is so important (I can't stress this enough!) to keep that motor plan consistent from the start. This means not limiting the screen to only a few buttons in the grid. The child's vocabulary will inevitably grow, and it is going to be so frustrating for them to have to relearn the motor plan for each word again and again.

Usually, we recommend starting with the max number of words available (or at the very least, the maximum grid size) and hide buttons that aren't needed right away.

You'll also notice that I try not to complete a partial motor plan. I may guide with a point or help him figure out where to go, but if I immediately opened to the "vegetables" page for him, he would not learn the plan to get there. Similarly, when I model words, I try to model the entire plan for him.

A lot of my clients use LAMP Words for Life due the motor planning aspect, and that's why I am proficient at using it upside down (since I have now learned that plan too!). We add gestalts on an individual basis, but I do see the huge advantage of this system for educating teachers, paras, support staff, etc. as the system is standardized while still allowing for customization!

by Halle Demchuk, SLP

Paediatric SLP | GLP-Trained Clinician | Owner of HAEPI SLP