Our AAC Journey

October is AAC Awareness Month and we wanted to pose the questions, “What does AAC awareness mean to you?” We received many different answers and over the next couple of weeks we’ll be posting them. Today’s response is from Candice Wilkinson. She is a former Early Childhood Care Professional, a wife, and mother to two neurodiverse children. Candice has also held positions in charitable organizations and in her spare time enjoys reading and crocheting.  

Our Journey with AAC

By Candice Wilkinson

How will my child speak? How will my child learn to write? How will my child learn to read? How can I homeschool when we can't use traditional methods? These are all questions I have had to ask myself throughout my parenting years. I asked them during the early intervention years, and now I have been asking them again as I prepare to teach kindergarten curriculum to my nine-year-old child.

I realized that the answer to these questions is Augmentative and Alternative Communication, also known as AAC. Over the past nine years, it has taken different forms. At one point, we used stamps to teach the alphabet, we have also used Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) cards, and now we are looking into communication through electronic devices. 

Over the past nine years, I have learned that AAC is not just a communication tool, it is a second language, just like French or Spanish, and there is not just one way to teach it or learn it. However, I discovered that the best way to teach it, was to learn it myself, and it has become a focal part of our home environment, allowing my child to succeed in communication.

Want to follow Candice and her family's journey? Find them on social media at:

Twitter: MommaWondering
IG: mommawonderings
Facebook: mommawonderings