Successful AAC interventions result in outcomes that benefit and are valued by those for whom they are targeted (Blackstone, Wilkins, Williams, 2007).

At The Bridge School, we want our students to become happy, kind, self-determined individuals who have the supports, resources and communication support technologies and strategies they need to participate fully in their school, home, community, and society.

At The Bridge School, we use Janice Light’s (1989) definition of communicative competence as “the ability to communicate functionally in the natural environment and to adequately meet daily communication needs.” This provides a construct that informs our assessment and intervention for all students. The communicative competence skill areas defined by Light are a launching pad; a starting point, but not the ultimate end goal. Best outcomes for our students take into consideration the whole person, all of the people in their lives (present and future), and the hopes, wishes and goals of the person with CCN and SSPI. The constructs we use at The Bridge School to inform our practice reflect new thinking about the nature of communication and authentic social interactions.

Effective, authentic communicators:

• Project an authentic self-image to others, or chose how/what to project as their self-image;
• Are real and genuine when they communicate;
• Participate in existing close social relationships (e.g., immediate family, close friends, romantic relationships) and form new close relationships;
• Complete transactions necessary for independent living (e.g., banking, health care, ordering food, online transactions);
• Engage in broader communities (e.g., church, clubs, work communities, blending families, activism groups);
• Engage in a global community, if desired (e.g., social media);
• Develop self-determination skills (link to web content)

Effective, authentic interactions support:

• Communicative Symmetry: a sense of balance within an interaction, where all parties feel a comparable contribution in terms of time, tools/modes and messages/intentions conveyed.
• Communicative Parity: a sense of equality between all interaction participants (as appropriate to the context), where partners have equal access to communication time and resources and feel comfortable to present their authentic selves.