Teaching “wh-” Questions to an AAC User

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I am working with a student with autism who is also nonverbal. He is an 8th grader. He uses an AAC device (iPad) to communicate with me in therapy when prompted (this is a goal). However, he prefers to type everything out. He does not understand “wh” questions. I have started with who and what questions. I am using an APP to have him choose from an array of 3 since his verbal output is limited. However, he just memorizes the questions. He can now answer who questions given in an array of 3 (and picture cues), but if I ask him the question without the use of the 3 choices, he answers incorrectly. Or if I ask him a novel who question he cannot answer correctly. Oh, I forgot to mention that he is echolalic as well and will repeat the last word in a question as his answer. Example: Who is your teacher? Response: Teacher

My Thoughts:

  • Have him use his AAC device to answer the wh- questions.  Create a page of people, a page of places, etc. with a few choices on each page.  Then, choose one type of question (like, “where”) and help him navigate to that page (“places”) before starting.  Then, ask a question and help him figure out which picture is correct.  I would suggest not letting him type it for these structured activities as that will be harder (no picture choices).  Start with just a few choices but change the wording of your question each time so he can’t just memorize what question you’re asking.
  • As he gets better at this, start to add more choices to those pages.  I would focus on one type of question for a while before moving on to a new one.  Or, use a cycles-type approach where you work on one for a while and then switch to a different one and come back to the first one later.  Continue to switch up the questions you ask even though he’s working from a small number of options.
  • Once he gets better at these, you can have him start to type out his answers if he’d like, but make sure he has basic mastery of choosing from the pictures page first.

** If the child can’t do the steps above, back up to very basic questions, like having a barn and a house in front of the child and then place a toy inside one of them.  Then, ask the child where it is and have him pick from barn or house on his device.