Honoring Communicative Intent: What AAC Progress Actually Looks Like
Honoring communicative intent requires you to do something that goes against your clinical instinct. It requires that you stop measuring accuracy and start measuring initiation.
(And a Framework for Helping Your Whole Team See It)
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When Rachel Madel presented at the January ‘26 SLP Summit, she built her entire session around a single question: How do we honor intent for communication?
It sounds simple, but it’s not. Honoring communicative intent requires you to do something that goes against your clinical instinct. It requires that you stop measuring accuracy and start measuring initiation.
This post breaks down Rachel’s framework, translates it into the school-based reality your community lives in, and gives you a tool you can use with your team to start seeing and celebrating AAC progress as it happens.