This SLP Hopeful Can’t Talk

Well Sometimes, but it’s When They Can’t That Scares Other People

ID: A speech bubble with a ‘pop’ or ‘burst’ affect, indicting a loss of speech or words. End ID.

In my AAC class we were assigned to look at a few different websites and tools for AAC and post them on a communal page for classmates to look at. One resource was a two minute video about modeling. Less than ten seconds in, and according to the video I’ve already failed to do the most basic steps.

Let’s rewind.

If you don’t know me, hi I’m Remiel Cooper, or lightning rambles, or lightning, and I am a multidisabled Autistic part time AAC user. I have what Zisk, Tuttle, and corbin identify as ‘expensive speech,’ among a variety of other language difficulties, and find myself not able to talk/preferring not to talk the vast majority of the time (2025). I still talk in large swaths, mostly because I feel forced, but would much prefer my voice mostly off in almost every scenario if properly accommodated.

Now to the video.

“Let me share a few tips: Use your voice, and Core First,” (Quinera 2018).

Great. Awesome. How exactly am I supposed to do that?

I know this video isn’t made with malicious intent. In fact, I think it’s generally a good introductory resource to modeling Core First language. It’s the same language and follows the general page set I have custom retrofitted for my own AAC. I can’t deny it works.

But it’s a reminder of how much I don’t belong in this field when I’m the very person who has the potential to bridge this gap the most. I have years of AAC experience going into grad school that other students don’t. I have intimate knowledge of what being an AAC user is like that other people will never have. I can navigate a display page faster than any of my peers in my AAC course- partly because we haven’t gotten to that week yet. But it’s not just about being fast, it’s about my ocean of knowledge. And I don’t need a voice to have that. AAC users hear voices every day, and AAC will output a voice. When you’re modelling, you don’t need to output a voice too.

I don’t need my voice to model.

I don’t need my voice to be an SLP. That’s what it really comes down to, and I think that’s where people get nervous, because they think I do.

Sure, there may be niche areas of the field that might be inaccessible to me, but I think you would be surprised by how much I can access. I can move my mouth in mouth shapes. I can produce phonics on my tablet. I can conduct a swallowing studying. (Well not yet, I need grad school for that. But I could). I can do research and labs, and write a paper. And I certainly excel at AAC which is my area of interest.

Not all AAC users will be able to do what I do, and some AAC users might be able to do more. We are not one size fits all. But SLPs need to be aware that we are here, we are entering (and already in) this field and we are needed. You need us. Every field is advanced and supported by diverse populations and AAC users are a direct link to a huge population you serve. We are a needed support. Don’t drive us away.

(By the way, you’re driving us away. More on that another time).

That means accommodate us. Learn to talk to AAC users. You might think you know how, but I’ll take a guess that for many SLP’s the vast majority of AAC users you talk to are school-age. I am not a child. I am an adult, and I am a professional in the field. I am learning, and a student, yes. I am also developmentally disabled and Autistic. But I am not the kid you work with. We both might love Minecraft. But I can consent to sex. Give me space to speak, and make room for me to give you feedback. I want to grow with you, so let us learn together.

This is a new phase in my life too. I don’t know what I’m doing. All I know is when I’m flipping through this big guide of videos meant to help teach me how to be a professional and the first ten seconds is telling me ‘you have to talk to use AAC,’ I’m suddenly exhausted. It didn’t take nonverbal/nonspeaking professionals into account, because they’re aren’t any/very few of us. I get why. I understand why. That doesn’t make me feel any less alone.

References

The term ‘expensive speech’ is originally cited to:

Zisk, A. H. (2024, January 17). Part time AAC use: What does it mean and why does it Matter? [Paper presentation]. Virtual Webinar Presented for the United States Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (USSAAC)

Zisk worked in tandem presenting this term and to my knowledge it first appears in text in the following:

endever* corbin (2025) Speech is exhausting, Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 41:3, 245-247, DOI: 10.1080/07434618.2025.2513907

In text, corbin also gives credit to colleague Tuttleturtle for helping to develop the term.

Qinera. (2018, July 4). Modelar - Pathways for Core First - Top Tips [Video]. YouTube.

Originally posted on substack 2/18/2026. link.