Unaided communication

Also called Unaided AAC, Body-based communication

Signing, gesture, facial expression and vocalisation: every kind of communication that needs nothing but the body.

What it is

Unaided communication is anything a person communicates with their own body and nothing else. Sign languages, sign systems like Makaton, natural gesture, pointing, eye pointing, facial expression, posture, and the sounds a person makes that aren't words.

It is the half of AAC that people forget is AAC at all, because everyone does some of it. The nod, the shrug, the raised eyebrow at the back of the meeting are unaided communication. For some people they are most of the conversation.

Who it can help

Everyone uses it, so the question is who relies on it. Deaf people who use British Sign Language have a complete unaided language with its own grammar. People with a learning disability often communicate largely through gesture, expression and vocalisation, and Makaton or Signalong give that a shared vocabulary.

Where it falls short: unaided methods need the listener to know the code. A person whose only signs are understood by two family members is stranded with everyone else. And motor conditions like cerebral palsy or motor neurone disease can take the hands, so relying on signing alone is a risk for someone whose condition will change.

How it works

Unaided communication is always available, needs no setup and is fast, which is why even fluent device users lean on it for the quick things: yes, no, come here, that one. It is also the layer that carries tone and feeling, which a synthetic voice mostly can't.

It works best when the partner treats every bodily signal as meaningful. A communication dictionary writes down what each of a person's own gestures and sounds means, so a new carer can read them from day one instead of over months. Intensive interaction builds communication from a person's own movements and sounds without demanding words at all.

Getting started

Spend a day noticing what the person already does with their body, and write it down: the look towards the door that means "out", the particular sound that means "again". That list is a communication dictionary and it is the start of everything else.

Learn twenty signs. Makaton's core vocabulary is free to learn, Signalong runs courses, and a family that signs "more", "finished", "help", "toilet" and "drink" while speaking has given a child a way to ask before speech arrives. Sign while you talk; never make the person sign to earn something.

Pair it with something aided. A person with a rich gesture vocabulary still needs a way to talk to strangers, so keep a core board or the Talk board alongside.

Where to get help

The Makaton Charity and Signalong teach sign systems for people with communication needs; the British Deaf Association is the route into BSL. Intensive Interaction Institute trains staff and families in interaction-based work. A speech and language therapist can assess which unaided methods a person is already using and build on them.