Eagles spread wings of kindness through AAC awareness activities

November 3, 2025

Huntington Elementary School students used the tools of compassion, creativity and understanding to build strong communication bridges with classmates this fall.
 
Hundreds of Eagles formed winning connections at school during Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Awareness Month in October. They spent several weeks learning American Sign Language (ASL) words, decoding visual sentences from AAC devices and gaining empathy for everyone on campus.
 
Fourth graders Tatum and Leora said they enjoyed taking part in the activities. Both have been sharing their new ASL knowledge with family members at home. They have also been speaking more often with classmates who use computer devices to communicate.
 
“It’s really important to get to know these things, because some kids communicate differently than some other kids do, and it’s good to know how they speak and how they express themselves,” Tatum said.
 
“We’ve been learning a lot of new signs that I can use with my cousin, because she uses sign language,” Leora said. “It’s helping me a lot to figure out how to speak with her.”

 
Huntington Special Education Coordinator McKenna Machal said she has been thrilled with those types of positive reactions from students. The school decided to host AAC activities for the first time this year as a way to promote the ideas of belonging and acceptance.
 
“It’s gone really well,” Machal said. “They’ve been so excited to get to help their friends by learning all of this new material in a fun way. The response has just been incredibly encouraging.”
 
AAC is defined as all of the ways that someone communicates besides talking. This includes spelling out words by pointing to letters, drawing pictures of objects or using facial expressions. There are also many high-tech options such as creating words and sentences through computer applications or speech-generating devices.
 
Kyrie Kellogg and Michelle Wieser spearheaded the AAC activities for more than 350 Eagles. Kellogg is a life skills special education teacher and Wieser is a speech-language pathologist at Huntington. They said it has been heartening to see the compassionate reactions from students each week.
 
“I think the biggest thing was just to bring an overall awareness to the kids and teachers so that we can support everyone at school,” Wieser said. “I think Huntington’s been doing a great job of having everyone feel included here, and that includes our students who use AAC devices. I think this is giving our kids who don’t use AAC devices more tools to be confident in communicating with our students who do use AAC devices.”
 
“The students have been really excited about it, and the teachers have done a great job of hyping them up and keeping them engaged,” Kellogg said. “They’ve been making the effort to find time to put the activities into their day, and I think that’s made it even more meaningful for students. They saw right away that it really was a schoolwide thing that we were doing.”

 
Wieser said Kellogg spent “a good amount of time” planning each of the activities. Kellogg placed 150 signs with core AAC words printed on them around school for one lesson, and she created slides with multiple ASL signs for students to study during another week. She also generated read-aloud lessons about different forms of communication and trivia questions about AAC programs at Lincoln Public Schools.
 
“I know she has a special place in her heart for all of these kids who use devices, and I just wanted to support her along the way,” Wieser said.
 
Kellogg visited each classroom at the beginning of the month to provide general information about AAC to students. She was inspired when she heard many Eagles talk about their existing relationships with people who have AAC abilities.
 
“Some people said, ‘Yes, there’s a girl in my class who uses AAC,’ or ‘I see some kids in the hallway using their devices,’’ Kellogg said. “And some of them said, ‘Oh, my neighbor uses ASL’ or ‘My little sister used to use a device when she learned how to talk.’ Knowing that they had those connections that they’ve already made was really cool to see.”
 
Tatum and Leora spent one morning decoding picture symbols with their classmates. One puzzle included eight blocks of shapes, drawings and signs that students use on their AAC speech-generating devices. The fourth graders used teamwork to determine that the blocks meant “Will your grandpa go to the birthday party?”
 
“What I enjoyed about the activity was just learning ways how other kids communicate,” Tatum said. “Now I know some words that I can use to communicate with them.”

 
Machal told the group she was proud of how enthusiastic they were about their AAC experiences.
 
“You might know some of your classmates and friends who use an AAC device to communicate,” Machal said. “They’re just as eager to talk with you as you are to talk with other people. They just do it in a different way.”
 
Kellogg said she is hopeful to have even more AAC activities at Huntington in years to come.
 
“This year was our trial run, so we’re figuring it out as we go, but because of the reception that we’ve had and the interest that everyone has shown, I’m really excited to see where this takes us next year or even in the future after that,” Kellogg said. “It’s been amazing for awareness of AAC and how that’s used in our school and our world.”

LPS special education staff members are creating welcoming learning environments for students across the school district. Visit home.lps.org/specialed to view more information about special education programs and activities.
 
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