4 June 2026 | Personalised for Nat's context

What we're actually trying to solve

Fletcher uses an iPad for both Proloquo and TikTok, so locking it to one app isn't practical. The real question is: how do we build familiarity with Proloquo symbols and key AAC vocabulary outside the device, so that when he is in the app the images feel known and meaningful rather than foreign? And does repeated visual exposure actually help? (Short answer: yes, and it's one of the most well-supported strategies in AAC research.)

Does visual exposure actually help recognition?

Yes — this is well-evidenced in AAC literature:

• Aided Language Stimulation (ALgS): When a communication partner points to symbols while speaking — without expectation the child does the same — it builds symbol knowledge faster than direct instruction. This is the core technique Aoife is likely already using.
• Point-of-relevance placement: Symbols placed where the activity happens ("squeezes" near the squeeze spot, "food" near the kitchen) are encoded more richly than vocabulary boards on a neutral wall.
• GLP lens: For gestalt language processors, symbols encountered during emotionally resonant moments (during squeezes, during TikTok) are absorbed as meaningful chunks, not just visual data. The emotional context is part of the encoding.
• Environmental print research: Even non-readers build word recognition through repeated incidental exposure to print and symbols in their environment — no instruction needed.

The upshot: passive exposure in meaningful contexts works. You don't have to teach it. You just have to make it present.

A few different approaches

1. Symbol environment print — point of relevance

Print Proloquo symbols (or similar AAC symbols) and place them at the moment of relevance around the home. Near food: eat, drink, more. Near his device: TikTok, Proloquo, stop, more. Near his calm space: squeezes, hug, quiet, no. No expectation he uses them — just present in his visual field where the activity already happens.

2. Proloquo screenshots as visual maps

Print actual screenshots of Proloquo's home screen and key vocabulary pages in colour, laminate them, and leave them in his space. His brain builds an offline map of what the app looks like — so when he picks up the iPad, the layout is already familiar territory.

3. Symbol strip on the iPad case

A laminated strip of 4–6 personally meaningful symbols stuck to the back or edge of the iPad case: Proloquo icon, TikTok logo, squeezes, eat, no, done. Every time he picks up the iPad for any reason, those symbols are in his hands. No demand. Just repeated incidental contact.