Heather Roach, AAC Experience

This is what putting a PODD (Pragmatic Organization Dynamic Displays) book together looks like. This also highlights one of the most asked questions I get: how do you actually use the lists?

Lists hold the vocabulary that makes a PODD book personal to your AAC user. Think about what that looks like in real life - family members and close friends, favorite foods or restaurants, medications and medical procedures, teachers and therapists, current TV shows or books, sports teams, vacation spots, inside jokes. Any of the extra “fringe” vocabulary. Anything that matters to your person that doesn’t belong on a core page or doesn’t fit.

Each starts with a template printed for each page needing a list, then the topic is added to the top. Each list includes directions for how to support your AAC user through it, whether you’re visually scanning down the page together or reading items aloud. It also describes your user’s specific yes/no or accept/reject movement so anyone picking up the book knows exactly how to partner with them.

And when life changes? You update the list. New teacher, new medication, new obsession. The book keeps up.

This is what goes into every book I send out the door, whether it’s a trial book or fully personalized. Making sure every detail is right before it lands in your hands.

This is a one-page book so it gets coil so pages flip all the way around. Two-page books get comb so both pages stay flat as one big display.

Interested in a PODD book for your AAC user? Send me a message or visit my website linked in bio to get started.

Lists in PODD (Pragmatic Organization Dynamic Display) books are one of my favorite features! I filmed this after updating some medical vocabulary ahead of an EEG last summer, and it’s a great example of lists in action. Having these conversations ahead of time is really great for helping our kids feel more comfortable on hospital stays. For those who were worried when they first saw this, yes we took a break from hospital stays this summer! Lists grow with your child through every season of life and every experience. That’s the magic.

Ever wonder why PODD books use different bindings?

One-page PODD books get coil binding because the pages need to flip all the way around — flat on a tray, held up for eye gaze, folded back completely. Coil makes that possible.

Two-page books use comb binding instead, because both pages need to stay flat and aligned together as one big communication display. You can also swap out pages easily if something needs updating, huge win for a book that gets used all day every day.

This one is a trial book heading out this week! 📬 Binding tip if you’re doing this at home: once it’s punched, line up all the rings on one side and get the coil started on that edge. Then just wiggle the book slightly while you twirl the coil through, it walks right on.

She told me she didn’t know what dad was doing.

Using partner assisted scanning, she communicated “do… I don’t know” and I knew exactly what she meant because I watched her eyes. She was looking toward where dad had just walked inside.

That’s what a communication partner does.

We hold the context. We fill in the meaning. We make the message whole. Without a present, attuned partner, that moment disappears. With one? It becomes a real conversation.

So I answered her: “Your dad went to get more to eat.”

Message sent. Message understood. Message answered. That’s connection. And notice how easy it is to add to lists in real time. Chinese food went straight on the list as we talked. Her language growing in the moment she used it.

March 2024

That’s a wrap on elementary school!

The end of the year brings so many emotions, and for most families it’s a rush of excitement with field trips, celebrations, end-of-year events. We get all of that too. But there’s also the quiet (and not-so-quiet) advocacy happening in the background.

Will the field trip be inclusive? Is the elevator actually working? Did someone order the bus with the lift? Are services and supports still in place even as everyone’s energy starts to run low, including the people responsible for our kids?

For families like ours, the joy never stops. But neither does the work. All of the excitement lives right alongside the advocacy, the stress, the follow-up emails, and the wondering. And yet — moments like this one? This is my why.

Nobody showed us how to do this either. We just figured it out.

Homemade ramps. Stroller hooks. Eye gaze mounted and ready. PODD books hanging from the back for partner-assisted scanning. Gait trainer balanced on the back of the wheelchair.

And then she walks. This is why we do it. And it’s totally worth it.

The mom I used to be, wrestling with an umbrella stroller and a diaper bag thinking that was a lot. She had no idea. I’d go back and give her a hug. She was doing great and didn’t know it yet.

If you’re scared to try more independently this is for you. Drop your questions below 👇 This is Rett syndrome.

It feels like a life raft being thrown to you. That’s PODD.

I found it just a few months after our daughter’s diagnosis, and everything changed. Nearly nine years later, I can still feel that deep-in-my-soul hope knowing we have PODD in our life. 💙

And honestly? Even now as a certified trainer, I think it’s hard to fully explain what PODD is until you live this life. The words don’t quite get there. But the feeling does.

That hope, that feeling, is what drives the real success with PODD. If you’re a family or a team who wants a deep understanding of what PODD can truly be, reach out. I’d love to connect.

# PODDFamily

She has been working toward this for nine years. She also got to decide whether you’d see it. She gave a huge, proud, yes.

Daily work at home, weekly PT, standing frames, gait trainers, AFOs, stretching braces, Rett Clinic, an amazing team, drug trials, and Daybue — the first FDA-approved treatment for Rett syndrome.
Nine years of showing up, every single day.

She is so proud to move that gait trainer on her own. As she should be. That gait trainer isn’t a limitation, it’s her independence. Equipment isn’t something that holds her back, it’s what sets her free.

She’s been told what she couldn’t do. She keeps showing up anyway.

This is what Rett syndrome looks like. This is what disability looks like. This is what fighting for your life looks like — not in a tragic way, but in the most human, determined, joyful way I know.

She fights for movement. She fights for communication. She fights for everything most of us never think twice about.

I share our life here because the world needs to see what a full, complex, fighting life actually looks like — and because so few people understand what Rett syndrome, AAC, and real disability look like from the inside.

If you’re walking this road, as a parent, a therapist, a teacher, you’re not alone. Follow along. This is what I do and why I do it. 💙

InclusiveEducation SpecialEducation

🌸 Does this sound familiar? You find a cute spring activity... and then spend an hour figuring out how to adapt it for your AAC user.

This booklet was made so you don’t have to do that.

5 spring activities — Nature Walk, Scavenger Hunt, Plant Life Cycle, Weather Watch & Sensory Outdoor Fun. Designed for both general and special education classrooms, covering national standards for grades 2–5. Every activity already has visual supports, core vocabulary prompts, and AAC & PODD-friendly partner interaction built in.

One resource. Every learner included. No adapting required. 🌱

Created by a Certified PODD Trainer, AAC consultant & parent of a complex communicator.

Find it on TPT — link in comments!

What if play didn’t have to feel like therapy and still supported communication?

Play isn’t just something children do, it’s one of the earliest ways they communicate, connect, and feel safe.

This session is designed for both families and professionals who want play to feel more accessible, meaningful, and less focused on performance. Together, we’ll explore how small adaptations, AAC modeling, and shared understanding can support communication and connection across home, school, and therapy environments.

You’ll leave with practical ideas you can use right away, whether you’re a parent, educator, therapist, or part of a support team.

Because when families and professionals learn from each other, play becomes more joyful, and communication has room to grow.