I Have a Say!

Every child deserves to be heard, respected, and included—no matter how they communicate. This empowering AAC children’s book helps young augmentative and alternative communication users understand that their voices, choices, feelings, and words matter. Through engaging illustrations and child-friendly language, children learn that they can say yes or no, express preferences, make choices, change their minds, ask for help, build friendships, and speak for themselves. Visual AAC icon supports reinforce key concepts and invite children to explore how they can find and express these meaningful messages on their own communication systems, building familiarity with navigation along the way. Created by a speech-language pathologist and mother of an AAC user, this inclusive picture book encourages adults to presume competence, allow wait time, respect autonomy, talk directly with children, and keep AAC systems accessible and ready to use. Ideal for nonspeaking, minimally speaking, autistic, and disabled children, as well as families, speech-language pathologists, AAC specialists, educators, therapists, classrooms, and school libraries. A meaningful read-aloud about AAC advocacy, communication rights, disability inclusion, self-advocacy, and honoring every child’s voice.