Presenters: Brenda Del Monte and Dr. Pippa Bellamy
Date: November 14, 2026
Time: 10 am – 12 pm PST
Cost: $59
Format: Live online via Zoom
CE Info: Live online workshops are reported to ASHA
Communication is never constructed alone. AAC users develop and express language within interactions with communication partners who model, interpret, teach, respond, and sometimes unintentionally shape what gets said. This session introduces the Co-Construction Framework, a proposed clinical lens for recognizing how communication partners influence participation, language development, authorship, agency, and human connection across seven forms of co-construction.
Participants will then take a deeper dive into AI-mediated co-construction, exploring how generative AI can expand ideas, vocabulary, language structures, literacy opportunities, and message generation without replacing the communicator as the source of meaning. Through clinical examples – including transforming a familiar Brown Bear activity from adult-directed instruction into child-driven authorship – participants will examine the difference between AI doing something for an AAC user and AI expanding possibilities the communicator can select, reject, revise, and make their own. Practical reflection tools, clinical decision-making strategies, and examples will help participants identify changes they can use immediately in AAC intervention.
Participants will be able to:
| Time | Minutes | Content |
| 0:00-0:10 | 10 | Why Co-Construction? Communication as human connection; communication vs. performance; introducing the central reflection question: “What did I learn from this communicator that I could not have known without them?” |
| 0:10-0:30 | 20 | The Co-Construction Framework – overview of the seven forms: Developmental, Multimodal, Interpretive, Instructional, AI-Mediated, Conversational, and Directive/Coercive. |
| 0:30-0:45 | 15 | Seeing Co-Construction Clinically – brief clinical examples across ages and access needs; recognizing how multiple forms can occur within the same interaction; “Do I already know the answer?” |
| 0:45-1:00 | 15 | Use It on Monday: Clinical Strategies for Co-Construction |
| 1:00-1:20 | 20 | Agency, Self-Determination, and Productive Struggle – support vs. over-facilitation; reducing unnecessary barriers while preserving meaningful communicative work; “Am I removing a barrier – or removing an opportunity?” |
| 1:20-1:40 | 20 | Deep Dive: AI-Mediated Co-Construction – authorship and agency; AI as a possibility generator; expanding ideas, vocabulary, and language structures; selection, rejection, revision, and regeneration. |
| 1:40-1:55 | 15 | Use It on Monday: Clinical Strategies for AI – practical prompting and decision-making strategies; analyzing examples; AI doing it FOR the communicator vs. AI expanding possibilities WITH the communicator; what to do when AI gets it wrong. |
| 1:55-2:00 | 5 | Reflection and Takeaway – participants identify one form of co-construction that comes naturally and one they want to strengthen; select one strategy to implement in practice. |
Brenda Del Monte
Brenda Del Monte is a speech language pathologist and an assistive technology and AAC evaluator and facilitator. She worked as an SLP in Washington State public schools and is currently a private practitioner in Arizona, where she does AAC evaluations and trainings. Brenda has presented her knowledge at Closing the Gap and ATIA nationally on access, literacy and AI. Brenda Del Monte is a co-founder of Believe Beyond Ability, a non-profit organization that evaluates, determines, provides and trains those with multiple disabilities on assistive technology to increase independence. Brenda is also an author of the book, “I See You In There,” a collection of stories from her 20+ years of experience working with children and adults with disabilities. She is currently a co-host of the Awe and Wonder Podcast hosted by the Special Ed Tech Center and Technically Speaking.
Disclosure statement:
Brenda Del Monte receives payment from the Special Education Technology Center as speaker and consultant. She owns a company called Technically Speaking AAC and co-hosts and develops content for “Awe and Wonder AAC & AT Podcast”. She receives royalties from Amazon for the sale of her book “I See You In There”. Brenda received an honorarium for her participation in the Use it on Monday series.
Dr. Pippa Bellamy
Dr. Pippa Bellamy is the Director of Bridge to Life, an affiliate of The Bridge School. She is a Speech-Language Pathologist with over 20 years of experience supporting individuals who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). She has held various clinical roles in schools and colleges across the United Kingdom before relocating to California 11 years ago. Since then, she has worked as an AAC Specialist, serving clients from 18 months of age through adulthood.
Disclosure statement:
Dr. Pippa Bellamy is an employee of The Bridge School Organization in the roles of Director of Bridge to Life and Speech Language Pathologist. She is a member of the ASHA Augmentative and Alternative Communication Special Interest Group.
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