Hey all! This is just an interesting thread. Anyone else who also uses AAC buttons with their cats can chime in too!
What are AAC buttons
AAC buttons: recordable buttons that you record a word on, and then teach non-verbal beings to use. First used with people, but not also widely used with pets. You might have seen Stella, or Bunny the talking dogs or Billie the talking cat.
Most of button training is basic behavioural conditioning. The pets learn if they press X, Y happens. But the cool thing is, is watching how some pets are getting creative with their word choices or showing us how they interpret the words they understand.
Background for my cats
WE got Magnus Bean in August 2020. My background was in childcare and I noticed that some of Magnus's behaviours seemed to stem from communication frustration the same as a human toddler would exhibit: we couldn't understand what he wanted or was asking for. OR he didn't think we could.
I'd watched videos of Bunny and Stella and thought, why not? So I bought 4 buttons and modeled what they were for. It wasn't long before Magnus was pressing his favourite button: Outside. No different than a dog ringing a bell to say they need out.
Nothing else happened that year much. Nobel never used the buttons. His communication was well established with us. Even on the AAC forums, no one thought he would use them because we already had our own little language. Magnus didn't use the other 3 buttons. Still, we kept modelling and after his first birthday he took off with them!
We learned interesting things like how much he likes music or that he thinks snow and rain are like his catnip bubbles (he uses 'Outside' 'Bubbles') to mean snow or rain.
We don't have a ton of space but they now have the following:
Outside
Birds
Music
Look
Hungry
All Done
Pet
Play
Catnip
Bubbles
Nobel
Calcifer
Magnus
Mom
Ghost
Friend
And with that Magnus says some interesting and curious things
. Calcifer regularly talks about his family and makes requests...and sweet Ghost has the refrain of "Pets" "Play" and "Catnip".
So I'll keep sharing this journey with everyone. Calcifer's most recent request was for "bubbles" "hungry" which we came to interpret as kibble because he led us to the food bin.
Some of our buttons can be re-recorded by holding them down. Magnus has moved on from recording music on them to recording the vacuum. It's quite purposeful. He once recorded Hallelujah by Pentatonix on all of his buttons. He also dragged over a paper held a button down and crinkled the paper. So he does have a "blank" button to record things on too.
Magnus has also named the squirrels "Outside""Calcifer". But only the black ones. He likes to request that "birds hungry outside" or "friends hungry outside" so it was an odd progression until we noted that he only said it when black squirrels were outside.
What are AAC buttons
AAC buttons: recordable buttons that you record a word on, and then teach non-verbal beings to use. First used with people, but not also widely used with pets. You might have seen Stella, or Bunny the talking dogs or Billie the talking cat.
Most of button training is basic behavioural conditioning. The pets learn if they press X, Y happens. But the cool thing is, is watching how some pets are getting creative with their word choices or showing us how they interpret the words they understand.
Background for my cats
WE got Magnus Bean in August 2020. My background was in childcare and I noticed that some of Magnus's behaviours seemed to stem from communication frustration the same as a human toddler would exhibit: we couldn't understand what he wanted or was asking for. OR he didn't think we could.
I'd watched videos of Bunny and Stella and thought, why not? So I bought 4 buttons and modeled what they were for. It wasn't long before Magnus was pressing his favourite button: Outside. No different than a dog ringing a bell to say they need out.
Nothing else happened that year much. Nobel never used the buttons. His communication was well established with us. Even on the AAC forums, no one thought he would use them because we already had our own little language. Magnus didn't use the other 3 buttons. Still, we kept modelling and after his first birthday he took off with them!
We learned interesting things like how much he likes music or that he thinks snow and rain are like his catnip bubbles (he uses 'Outside' 'Bubbles') to mean snow or rain.
We don't have a ton of space but they now have the following:
Outside
Birds
Music
Look
Hungry
All Done
Pet
Play
Catnip
Bubbles
Nobel
Calcifer
Magnus
Mom
Ghost
Friend
And with that Magnus says some interesting and curious things
. Calcifer regularly talks about his family and makes requests...and sweet Ghost has the refrain of "Pets" "Play" and "Catnip". So I'll keep sharing this journey with everyone. Calcifer's most recent request was for "bubbles" "hungry" which we came to interpret as kibble because he led us to the food bin.
Some of our buttons can be re-recorded by holding them down. Magnus has moved on from recording music on them to recording the vacuum. It's quite purposeful. He once recorded Hallelujah by Pentatonix on all of his buttons. He also dragged over a paper held a button down and crinkled the paper. So he does have a "blank" button to record things on too.
Magnus has also named the squirrels "Outside""Calcifer". But only the black ones. He likes to request that "birds hungry outside" or "friends hungry outside" so it was an odd progression until we noted that he only said it when black squirrels were outside.
Another Pentaholic! 
He didn't settle to listen much but his humans had some fun. 
