One of the patients I remember very clearly from my time as and SLP at a large rehabilitation hospital is a man I’ll call Arthur. Arthur was in his 50s and had had a brainstem stroke a number of years before I met him. As a result of the stroke, Arthur was unable to speak [...]
We take it for granted that AAC users will require some training in strategies for adapting to a brand new method of communication. Frequently overlooked though, is the educational needs of AAC user’s communication partners.
At our ALS center, patients and their families occasionally recount being confounded by others’ lack of skill in interacting with a [...]
For me, augmentative and alternative communication has been a lifesaver. There is no way that I could have gotten where I am today without this technology. I managed 22 years without AAC intervention. At times, I wonder how different my life would be if I had access to AAC all that time. Then, I think [...]
Dating has the potential to be a major endeavor for anyone. It can prove to be an extra challenge when people with physical disabilities are trying to date – especially when they have speech disabilities and use augmentative and alternative communication. From personal experience I can attest that having a speech generating device has made [...]
If you were to ask me a couple of years ago to define what AAC is, I would have smiled and said that I have no idea.
Not in a million years would I think that not only would I know what augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is, but that it would become such an intricate [...]
I like to be able to check things off my list and have them really be finished. The problem is that there are certain tasks we have to do every day. They are never really checked off the list; they reappear every day and are never really done. Things like brushing your teeth, doing your [...]
“All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.”
- Earl Nightingale
It is not unusual for me to get up early on a Saturday morning, immediately grab my notepad and start my “to-do” list for the weekend. I know that if I don’t think about what I [...]
This year I challenged myself to walk 6.2 miles for the 2009 San Francisco AIDS Walk in my walker. It was the farthest I ever walked in my walker and I am indebted to all the support I received from family and friends, both when I was training for the walk and during the actual [...]
My dad turned 80 this year and, over the past few years, I’ve noticed that I am suddenly hearing tales that I have never heard before. Stories about his childhood playing baseball, job ups and downs, and memories of my mom, his parents and an aunt I never knew named “Flash” who got her [...]
I would like to introduce the concept of teaching augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) through an Integrated Model of Communication Instruction. Inspired by Janice Light’s early concept of communication competence for AAC users and Karen Erickson’s work on integrating language and literacy instruction for AAC users I combined their ideas to emphasize teaching AAC [...]
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