How can someone communicate when speech is difficult or unreliable?
Communication can include movement, gesture, sign, pictures, speech-generating devices, letters and writing. The right starting point depends on the person, their access needs and the people supporting them. This section brings together practical starting points, our family’s experience and questions the research has not yet settled.
Access, literacy and what we may have missed
Communication Access: The Right to Try and the Need to Know
My experience with James, Pat Mirenda’s challenge to our assumptions, Communication 4 ALL, and the questions of opportunity and authorship.
I’m looking for a place to begin
What is AAC?
An introduction to ways of supporting communication beyond speech.
Getting Started with AAC at Home and School
Ideas for using AAC in everyday life. This older guide is being reviewed and updated as my understanding develops.
I want to see how communication can happen throughout the day
Multimodal Communication, Makaton, AAC and Learning English
My earlier writing on combining speech, signs, visuals, movement and other ways to share meaning. This older guide is being reviewed and updated as my understanding develops.
I want to follow the research
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s AAC guidance explains AAC assessment and support, including its position that there are no prerequisites for beginning AAC intervention.
I’m reviewing the references and claims in older articles one at a time. Where my understanding changes, I’ll explain the change rather than quietly erase the earlier writing.
