Empowering AAC Users
Highlights from the Communication Matters annual conference
Communication Matters International AAC Conference is an annual conference held at The University of Leeds (8 – 10/9/2024). This year the theme was “Empowerment” and featured a busy presentation schedule, posters, plenaries and an exhibition hall showcasing the latest in augmentative and alternative communication.
Every year some of our CENMAC team attend. Here are some of their highlights:
Charlie Danger, Occupational Therapy Consultant
Learning about revoicing
Communication Matters was particularly memorable this year due to the quality of the presentations I attended. The most memorable and impactful this year for me came from Jamie Preece and Jonathan Toogood, both AAC users, alongside Charlie Moran and Andrea Lee from the Barnsley AT Service. The topic was Revoicing – something we experience everyday but I’ve never really stopped to think much about. Revoicing is the act of using a trusted person to respeak what has been said but in a clearer voice. It was fascinating to find out more about how both AAC users and their Personal Assistants feel about the revoicing process.
Saving time with revoicing
One of the many points discussed was a serious query over whether revoicing is a form of facilitated communication. Jamie and Jonathan made clear that it’s very important to watch the AAC user throughout the conversation to check that they are agreeing with what is being respoken. They enjoy revoicing as it can save the AAC user time and effort using the AAC device, and it can act emotion and tact, makes it easier to interrupt, and gain dominance in a conversation. In the case of Jamie, revoicing also gives him access to vocabulary that is not on their device.
Both Jamie and Jonathan said they had felt an obligation throughout their lives to use their AAC devices instead of asking their PAs to revoice. But they both pointed out that it is their voice, their method of communication, and they have the right to choose how to get their message across.
Photo: Jamie Preece and Jonathan Toogood presenting at Communication Matters © Charlie Danger
Sarah McPoland, Advisory Speech and Language Therapist and on the Current Board of Trustees at Communication Matters
Conn@ct practice orientated research
I enjoyed listening to insights from the practice orientated research undertaken by Conn@ct which focused upon increasing AAC users’ communicative participation with peers following transition from high school.
ACE Centre research
I was equally interested in the strategies to target the environment via organisational change presented by ACE Centre colleagues.
Talking Mats “Me and my senses”
The presentation entitled “Me and my senses” which introduced the sensory integration resource developed by the team from Talking Mats was also highly informative.
Image: © Talking Mats “Me and my senses”
Proloquo 5.0 and Thinking Space™
Finally, I was extremely impressed by AssistiveWare’s decision to incorporate Thinking Space™ into Proloquo 5.0 which was shared during the presentation delivered by Erin Sheldon entitled “Five unique features to enable classroom instruction”:
Brainstorm – Use Thinking Space to make it easier for early communicators to collaborate, brainstorm and connect ideas.
Co-construct – Thinking Space allows you to start constructing a sentence, then go explore options to complete it, then return to the message window and finish your sentence
Build understanding – Use Thinking Space as a visual aid to build receptive understanding in early communicators and to engage with complex ideas.
Compare and contrast – With Thinking Space, you can display two or more symbols together to explore ideas, options, or symbol features.
Isolate a symbol – Display a single symbol to explore its meaning or emphasize its visual features to support symbol recognition within the grid.
Find out more about Proloquo Thinking Space ™
© Proloquo Thinking Space ™
Saffron Murphy-Mann, AAC Specialist Advisory Teacher and on the Current Board of Trustees at Communication Matters
Our Futures session
I attended the Our Futures session run by Beth Moulam and Helen Hewson. This was a follow up and feedback from 2 sessions last year run for AAC users to ask what training and skills the need for life after full time education.
In this session they also shared the preliminary results of the Sunday afternoon activity in which the attendees at conference (be they AAC users, family members, PAs, professionals or suppliers) were invited to vote on their top 3 priorities that came from the sessions last year.
Following this session, Beth has prepared a questionnaire to be distributed more widely among AAC users (link to follow in AAC awareness month).
I also attended the AT Therapy session on Safeguarding and found some of the resources they shared very interesting.
An AAC engagement activity hosted by Beth Moulam and Helen Henson.
© Katherine Broomfield
Zain Alabbasi, Advisory Speech & Language Therapist
AAC research involving parents
I attended a number of seminars, many of which were previews of research being conducted within the field of AAC. Two of those featured the role of parents, whether it be in the development of a parent reported outcome measure for the communication of children with neurodisability (presented by Katherine Buckeridge) or in data collection from other parents to explore collaborative practice between SLTs and parents of AAC users (presented by Sarah Hayward and Joanna Holmes).
Developing a neurodivergent AAC service
Another talk I attended was about developing a neurodivergent AAC service (presented by Helen Robinson) which highlighted some of the challenges but also the increasing demand for knowledge and support in this area. The presentation also featured The Neurodiversity Zones of Growth by Kerry Murphy.
Tracy Evans, Specialist Teaching Assistant
I had the pleasure of attending Communication Matters for the second year. I would recommend it to anyone interested in AAC.
I attended several sessions and particularly enjoyed ‘The Missing Competency – Getting the environment right: How to support organisational change’ with Katy Leckenby and Samantha McNeilly.
I also enjoyed ‘Using AAC to teach words, concepts and categories – time to rethink practice?’ and ‘A walk in the park: Learning and teaching observation skills for Communication’ delivered on behalf of Euan Robertson who was unable to be there in person.
We look forward to next years’ event!
