What is AAC?
October 2018
Imagine you are in a foreign country. Everyone is speaking a language you may understand but you cannot speak. Or maybe you have lost your voice and cannot be heard. You try to say something but no one understands or they look puzzled and shrug their shoulders. Maybe they speak to your friend or companion if you are lucky enough to have someone with you. Either way you are excluded from the conversation, an outsider, isolated.
There are millions of people worldwide who have no means to communicate to those around them. They may never have been able to speak, they may have lost their voice to injury or illness or maybe they are just very hard to understand. But they have no voice and thus cannot communicate.
These individuals need a way to communicate. You can communicate without speech in multiple ways. Everyone is aware of sign language used by many in the hearing impaired community, But there are multiple other ways too.
Writing this blog to communicate with those who are too far to hear my voice is a form of AAC. I cannot talk to you so I am writing down what I want to say. Using sign language or gestures is another way to communicate. When I wave “hi” or “goodbye” I am using AAC.
Most often AAC is thought of as using an external means whether it is electronic or non electronic.
No-tech (sometimes lumped in with Low-Tech) does not require any other additional information. Signing, gestures, body language, facial expressions are all examples.
Low Tech: you don’t need a battery or a source of power for your communication systems. Examples would be static boards, Picture Exchange, word boards, photographs.
High Tech systems: These need a battery or an external power source to work. They range from simple to highly complex. Most are based on computer systems such as the iPad, laptops and devices specially designed for communication. People with physical disabilities can access communication by other mechanisms afforded by certain Higher Tech systems.
October is AAC Awareness month. During this month we will be posting a series of blogs dealing with AAC. If you have special areas you would like to see covered please send us a message.
Copyright October 2018… E. Cheryl Fletcher MA, C.C.C.